You are here

Colorado » The Colorado » San Juan County » Silverton » Christ of the Mines Shrine

Christ of the Mines Shrine

-A A +A
1959. Scenic Dr. and 10th St.

Silverton's fortunes fell to an all-time low in the 1950s when the D&RG suspended year-round operations to become a summer-only passenger operation and the Shenandoah-Dives, the largest mine in the county, closed. Rather than mourn their unemployment, members of the Catholic Men's Club at St. Patrick's Church and Father Joseph Halloran undertook this shrine. The county donated the site and volunteers used old stone from Charles Fischer's abandoned Silverton Brewery to make a base and a grotto for the statue.

The whole town donated labor, supplies, and money to buy and install the 5-ton, 12-foot-high Carrara marble Christ, with arms uplifted to bless Silverton and its mines. Shortly after the shrine's 1959 dedication, the Standard Metals Corporation reopened the Sunnyside Mine, and Florida citrus baron Charles Bradshaw revived the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which has been Silverton's lifeline since its construction in 1882.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
×

Data

What's Nearby

St. Patrick's Catholic Church
Silverton Public Library
United Church of Silverton
American Legion Post (Western Federation of Miners Union Hall)
Grand Imperial Hotel

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Christ of the Mines Shrine", [Silverton, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-SA16.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 565-566.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,