Colorado National Monument will celebrate its 106th birthday on Wednesday/NPS

When founder John Otto first arrived in the Grand Valley in 1906, he combed through the remote canyons like few had done before. He dedicated his life to making the canyons a national park so all Americans could enjoy them. Otto wrote a petition to create a national park and knocked on doors until he'd won the support of nearly every local businessman and leader, encouraging federal representatives of the day to introduce a bill.

Just when it looked like a sure thing, a congressional slowdown threatened the legislation and Otto's dream. As fortune would have it, President William Taft had visited the Grand Valley and never forgot the magnificent monoliths of the canyons. President Taft believed the canyons deserved national park status, but the only tool available to him as president to save one of America's most unique landscapes was the Antiquities Act.  

With the full support of local leaders, the president signed a Presidential Proclamation on May 24, 1911, creating Colorado National Monument. This was long before the creation of the majority of our national parks. In 1911, Colorado National Monument was the 30th unit of the National Park Service.

To celebrate, the park will host a party at 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 24, at the visitor center. A posthumous award will honor President Taft and will be accepted by a local family descendant, Taft Moore.

Since its establishment, Colorado National Monument has been a prolific and consistent economic driver in the Grand Valley, generating hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs for the local economy in the past 106 years.