History of Pueblo

Presidential visits

President Woodrow Wilson, on a speaking tour to gather support for the entry of the United States into the League of Nations, collapsed on September 25, 1919 following a speech in Pueblo. He suffered a stroke a week later which incapacitated him for the rest of his presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt arrived at the Pueblo Union Depot in order to lay the first brick down for the Y.M.C.A., and also check the water resources in Colorado.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower Jan. 16, 1957, toured drought-stricken regions of Pueblo County amid 20-degree weather.

President George H. W. Bush (when he was Vice President) visited the Pueblo Nature Center's Raptor Center to release an American Bald Eagle that had its wings healed.

Other national leaders to visit Pueblo include Presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, Senator John Kerry, and Vice President Al Gore.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, both major party candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, visited Pueblo as part of their campaigns. Colorado was considered a key swing state in that election, with Obama becoming the first Democratic candidate since Clinton in 1992 to win the state's electoral votes