By Steve Plutt
December 16, 2024
Clara Mary Hekkers was born in Holland, Michigan to Dutch
parents on February 1, 1890 1 . The family relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and lived there
until 1909, the year Clara’s father, Mr. Albert Hekkers, died. So for health reasons and with her mother Jennie and younger brother Andrew, the Hekkers’ all traveled to Colorado Springs on The Rock Island Railroad. When the family first arrived here, they all lived for a short while at 220 E. Vermijo in Colorado Springs. Jennie filed for and received a 160 acre homestead just north of Colorado Springs where I-25 and Interquest Parkway intersects today. Clara also laid claim to her own homestead which she worked 7 months out
of the year for three years in Lincoln County, Colorado.
However, the Colorado Springs City Directory shows the family
also living at 101 S. 7 th Street from 1911 to 1912 . Then in 1914, the family was living at 315
Mesa Road. On April 3, 1918 in Colorado Springs, Clara married Mr. William Schreck 6 who owned his own farm east of Colorado Springs. In 1920, the couple moved in town to 235 Mesa 7 , just a few doors down from her mom and brother. Their marriage ended in divorce on June 30, 1925. While visiting back in her Michigan hometown, Clara met and married John Vos . John was born in Dutch Holland on July 19, 1895 and came to the U.S. in 1902 10 . In 1930, the couple owned
their own farm in El Paso County, near Colorado Springs. 11
It was in 1933 when John and Clara Vos came to Woodland Park, encouraged by Clara’s brother- in-law, Carroll Hadley. 12 & 13 In 1935, the couple owned and operated a filling station (once the only one in town) at what was known as “Hadley’s Corner”. That station was at the intersection of Park and Midland, which today is Joanie's Deli and Bakery, the Thai Restaurant and the former Judges. Then they built a “cottage camp” 14 called the Red Roof Cabins, which were at the corner of Midland Avenue and Fairview Street. But in the 1930s, Highway 24 as we know it today, did not exist. In those days, their motel was located in what today is the middle of
Highway 24, in front of Williams Furniture. Just prior to the “new” Highway 24
coming into Woodland Park in 1937, the
Town of Woodland Park and the State
needed her property. So in a land swap
deal with the Town, the Vos’ gave up their
property and business and took ownership
of the lot where the Vos building sits
today. 16 The Red Roof Cabins were moved
just north, to where the present day
parking lot of Joanie’s is located. Clara
also started up a small grocery there too.
She later sold the business to Mr. and Mrs.
Edwards 17 who owned the business for
several decades, but eventually changed
its name to the Pine Tree Café and Motel.
In 1937 Clara opened a new business in an
old hardware store and sold antiques there while she built a new two story building that would
be used as both her residence and antique store. That “new” building was built by John, Clara and three friends. It was constructed out of cinder blocks, stucco and rough cut lumber
from Jake Workman’s Manitou Park sawmill.
The new business was first named
“Olde Shop Antiques” but later changed to “Vos Antiques”, then to “Antiques by Vos”.
And we all remember that the sign “Seek and Ye Shall Find” that was installed above
the entrance to her shop. 20 Everyone in Woodland Park knew that was her
watchword. This new shop was located at 209 E. Midland Ave., the same building that
today, some in Woodland Park refer to as “urban blight” , or a “ongoing insult to the city” . Friends and family told her that “Nobody will ever come way up to Woodland Park for a
few antiques.” Oh how they were wrong, her antique business lasted 45 years in that
location and by 1950, there were a total of five antique shops in Woodland Park. Every
customer that ventured inside Clara’s business instantly became a dear friend. That
building is also where I first met Mrs. Vos .
In 1982 when Clara was 92 years of age, she sold the business and building to Jerry Wilson. Wilson, who is the mother of three adult children, will continue to operate it as
an antique store, but she renamed it to “Jerry’s Junque”. For nearly 50 years, Mrs. Vos was extremely active in making Woodland Park a better and healthier place for all of
its residents to live. Inside this landmark building, known today as an “eyesore” by some, it gave birth to ideas that were conceived and formulated by Clara and her Home
Demonstration Club ladies. Mrs. Vos was the driving force that helped raise the money for establishing Memorial Park that we all still enjoy to this day. If not for her and her fellow
lady friends, the 12 residential lots they purchased might very well be populated with homes today, instead of the entire south half of Memorial Park. Clara and her friends even planted 120 trees there and installed picnic tables and fire pits. Some of those trees remain today.
She was also responsible for arranging health care professionals to come up from Colorado
Springs and give health, dental and eye care to Woodland Park’s children, absolutely free of
charge to their parents. All of the countless things that the Home Demonstration Club did for the town of Woodland Park, Clara was the driving force that made it all happen.
Clara was also the former Woodland Park town clerk from 1943 to 1945 and watched this town grow from 200 people to what it was in 1990 when she turned 100 years old. She loved Woodland Park with all her heart.
Never having any children of her own, she did have many nieces and nephews and countless
friends, including myself. Mrs. Vos was always very proud of the youth of Woodland Park and
its school system. Since 1933 she was very active in Woodland Park’s P.T.A., serving as both its President and later, Vice-President. She also attended every single graduation ceremony from the time she moved here. Who among us can make that claim?
Mrs. Vos had a very keen interest in the welfare of her fellow man and her community. But
beside being an undying community activist, Clara was also athletic. In her younger days she
was an avid hiker and runner. At one point, she was the only female that entered the annual foot race up Pikes Peak. And she did it seven times but including her normal hiking she made the summit a grand total of 9 times. Her active lifestyle was also what slowed her down. She fell and broke her hip while playing volleyball and was confined to a wheelchair her remaining days. Clara also liked to travel. On August 16, 1950 she left Woodland Park for her second trip to Europe. She departed from New York on August 23, 1950 and set sail on the USS Washington for Southampton, England. Once there, she traveled to Copenhagen to attend the “Associated Country Women of the World” conference where she had already been elected as a delegate to attend.
Clara was involved in the women’s rights movement and she always worked to find ways
for women to have their abilities appreciated. After the conference, she toured England, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany and Switzerland. She departed for home from Le Havre, France on the SS America. Upon her arrival back in the U.S., she traveled straight to Biloxi, Mississippi to attend the U.S. Home Demonstration Club conference. Why? To learn more and more how to make our community a better place to live.
Once back home, she said “I haven’t found any place I care for as much as Woodland Park.” 27 In a 1976 news interview, 85 year old Clara said, “I think Woodland Park has been wonderful to me and I want to spend the rest of my life here.”
Mrs. Vos turned 100 years old in
1990 and died on May 2, 1991 in
Colorado Springs. So this building may be a blight or an eyesore to some, but for me and an awful lot of other pre-1980 residents of Woodland Park, it is a landmark that has huge historical significance to the city of Woodland Park. It is a building where many ideas were fostered that turned into so many positive improvements to the then small town of Woodland Park.
Bibliography:
Ancestry.com.
Colorado Springs Gazette.
Colorado State Highway Dept.
Penrose Library.
Pikes Peak Courier.
Teller County Assessor's office.
Teller County Clerk & Recorder's office.
Ute Pass Courier.
Ute Pass Echo.
Woodland Park View.
1 Ancestry.com, Michigan, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1867-1911.
2 Woodland Park View newspaper, November 10, 1950, 1:4.
3 Colorado Springs Gazette, May 24, 1976, B1:1.
4 There isn’t a city directory for the year 1913.
5 Colorado Springs City Directory, 1910-1914.
6 Ancestry.com, Colorado, U.S., Select County Marriages, 1863-2018.
7 Colorado Springs City Directory, 1920.
8 Ancestry.com, Colorado, Divorce Index, 1851-1985.
9 Ancestry.com, Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952.
10 1920 United States Federal Census.
11 John and Clara divorced in 1942 and John gave a Quit Claim deed of their property to Clara.
12 Woodland Park View newspaper, November 10, 1950, 1:5.
13 Clara’s brother Andrew married into the Hadley family.
14 In that era, the term “cottage camp” was used to describe an individual cabins rented for the night.
15 Colorado State Highway Dept. Survey Map, 1936.
16 Warranty Deed Number 140268, Clerk & Recorders Office, Cripple Creek, Colorado.
17 Woodland Park View, November 10, 1950, 1:5.
18 Colorado Springs Gazette, May 24, 1976, B1:1.
19 Ute Pass Echo, July 25, 1941, page 12.
20 Ute Pass Courier, June 16, 1966, 9:2.
21 Arden Weatherford, Pikes Peak Courier, July 19, 2023, 9:1.
22 Arden Weatherford, Pikes Peak Courier, July 12, 2023, 1:1.
23 Ute Pass Courier, June 16, 1966, 9:2.
24 Outside of this story, I’ve never referred to her as Clara, always Mrs. Vos.
25 Colorado Springs Gazette, May 24, 1976, B1:1.
26 Colorado Springs Gazette, May 24, 1976, B1:1.
27 Woodland Park View, November 10, 1950, 1:5.
28 Ute Pass Courier, July 1, 1976, 22:1.
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