Trinidad, Colorado

City of Trinidad, Colorado
City
Location in Las Animas County and the State of Colorado
Country	United States
State	State of Colorado
County	Las Animas County - seat
Incorporated	December 30, 1879
Government
• Type	Home Rule Municipality
Area
• Total	6.3 sq mi (16.3 km2)
• Land	6.3 sq mi (16.3 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation Template:GR	6,010 ft (1,832 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	9,078
• Density	1,441/sq mi (556.9/km2)
Time zone	UTC-7 (Mountain (MST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-6 (MDT)
ZIP code	81082
Area code	719
FIPS code	08-78610
GNIS feature ID	0204811
Website	City of Trinidad

Trinidad History Museum, housed in the Baca Bloom Mansion

The historic City of Trinidad is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States.Template:GR The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 9,077 in 2005.

Geography

Trinidad is located at 37°10′15″N 104°30′23″W (37.170944, -104.506447)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.3 square miles (16.3 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 9,078 people, 3,701 households, and 2,335 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,439.4 people per square mile (555.5/km²). There were 4,126 housing units at an average density of 654.2/sq mi (252.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.97% White, 0.54% African American, 3.02% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 12.12% from other races, and 3.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 48.07% of the population.

There were 3,701 households out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.6% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.9% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.9% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,681, and the median income for a family was $33,992. Males had a median income of $27,817 versus $19,064 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,271. About 16.2% of families and 18.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.6% of those under age 18 and 20.0% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

For many years Trinidad housed the miners who worked in the coal mines of the Raton Basin south and west of the town. The coal mines are now closed, but since the 1980s companies have been drilling new gas wells to extract coalbed methane from the remaining coal seams.

Trinidad's location at the foot of Raton Pass, along the Santa Fe Trail between St. Joseph, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico has always made it a favored route for travellers, first by foot, then horse and ox-drawn wagon, then by railroad. Today Interstate 25, the most highly-travelled route between Colorado and New Mexico, passes through Trinidad.

"Sex Change Capital of the World"

Main article: Stanley Biber

Trinidad has been dubbed the "Sex Change Capital of the World", because a local doctor had an international reputation for performing sex reassignment surgery. In the 1960s, Dr. Stanley Biber, a veteran surgeon returning from Korea, decided to move to Trinidad because he had heard that the town needed a surgeon. In 1969 a local social worker asked him if he would perform the surgery for her, which he learned by consulting diagrams and a New York surgeon. Biber attained a reputation as a good surgeon at a time when very few doctors performed the operations. At his peak, Biber was performing roughly four sex change operations a day, and the term "taking a trip to Trinidad" became a euphemism for some seeking the procedures he offered. His surgical practice was taken over in 2003 by Marci Bowers.

Trinidad's reputation as the sex change capital has been uncomfortable for some residents, as it is otherwise a socially conservative small town. However, the revenue brought in by Biber was important to keeping the local hospital running, and Biber was himself a respected community leader. Biber was also featured in an episode of South Park where elementary school teacher Mr. Garrison undergoes a sex change operation.

Points of interest

• Baca House and Outbuilding
• Frank G. Bloom House

Notable residents

• Bat Masterson, famed Old West gunman, was the town Marshal of Trinidad for over a year, during the mid-1880s. His lesser-known gunman brother Jim Masterson, was town Marshal for a time during the 1880s.
• Rock musician Ronnie Lane lived in Trinidad during the final years of his life.
• Dancer Cissy King of television's The Lawrence Welk Show was born in Trinidad and lived there until the age of three.
• John Gagliardi, a native, started his long football coaching career while still attending high school in Trinidad and playing on the squad. Gagliardi is currently the NCAA all-time, all-division winningest football coach. Gagliardi is the current head coach at Division III St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.
• The aforementioned Stanley Biber and Marci Bowers
• James Molloy, who after being hounded out of England decided to visit and undergo his long wished for sex change operation. Now known as 'Molly' she is back in the United Kingdom living in the countryside of Yorkshire.

Trinidad in Popular Culture

• In the Prison Break episode Rendezvous, Lincoln Burrows and LJ Burrows are taken to a safe house in Trinidad by Jane, an ex-company agent, and eventually meet with Lincoln's father, Aldo Burrows.

Transportation

Aerial view of Trinidad, about 1907

Road

• I-25
• USR 160

Rail

• Trinidad (Amtrak station)

Air

• Perry Stokes Airport

External links

• City website
  • CDOT map of Trinidad
• Trinidad Land Realty
• The Trinidad Times Independent - Local newspaper
• The Trinidad Times Independent - Current articles