100 years later, the funeral-crashing Johnstown Meteorite celebrates its centennial

John Moore's headstone was smaller than I'd imagined.

The red granite stone couldn't have been bigger than the laptop bag hanging from my shoulder when I visited Moore's final resting place in Northern Colorado's Johnstown Cemetery early Friday afternoon. "John Moore Sr.," its unembellished engraving read. "1881-1924."

The stone isn't part of a big family plot. It isn't surrounded by any more Moores. But while nondescript, I suppose Moore's grave is befitting in its simplicity. He was a small town farmer, after all.

The true excitement surrounding Moore's grave came days after his death when — on July 6, 1924 — a nearly 12-pound meteorite hurtled through the sky and slammed into the ground outside the cemetery, interrupting Moore's funeral service around 4:20 p.m.

The Johnstown Meteorite, which was one of 27 verified meteorites found in its fall area, seared itself and John Moore Sr. into Northern Colorado lore. Now, it's once again the talk of Johnstown as the community — a growing town 25 miles southeast of Fort Collins — celebrates the meteorite's centennial and works to bring a piece of it home.

What makes the Johnstown Meteorite so special?

Meteorite falls as a whole aren't rare. In fact, the American Meteor Society estimates that between 10 and 50 meteorite dropping events occur over Earth each day. However, since two-thirds of these meteorite falls occur over oceans, another quarter of them take place in uninhabited areas and half occur at night, only a handful of meteorite falls are witnessed across the world each year.

"It is very rare that a meteorite fall would be witnessed simply because they mainly fall into the ocean because the world is mostly water, or they’ll fall and can be seen from a distance," Billie DeLancey, the director of Johnstown's Historic Parish House and Museum, reiterated over the phone with the Coloradoan last week. "It’s extremely rare that (a meteorite fall is) witnessed and that you can walk over and pick it up."

That's what happened 100 years ago, though, when the nearly 12-pound meteorite fell from the sky above what is now Johnstown, creating a "deafening blast of what resembled rifle shots accompanied by smoke" in the midst of Moore's funeral, DeLancey wrote in a recent article for The Johnstown Breeze.

The meteorite landed in the road near the cemetery's former Dilley Chapel. At the time, the cemetery was still part of the small community of Elwell and the cemetery — now Johnstown Cemetery — was known as Elwell Cemetery.

Shocked funeral attendees thought the world could be ending and ran over to see what had just happened. They found the meteorite nestled in a hole about 18-20 inches deep, according to DeLancey. A man named Walter Mallonee, who lived next to Dilley Chapel, dug up the meteorite while the funeral attendees went back to the cemetery and finished Moore's burial.

The meteorite was put on display around Elwell and Johnstown in the following days, but ultimately ended up at the Colorado History Museum, now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where it remains today. A 52-pound piece of the meteorites — the largest piece found as part of the July 6, 1924 meteorite shower — was discovered roughly a week later in George Walker's beet field near Big Thompson River. It is on exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, according to the Johnstown Historical Society.

Bringing a piece of the Johnstown Meteorite home

Since Johnstown has been growing rapidly — its population has almost doubled to nearly 20,000 residents since 2010, according to Census records — many of the town's newer residents have probably never heard of the Johnstown Meteorite, DeLancey surmised.

Still, "this is one of the biggies," DeLancey said, when asked about the meteorite's historical significance in town.

Johnstown hosted a special centennial celebration for the meteorite July 6. It included the dedication of a permanent memorial space marking where the meteorite fell, an educational program with NASA scientists, a drone show and a visit from the meteorite itself, which was lugged around from event to event and displayed on loan from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

At 4:20 p.m., residents even gathered around a sheet cake at Roosevelt High School and sang "Happy Birthday" to the meteorite, DeLancey said.

While the Johnstown Meteorite's birthday candles have been blown out and it has since returned to its home in Denver, the Johnstown Historical Society's work isn't done yet.

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Since more than two dozen pieces of the same meteorite have been found, verified and — in some cases — scattered amongst various collectors over the years, the historical society is hoping to raise enough money to buy a piece.

The society's original fundraising goal was around $2,000, which would cover the price of a roughly 2-inch piece, but the more money they raise, the larger the piece will be, DeLancey said.

Donations can be made on the Johnstown Historical Society website . Every donor will have their name included in the meteorite's permanent exhibit once it's purchased and put on display at the town's historic Parish House and Museum, 701 Charlotte St. Donors of $25 or more get a one-year membership to the historical society and commemorative coins, DeLancey added. The fundraiser doesn't currently have a set end date.

DeLancey said the exhibit would be “from the community for the community to enjoy."

DeLancey said until recently — when the society was reviewing applications for its meteorite centennial planning committee — nobody realized that someone with a special connection to the meteorite was a part of that very community.

On her application, Johnstown resident Denyse Seymour said she should be considered for the committee since the meteorite had interrupted the funeral of her great-grandfather, John Moore Sr.

Seymour, who had grown up in Denver, didn't learn about her family's connection to the meteorite until her late sister, Lee, moved to Johnstown in the early 2000s and their father asked her where the local cemetery was.

"She pointed to it and asked, ‘Why?’," Seymour recalled. "That’s when he told her, 'Your great-grandfather’s buried there,' and we heard the whole story."

Seymour later moved to Johnstown herself. Already a genealogy buff, she started digging into the life of John Moore Sr. Over the years, she's visited his grave several times and has collected news clippings detailing the meteorite fall. In 2022, Seymour said she applied for the Johnstown Historical Society's meteorite centennial planning committee.

“I was just elated," DeLancey said of the discovery that Seymour was related to Moore. Through her, the Johnstown Historical Society was able to learn more about the mysterious John Moore who was forever linked to their famous meteorite.

The Russian German carpenter had come to the U.S. from Russia with his wife, Katie, and son, John Moore Jr., Seymour recounted. The family lived in Illinois, where they had four more children — including Seymour's grandfather, Alex Moore. They ultimately moved to Milliken, Colorado, where the senior Moore farmed and the couple had their last child.

Moore Sr. died of an aneurysm while farming. He was 43 years old and his youngest child, a daughter, was just two. Katie remarried a local widower who had six kids of his own. They raised their blended family in Fort Morgan, Seymour said. Her grandfather, Alex Moore, was seven years old when his father died.

Seymour said she was happy to be involved and represent the Moore family at the Johnstown Meteorite festivities.

"We are still here, and he does still have relatives," Seymour said. Among those relatives were John Moore Sr.'s grandsons, Melvin and John Moore, who stood with Seymour at the July 6 dedication of the memorial marking the meteorite's fall.

Melvin and John also walked into the cemetery after the ceremony and, like his descendants did 100 years ago, gathered at John Moore Sr.'s grave. Only this time, no more meteorites fell.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: 100 years later, the funeral-crashing Johnstown Meteorite celebrates its centennial