Limon, Colorado

Limon is a statutory town that is the most populous municipality in Lincoln County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,043 at the 2020 United States Census. Limon lies at the intersection of Interstate 70, U.S. Highways 24, 40, 287, and Colorado Highway 71. The Limon Correctional Facility is part of the Colorado Department of Corrections system and is a major employer in the area with employment of roughly 350.

Limon is the western terminus of the Kyle Railroad and it is here the regional interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad. Trains previously stopped at Limon Railroad Depot.

History
Railroads were the major factor for Limon's original founding and location. The Kansas Pacific Railroad made its way across the plains from southern Kansas following the Smoky Hill Trail in 1870. In 1888, the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad (now the Kyle Railroad) made its way west to east from Colorado Springs, entering Lincoln County and intersecting the Kansas Pacific (now Union Pacific) at the present day location of Limon. This union of the two railroads was the earliest founding of the "Hub City".

Porter lynching
Limon was the site of a lynching on November 16, 1900. Preston Porter Jr, a sixteen-year-old African-American male, had confessed under duress to the murder of eleven-year-old Louise Frost who was Caucasian. Porter was apparently being held some 90 miles away in Denver, but was sent back to Limon by request of unspecified people and against the wishes of Sheriff Freeman. When the train carrying Porter stopped in Limon, sixteen men selected from a mob of 300 "marked by calmness and determination" took Porter from Freeman's custody despite the sheriff's protestations "in the name of law." Originally it was announced that Porter would be hanged but many in the crowd including R. W. Frost, the girl's father, objected "that such a death would be too easy." The method was left to Frost who decided upon burning at the stake. Frost also refused to allow mutilation of Porter's body before burning. While waiting for his execution, Porter sat next to a bonfire reading the Gospel of Luke from the Bible. Porter was chained to an iron railroad rail set in the ground on the exact spot where the murder had taken place and burned to death, the match to start the fire being set by the girl's father. Lynchings of this type were apparently rare, as reporters on the scene wrote: "The general sentiment expressed approves the execution of the negro, but deprecates the method adopted."

1990 tornado
On June 6, 1990, an F3 tornado touched down near Matheson (about 16 miles west of Limon), tearing roughly east-northeast through fields. Minutes later, the then rain-wrapped tornado arrived, devastating the city. The storm injured 14 people, but remarkably no one was killed. Most of Limon's business district had been laid to ruins in just moments.

Governor Roy Romer declared Limon a disaster area the next day.

Limon successfully rebuilt its business district adding streetscaping, a new Town Hall, relocating a medical clinic and Limon Memorial Library, creating Hub City Senior Center and a new fire station. Downtown Limon is now a thriving center of the community demonstrating the strength of this rural community.

Limon Schools
Limon Schools has a new K-12 facility that opened in the fall of 2015. The $22.5 million project built two stories of new classrooms that accommodate up to 600 students.

Limon Elementary School is a public coed school with 240 students in grades K-5. According to state standards, 82% of students at this school are considered proficient in math or reading.

Limon Junior-Senior High School has 233 students in grades 6-12. According to state standards, 77% of students at this school are considered proficient in reading. Graduation rate is 90%.

Morgan Community College
Morgan Community College: Limon Center serves Arickaree, Flagler, Genoa-Hugo, Karval, Kit Carson, Limon, and Woodlin high schools. It currently offers A.A., A.S., A.A.S. & A.G.S. degrees; Transfer courses; Nursing pre-requisites; Agriculture & Business Management; GED preparation & testing; Specialty classes for teacher re-licensure; EMS training; and Computer classes.

Limon Child Development Center
Limon Child Development Center (Limon Head Start) offers a full-day, full-year preschool program for children ages 3–5. There are various funding programs available for children including Head Start, Colorado Preschool Program (CPP), CCCAP through the Lincoln County Department of Human Services, and private pay tuition.

Geography
Limon is located at 39.26389°N, -103.69222°W at an elevation of 5377 ft. Although entirely in Lincoln County, Limon is located immediately east of the Elbert County line. It lies on the north side of Big Sandy Creek, a tributary of the Arkansas River, on the eastern edge of the Colorado Piedmont region of the Great Plains, and is near the eastern end of the Palmer Divide. Located in east-central Colorado at the junction of Interstate 70, U.S. Highway 287, U.S. Highway 40, U.S. Highway 24, and State Highway 71, Limon is far from any major city or town, being 72 mi northeast of Colorado Springs, 83 mi southeast of Denver, and 486 mi west of Kansas City.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.9 sqmi, all land.

Climate
Limon has a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) with cold, dry winters and warm, mildly wetter summers. Due to its location on the eastern plains, the town is often subject to severe, sometimes violent thunderstorms throughout the summer. Large hail, damaging winds, heavy rain, and tornadoes are common in the summer months. The high temperature reaches or exceeds 90 °F an average of 32.3 days a year and reaches or exceeds 100 °F an average of 0.8 days a year. The minimum temperature falls below the freezing point 32 °F an average of 195.9 days a year. Typically, the first fall freeze occurs by the fourth week of September, and the last spring freeze occurs by the third week of May. In a typical year, Limon receives 14.97 in of precipitation, and there are 81.3 days of measurable precipitation. The hottest temperature recorded in Limon was 104 °F on July 20, 2005; the coldest temperature recorded was −28 °F on February 14, 2021.

Demographics
As of the 2010 census, there were 1,880 people, 828 households, and 476 families residing in the town. The population density was 989.5 PD/sqmi. There were 963 housing units at an average density of 506.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 93.2% White, 0.9% American Indian, 0.8% African American, 0.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.8% from some other race, and 1.5% from two or more races. 9.4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 828 households, out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.9% were married couples living together, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.5% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27, and the average family size was 3.00.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males age 18 and over.

As of 2009, the median income for a household in the town was $40,903, and the median income for a family was $46,061. Males had a median income of $49,097 versus $31,615 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,442. About 16.6% of families and 18.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.5% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.

Print
The Limon Leader is the city's weekly newspaper, published by Hoffman Publications, LLC and has a circulation of about 3,200 copies.

Radio
The following radio stations are licensed to or broadcast from Limon:

AM

FM

Television
Limon is in the Denver television market.

Highways
Limon is connected by Interstate 70 east to Kansas and west to Denver. The Ports-to-Plains Corridor, including US 40/287 south and Colorado Highway 71 to the north, connects to Texas and South Dakota.

Colorado State Highway 71 connects south from Limon to Pueblo. U.S. Route 24 is a direct passage southwest from Limon to Colorado Springs.

Railroads
Limon is served by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Kyle Railroad, a short-line railroad owned by Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. The Kyle Railroad runs from North Central Kansas into Eastern Colorado with Limon as the western terminus where it interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad.

Aviation
The Town of Limon is 83 mi from Denver International Airport, the largest airport in the state. Colorado Springs Airport is located about 74 mi from Limon.

Limon Municipal Airport is a public use airport located at the eastern edge of town. The two-runway airport encompasses approximately 397 acre and is owned and operated by the town government. The general aviation airport utilized by a range of aircraft ranging from single-engine aircraft up to small sized multi-engine business jets.