One hundred years ago, a visitor from space landed in a small Colorado community along the Front Range.

On July 6, 1924, during the funeral for John Moore of Milliken, Colorado, a fiery object with a trail of smoke came screeching from the sky and crashed to the ground outside the Dilley Chapel in Elwell, Colorado, two miles west of present-day Johnstown, Colorado.

“It would have been really loud, but they wouldn’t have ever heard a sonic boom yet, so when they heard this excruciating noise overhead, they really thought the world was ending,” said Billie DeLancey, director of the Parish House and Museum in Johnstown.

DeLancey said that people attending Moore’s funeral questioned what he must have done in life to trigger such a profound event at his funeral. Some attendees ran to the crash site and found an 11.91-pound meteorite burrowed about 20 inches below the surface of the ground. A neighbor unearthed it while mourners proceeded with the service.

The meteorite, cool to the touch with a shiny black surface was named the Johnstown Meteorite – following the convention of naming meteorites after the nearest town with a post office. It is displayed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

On July 6, 2024 —  the centennial birthday of the meteorite’s debut on Earth — it will return to Johnstown. The day will be celebrated by dedicating a historical marker and fun events, including discussions with fascinating Earth and space experts, booths featuring rocks and gems, and educational activities for kids.

What is a meteorite, and where do they fall?

A meteorite is a natural object that has fallen to Earth from space. They appear as “shooting stars” when they pass through Earth’s atmosphere, but people do not often see them falling to the ground.

In fact, the Johnstown Meteorite is only one of five in Colorado — and the first ever recorded — to be seen falling to the ground, according to the Meteorical Bulletin Database from The Meteoritical Society. Most meteorites fall into an ocean, and those that fall on land are often not found for thousands of years after landing.

Colorado has 90 officially known meteorites, the seventh largest number of any U.S. state, according to the society.

“They don’t concentrate in any one area of the state, but we do find a lot on the Plains,” said Colorado State Geologist Matt Morgan. That’s mostly because the Plains are more accessible to search; they are often plowed for agriculture and are old surfaces with lots of exposure and less erosion.

Morgan said geologists often focus their efforts and education within agricultural communities, and Plains residents have come forward with their findings, adding to the state’s collection of meteorites.

He encourages people to attend the Johnstown event, where geologists will examine any rocks or (potential) meteorites found or inherited from ancestors.

“The event will be a perfect time to get together and learn about meteorites,” Morgan said. “And many high-caliber people will be in attendance to share information.”

Along with Morgan, other experts attending the event include Ed Raines, a geologist, mineralogist and collections manager for the Geology Museum in Colorado School of Mines; Dr. Richard Binzel, a NASA scientist and professor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who has studied the Johnstown Meteorite for most of his career; Carol Raymond, deputy director for NASA’s Dawn Mission; and Tom Jones, a NASA astronaut.

The Johnstown Meteorite and other meteorites from different collections will be on display at the event.

Morgan said he plans to bring his own piece of the Johnstown 1924 fall, a hand-size meteorite piece he got from a trade with the Museum of London. He will also have meteorites from around Colorado on display.

Outside the event, visitors to Johnstown’s Historic Parish House and Museum, 701 Charlotte St., can see a dime-size piece of the Johnstown Meteorite, one of 27 pieces found in the fall area that extended about 10 miles south to Mead. For a limited time, the museum also has a meteorite display at the Glenn A. Jones, M.D. Memorial Library, at 400 S. Parish Ave. in Johnstown.

What is the Johnstown Meteorite, and where did it come from?

Meteorites are either stony or metallic. Stony meteorites are about the same weight as rocks found on Earth, while metallic meteorites are much heavier and ring like a bell when struck with a metallic object.

Meteorites that have recently fallen have a black coating that is glassy and smooth, called a fusion crust. Older meteorites are usually weathered and covered with a smooth, dark background coating.

Most meteorites are magnetic to some degree and contain small flecks of metal. Meteorites are usually studied by an expert to verify authenticity.

The Johnstown Meteorite has a noticeable fusion crust, according to one detailed report of the meteorite. And NASA determined it came from the large asteroid, Vesta. The meteorite is a “monomict brecciated diogenite,” meaning its chemistry and texture are similar to terrestrial ultramafic cumulates. Studying this meteorite helps scientists better understand Earth’s early formation, DeLancey said.

“The makeup of this meteorite is very much like the material of Earth and about the same age,” she said. “Scientists gain knowledge from studying that and how Earth formed in those days.”

Is the Johnstown Meteorite famous?

The Johnstown Meteorite is famous in the science world for two reasons, DeLancey said.

“When a meteorite shower occurs, it falls out in an ellipse where the smaller pieces usually come first, followed by a trail of larger pieces,” she said. “This was the exact opposite. The larger pieces fell out first, and then the smaller pieces traveled all the way to Mead, Colorado, about 10 miles away.

“Also rare is that it was witnessed.”

She said many witnesses in Chelyabinsk, Russia recorded a meteorite with a similar ellipse fall trajectory on Feb. 15, 2013.

The largest piece ­– called the main mass – of the Johnstown Meteorite wasn’t found until about a week after the funeral, about 1.5 miles away.

“George Walker owned a farm and was out checking for worms in his crops when he discovered a large hole,” DeLancey said. “It was not one of the pieces witnessed, and it had landed right next to the Big Thompson River. It is now in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.”

The July 6 event will offer locals and visitors an opportunity to learn about meteorites and the story of the Johnstown Meteorite.

“We are pretty excited about it,’’ DeLancey said. “Not many towns have this claim to fame.”

The centennial celebration will conclude with a drone show – another first for Johnstown.