Bessie Konishi has the fondest memories of the La Jara Buddhist Temple, where she and her family worshiped growing up in La Jara some 90 years ago.
Her father, Eiichi “Frank” Yosida, was among the first of the Japanese farmers to come into the San Luis Valley from California, arriving in February of 1925 to work after hearing about the opportunities through Charles Gibson and the Costilla Estate Company.
By 1930, there were 233 Japanese farming and living in the Valley, according to the U.S. Census. Crops like cabbage and cauliflower and broccoli were covering 1,500 acres and becoming so large in production that the farmers incorporated as the San Luis Valley Vegetable Packers, with two packing sheds located along the railroad tracks to ship the food.
The farmers and their families were Buddhists, and because the nearest Buddhist Temple was in Denver, they built themselves a modest Buddhist Temple on Poplar Street in La Jara.
Dedicated on Feb. 6, 1937, the La Jara Buddhist Temple became the gathering place for the Valley’s growing Japanese community, serving as a Japanese school on Saturdays and a special place for celebrations like New Year’s Day and the celebration of Buddha’s birthday each April.
History Colorado has now entered the picture through its Colorado Heritage for All campaign, which promises to mark the 150 years since Colorado’s statehood in 2026 with 150 new historical designations.
So far, 75 new designations have been made, the organization announced in October.
“The Colorado Heritage for All initiative is a generational investment to build a historic record that recognizes, honors, and protects the full history of our state. Our action today ensures that 150 years into the future these sites will still exist as part of Colorado’s rich collective memory,” said Dawn DiPrince, president/CEO of History Colorado and the State Historic Preservation Officer.
The La Jara Buddhist Temple is now the second historical site in the Valley to be added to the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties through the Heritage for All initiative, joining the Alamosa Spanish Cemetery located along the Co-Op Road in Alamosa County.
Nominated by Brandon Gonzales, the once-La Jara Buddhist Temple is now a non-descript triplex apartment complex that sits across from La Jara Elementary and the beauty of the mountains to the east.
In the nomination, Gonzalez wrote, “The La Jara Buddhist Temple should be added to the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties for its historic religious and cultural significance to the small rural communities of the San Luis Valley.”
History Colorado says “the designation is an honorary recognition that makes a property eligible for preservation funds, but it does not change or impact how the building is used and there is no requirement that the owner take any particular action.”
Bessie Konishi recalls her roots and the Japanese families establishing the La Jara Buddhist Temple in the documentary, Japanese in the San Luis Valley, produced on YouTube by Alamosa Citizen in December 2022.
She was five when the Buddhist Temple first opened.
“They could not afford hymnals so the songs, written in Japanese, were on large white sheets of cloth tacked to a wooden frame. As a song was sung, sheets were flicked just like a page in a hymnal,” she recalls.
The nomination was supported by photographs, documents and oral histories shared by Konishi, Alyce Fujii and Jane Wakasugi. Fujii has passed since the nomination was made, but it was very important to her and her family that this site was listed, said History Colorado’s Agelika Albaladejo.