| Ludlow | |
| Settlement Type: | Ghost town |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Colorado |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the state of Colorado |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Colorado |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Population As Of: | 2000 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | Mountain (MST) |
| Utc Offset: | -7 |
| Timezone Dst: | MDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -6 |
| Elevation Ft: | 6283 |
| Coordinates: | 37.3333°N -104.5831°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 81055[1] |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 194575[2] |
Ludlow is a ghost town in Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. It was the site of the Ludlow Massacre–part of the Colorado Coalfield War–in 1914. The town site is located at the entrance to a canyon in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It is located along the western side of Interstate 25 approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of the town of Trinidad. Nearby points of interest include the Ludlow Monument, a monument to the coal miners and their families who were killed in the 1914 massacre, the Hastings coke ovens, and the Victor American Hastings Mine Disaster Monument.
Robert Adams made a series of photographs in Ludlow in 1981.[3] In June 2009, the Ludlow Tent Colony Site was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark by Department of the Interior in a ceremony attended by Governor Bill Ritter following approval in January of that year.[4]
A road and standard-gauge railroad was built through Ludlow in 1888 by the Denver, Texas, and Fort Worth Railroad, which would later become the Colorado & Southern.[5]
See main article: Ludlow Massacre. On 20 April 1914, after months of sporadic violence and the withdrawal of a larger contingent of troops a few days before, Colorado National Guardsmen and local militia fired on strikers participating in the United Mine Workers of America strike against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron company. Roughly 20 occupants of the colony, including at least 12 women and children, were killed––mostly by smoke inhalation in the ensuing conflagration. Also among the dead was Greek labor-organizer Louis Tikas.[6] A single Guardsman is known to have been killed by gunfire from the strikers.[7] The violence at Ludlow sparked the most intense period of violence of the Colorado Coalfield War, which lasted until President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops into Colorado to end the fighting on 29 April.