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Circa 1927 photograph of Grants



Detail of the Bond-Sargent Store:



Detail of Whiteside Hotel and Café:



Detail of Hotel Woodard:

Timeline for Hotel Woodard:

-1910 Census lists George S. Woodard, 42, as a Railroad Foreman, originally from Iowa. His wife, Minnie W. Woodard, 37, has the job title of cook, originally from Missouri.

-1913 Grants has an overall population of 100 and Mrs. G. S. Woodard is one of a very few listed in the City Directory. By this time, she is running a boarding house.

-1916 The Woodard Hotel was established.

-1920 George is identified as Hotel Keeper and Minnie as the cook for the establishment.

-December of 1923: ads in the Albuquerque Journal indicate the hotel was for sale. These ads run through 1931.

 -1926 the Woodards have moved to Albuquerque.
 -1928: George and Minnie are living on a farm in Albuquerque, according to City Directory.

 -1930 Census: George and Minnie are living in Albuquerque

 -Sometime in the 1930s, the Woodard Hotel suffers a devastating fire.

 -1937 George S. Woodard passes.
 -1959 Minnie Woodard passes.

  -April 30, 1938 Albuquerque Journal ad announcing California Hotel and Coffee Shop opening in Grants, New Mexico.

-California Hotel was located in the previous Woodard Hotel location.

-Early 1970s Pizza Hut is built on the site.

 

There is still a question out as to what was located on the corner of Santa Fe Avenue and First Street prior to the Pizza Hut being built.

 

Santa Fe Avenue was previously called Old Trails, and also known as U.S. Highway 66 and Route 66.





Excerpt from Time magazine's December 25, 1950 article on Paddy Martinez:





Picture postcards of Grants and Milan's heyday:








Brief sketch of La Jean Greeson:
La Jean Greeson was born in Grants.  Her family ties to Victor [CO] and the [Cripple Creek] Mining District originate before 1900 when her great-great grandparents came to the area.  Her grandparents, Buster and Emma Peters, became first-time homeowners in 1940 at 107 Portland Avenue in Victor where their children, Gladys (La Jean's mother) and Pepper, were raised into their teenage years.  Bus worked underground in the Vindicator Mine and also helped construct the Carlton Mill for the Golden Cycle Corporation.  But frequently he was obliged to seek employment opportunities outside the District--Hawaii (for a tunnel job), and Grants, New Mexico (a uranium mining boom town where he started a welding business).  In 1956 the Peters family moved permanently to New Mexico, but returned for visits to their Victor home into the 1970s...