La Junta Tribune-Democrat Building 418-422 Colorado Ave.

The La Junta Tribune, the town's first newspaper, was founded by J.C. Denny in 1881 or 1882. Denny edited the newspaper while serving as the town's station agent, telegraph operator, and first mayor. The weekly newspaper was published on an old army printing press set up in the AT&SF freight depot. The Tribune supported Republican politics and politicians, both local and national, and strongly supported female suffrage. The paper advocated for the building of irrigation ditches and supported homesteading in general, indirectly promoting the removal of wire fences installed on open range land. This caused local stockmen to boycott the paper, causing it to stuggle and forcing Denny into a mortgage with T.J. Hickman and J.C. Jones. Denny kept the struggling newspaper afloat via a deal involving the politcal endorsement of a Pueblo judge and a donation from A.A. Robinson, general manager of the AT&SF. 

During the lae 1880s and early 1890s, the paper experienced a number of ownership and editorial changes involving G.D. Phillips, A.J. Anderson, W.S. English, George S. Thomson, and J.F. Thompson.  In 1900, Federick Banes Mason acquired the paper and remained editor until his death in 1928.

418-422 Colorado Avenue was built in 1923 by the Daily Democrat. James B. Pearce was manager and president of parent company The La Junta Democrat Publishing Company. Pearce's successor at the Democrat, Ralph Rawles Wheeler, moved to La Junta in 1937, and oversaw the Democrat's merger with the Tribune and became the Tribune-Democrat's publisher until his death in 1945. 

In 1946, Aleyn ("Al") Henry Burtis purchased the La Junta Tribune-Democrat. Al was the editor of the paper and president of the publishing company until his death in 1987. Guy Spencer Burtis, nephew of Al, joined the paper when Al purchased it. Spencer was the paper's managing editor and publisher until his retirment in 1985. 

Mack Burtis, son of Al, joined his father at the paper in 1975, after twenty years of service with the military. At this time John L. Lowe, Mack's brother-in-law, worked as business manager and sports editor. Mack worked at the paper until his retirement in 1995 when John Burtis Lowe became editor of the paper. 

The Tribune-Democrat acquired an offset printing press, becoming one of the first small-town papers in Colorado to do so. According to Joe Farra, who worked at the paper from 1967 until his retirement in 2011, people came from all over the state to learn how to operate the press. They printed their own paper at the building and printed other area newspapers. 

In 2002, the Burtis-Lowe family sold the newspaper and property to Womack Publishing. Over the next several years the paper was sold multiple times. It is unknown when the Tribune-Democrat ceased operating out of the building.