Provident City

Provident City was a land promotional endeavor located between Goldenrod and Sandy creeks near the southern tip of Colorado County. It was founded in 1909 on lands owned by the Provident Land Company of Kansas City and served as the business and shopping center for approximately 500 families from the Midwest who bought five-to-ten-acre tracts, sight unseen, and moved to the area. The land company built a large hotel in Ganado and another in Provident City to house prospective settlers, and for a time Provident City flourished. A post office was established in 1910, when the town had banks, churches, restaurants, a school, several general merchandise and grocery stores, a drugstore, an undertaking establishment, and such amenities as a jewelry store, as well as a cannery for local produce and a broom factory. The population was estimated at 150 in 1914.

The land around Provident City is generally flat and consists mostly of sandy loam. It proved to be well suited to melons and cucumbers and some other fruits and vegetables. However, the area was quite isolated and a promised railroad spur line was not built. The town began its decline during World War I, when many men left the area for better paying jobs or for locations nearer to urban centers. Abandoned farms were either bought or acquired for nonpayment of taxes during the Great Depression, and by 1949 there was only one business serving about thirty residents. The post office was closed in 1953, and most of the remaining individual landholdings were acquired by the Hancock Oil Company for its ranching ventures. In 1986 only the original hotel remained as headquarters for ranching operations.