Thursday, November 13, 2025

Question: What is Colorado’s oldest standing church?

Answer: Built in 1863, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Conejos, just north of the Colorado-New Mexico line, is the state’s oldest church site still in use. Though the original structure was destroyed by fire in 1926, parts of the church, including its adobe towers, were preserved and incorporated into the current building.

According to local lore, a group of Spanish settlers traveling through the San Luis Valley were inspired to establish the parish when a stubborn mule refused to budge from the building’s present-day site.