Colorado’s “Memorial Rock” Was Created by a Massive Landslide on Memorial Day Weekend

A monument was established in Colorado in 2019, and its origin was completely unplanned as it was the product of a natural disaster.

The Colorado Disaster that Took Place on Memorial Day Weekend

Typically, Memorial Day is not just a day off from work to fire up the grill with friends and family; it’s also a time to remember the men and women who served in the United States Military and are no longer with us.

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However, Memorial Day of 2019 turned rocky for a section of Colorado Highway 145, pun intended, as a massive rockslide occurred, destroying part of the highway and leaving debris.

One of the pieces of debris was a 4,250-ton boulder that is still sitting where it fell near Dolores between Telluride and the Four Corners region all these years later.

Colorado Landslide Gives Birth to Colorado Attraction

While the section of Highway 145 that was affected by the rockslide, which took place on Friday, May 24, 2019, three days before Memorial Day proper, was still being cleaned up and repaired, it was decided that the Colorado Department of Transportation would leave the 4,000-ton boulder where it landed.

According to Governor Jared Polis, by doing this, roughly $200,000 worth of taxpayer money is saved by the State of Colorado.

The attraction was given the name “Memorial Rock” due to the event that took place on Memorial Day weekend, and the Governor’s office soon began to seek official site designation for it.

Check out the full story via a Facebook post from Governor Polis here.