E Pluribus Unum for a more Grand Junction

Take a coin out of your pocket. If you’re lucky, it will have a “D” on the front, indicating that it was minted in Denver. However, I contend that every coin you take out of your pocket will have the name Grand Junction on it — or at least its Latin translation.

You see, by law, every American coin includes the latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum”. This phrase is typically translated to “Out of many, one.” During the run-up to the Revolutionary War, this phrase was used by the colonists as a way to share their vision of 13 colonies combining into one union.

In 1881, our city’s founders named the town “Grand Junction” because it was the site of the merging of rivers. The Colorado River is made of many tributaries: The Frying Pan, Plateau Creek, Eagle River, but the most grand confluence is where the turquoise of the Gunnison intermingles with the red of the Colorado. E Pluribus Unum.

Out of many, one. Grand Junction.

Similarly, the first line of the U.S. Constitution reads “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union …” You could be forgiven for not having noticed that the name of our city, or at least an approximation of it, is found in the very first line of the Constitution. “In order to form a more perfect union.” A union is a junction, and what is a more perfect union, than a more grand junction?

America’s founders recognized that our union wasn’t perfect, so they codified that we should always strive to make it more perfect — in the case of the Constitution, through its amendments. As a citizen of Grand Junction, I recognize that our city isn’t perfect, but over the last 143 years, we’ve continually sought after a more grand junction.

I love that junction is in our name. Junctions are coming togethers. They are places where people pool their efforts in pursuit of a whole that is better than the sum of its parts. We are a city of strivers whose businesses, churches, schools and families collaborate to make our city more equitable, livable and prosperous.

Here are several different perspectives on what junction means and on how we strive to make Grand Junction a more perfect city:

¦ Junction means sharing a vision.

Several statues grace our city’s most iconic street. One, titled “With Eyes of Faith” depicts Sister Mary Farrell holding a tiny boy with a crutch as she points into the future to the site where she and Sister Madden will build a hospital. These nuns shared their vision through “begging missions” across Colorado, raising funds, purchasing the land and eventually building the structure.

The sisters joined construction workers in hauling rocks from the river. On opening day, The Daily Sentinel proclaimed “Here, without distinction as to race, creed or color, the afflicted at all times may find a refuge.”

¦ Junction means connection. As we grow, we will require ever more connections in our community. Places to meet and recreate and transportation systems that will take us to these beloved people and places. Our new recreation center is taking shape at Matchett Park. Our grandparents will play card games in those community rooms and pickleball on those courts. Our grandchildren will swim in those pools and chase balls on those fields.

¦ Junction means partnership.

Grand Junction homes are increasingly out of reach to our families. Affordability requires partnership between nonprofit organizations, for-profit builders and the government. For-profit builders take on the risk, construct the homes, employ the local workers and pay the taxes. The government provides incentives, ensures safety and sustainability and tempers its enthusiasm for new fees and codes. Nonprofits bridge between the government and the builders, ensuring that the homes we create are accessible to those in most need and tailored to their difficult circumstances. We still have a long way to go.

¦ Junction means coming together during a crisis. Like our state and country, Grand Junction is facing a mental health crisis. CMU is meeting this need through their new Masters of Social Work program. The city provides student loan repayment to social work graduates who stay in Grand Junction providing therapy services. The city also purchased a venerable Victorian home on Orchard Mesa and gifted it to the nonprofit Counseling and Education Center. Within a year, a dozen therapists will provide affordable services in this previously under-served area.

¦ Junction means safety in numbers.

In the past four years, the city has opened three new fire stations and rebuilt a fourth.

In 2022, the Grand Junction Fire Department was fully-accredited by the Center for Public Safety Excellence. This status has been achieved by less than 1% of American fire departments. We have increased the salaries of our police officers and firefighters so we can continue to attract the best and brightest emergency responders.

Through these efforts and others, major crime in Grand Junction has dropped over the past four years.

¦ Junction means getting down together. Our town’s coolest addition was created by Carrie St Clair and some helpers. She brought us Porchella — a now annual event in which a dozen downtown homes open up their porches to free community concerts, with a blowout dance party at the end. There’s nothing more beautiful than seeing families and neighbors dancing together.

Our community’s heritage is built on joining rivers. Rivers that were tapped by farmers to grow food, quarried by nuns to build a hospital, shaped by developers to build neighborhoods, and protected by the government to secure our vision into the future. Each of us plays a vital role in this on-going experiment in the high desert.

E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one.

Grand Junction.

Randall Reitz is the Mayor Pro Tem serving on Grand Junction’s City Council.