%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Elizabeth Byers http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/elizabeth-byers <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Elizabeth Byers</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3242--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3242.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/elizabeth-byers"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Elizabeth-Byers-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=uB6BKvRF" width="600" height="973" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/elizabeth-byers" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Elizabeth Byers</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After coming to Denver in 1859, Elizabeth Byers spent her life building the safety net and institutions that helped turn the city from a rough mining-supply town to a flourishing state capital.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3244--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3244.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/byers-evans-house-0"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Elizabeth-Byers-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=yqPG6wNC" width="900" height="712" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/byers-evans-house-0" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Byers-Evans House</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In the 1880s, Byers and her husband, William, lived in a house they built at West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street. They called it "Victoria," but it is now known as the Byers-Evans House for the two families who lived there.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3245--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3245.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/byers-family-south-denver"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Elizabeth-Byers-Media-3_0.jpg?itok=1HIHRIb1" width="900" height="697" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/byers-family-south-denver" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Byers Family in South Denver</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Elizabeth Byers (far left) and William Byers (center) spent the last years of their lives at their estate in South Denver, in the neighborhood now known as Speer. Here they sit on their steps with their son Frank (center right) and his wife (center left), along with son-in-law William Robinson (far right).</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-04-10T15:37:07-06:00" title="Friday, April 10, 2020 - 15:37" class="datetime">Fri, 04/10/2020 - 15:37</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/elizabeth-byers" data-a2a-title="Elizabeth Byers"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Felizabeth-byers&amp;title=Elizabeth%20Byers"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Elizabeth “Libby” Minerva Sumner Byers (1834–1920) was a Colorado social reformer who arrived in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> in the summer of 1859 and spent the next six decades establishing and supporting the city’s early charitable organizations, schools, and churches. Her focus on the poor led her to found orphanages for both girls and boys, an <strong>Old Ladies’ Home</strong>, and the <strong>Ladies’ United Aid Society</strong>, which later led to the founding of <strong>United Way</strong>. While her husband <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers"><strong>William Byers</strong></a> used his newspaper, the<strong><em> Rocky Mountain News</em></strong>, to bring people into what became <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>, Elizabeth Byers built the safety net and institutions that allowed people to stay, transforming Denver from a mining town to a capital city.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>Born on August 31, 1834, in Chillicothe, Ohio, Elizabeth Minerva Sumner was the third of Horatio and Minerva Sumner’s nine children. Her maternal grandfather, Robert Lucas, was governor of Ohio at the time. After Lucas was appointed first territorial governor of Iowa in 1838, the Sumner family followed him west, settling in Muscatine, Iowa.</p> <p>On November 16, 1854, Elizabeth married William Byers. Like Elizabeth, William was from Ohio; his family had moved to Muscatine in 1850. A civil engineer and surveyor, William worked for US surveying parties and had visited the California gold fields. In spring 1854, when Congress created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, William was appointed the first deputy surveyor for Nebraska Territory. He returned to Iowa to wed Elizabeth in the fall, and then she joined him in Omaha. Throughout their marriage, Elizabeth was William’s business partner, first keeping the books for the surveying business in Nebraska and later making real estate purchases in her own name in Colorado. Of the couple’s four children, only the two oldest, both born in Omaha, survived to adulthood. Their son Frank was born in 1856 and daughter Mary Eva (Molly) in 1858.</p> <h2>Arrival in Colorado</h2> <p>The Panic of 1857 devastated William’s surveying company, and the Byers family decided to leave Omaha after hearing news of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>gold strikes along the Front Range in 1858–59</strong></a>. Using money from Elizabeth’s father to buy printing presses, William published a guide to the new goldfields without ever having seen them. In April 1859, William and four of Elizabeth’s brothers took the presses via oxcart to what is now Denver, where they published the first issue of the<em> Rocky Mountain News </em>on April 23. It was the first newspaper published in what is now Colorado.</p> <p>In July 1859, the family hired a man with a team of horses to move Elizabeth and toddlers Frank and Molly to Denver. When the team reached Fort Kearney (present-day Kearney, Nebraska), William and Elizabeth dismissed the man who was bringing them to Colorado and instead traveled with the new Overland Stage Company. The company had horses placed every ten miles, but the coaches had not yet arrived. Instead, there was a two-seat buckboard. “When we arrived,” Elizabeth later reflected, “I think I was about the eighth white woman in Denver, and when I climbed out of that little buck board with my two babies, I felt that I was the advance guard of civilization at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.” (Records show she may have actually been the ninth white woman in Denver.)</p> <p>At the time, the settlements in what is now Denver were divided by the bed of the largely dry <strong>Cherry Creek</strong>. <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/auraria-west-denver"><strong>Auraria</strong></a> was on the west side, while Denver City lay to the east. In August 1860, in an effort to attract advertisers and subscribers from both towns, William Byers moved the<em> Rocky Mountain News</em> to a building on stilts in the middle of the creek bed. Around midnight on May 19, 1864, the creek flooded. Residents lucky enough to wake in time heard a noise like a tornado. Employees of the <em>News</em>, who had been asleep in the building, jumped out of the windows in time to save themselves, but the building and printing presses were lost in the torrent. At the time, the Byers family lived near the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/south-platte-river"><strong>South Platte River</strong></a> just south of Denver. The river cut a new path through their land, leaving them stranded by the rising waters. Soldiers under <strong>John Chivington</strong>, a Methodist minister and Union Army colonel, rescued them by quickly converting a military wagon into a makeshift boat.</p> <h2>Civic and Charitable Work</h2> <p>Not quite twenty-five years old when she arrived in Denver, Elizabeth Byers dedicated most of the next sixty years to building institutions that would soften the city’s “rough edges” and support people in need. Already in January 1860, she hosted a meeting that led to the creation of the Ladies’ Union Aid Society, the first charitable institution in what is now Colorado. As president, she led the society’s members in making underwear, nightshirts, and bandages for Union soldiers in the Civil War. She also proved to be an adept fundraiser, collecting more than $500 in one day for relief efforts during the harsh winter of 1862. In her early years in Denver, Byers also helped found the city’s first school, library, and Methodist church. Meanwhile, she assisted her friends <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John</strong></a> and <strong>Margaret Evans</strong> in founding the Colorado Seminary, which in 1880 became the <strong>University of Denver</strong>. Byers served on its board.</p> <p>In 1872 Byers worked with Margaret Evans and <strong>Frances Wisebart Jacobs</strong> to reorganize the Ladies’ United Aid Society into the nonsectarian Ladies’ Relief Society. By the end of the 1880s, the Ladies’ Relief Society had founded a nursery and kindergarten, and it regularly provided free supplies, food, and medicine to the needy. The Ladies’ Relief Society’s work had long-lasting effects. In 1875 the society established the Old Ladies’ Home, which remains in operation today as the Argyle, an independent and assisted-living center. In 1876, through the Ladies’ Relief Society, Byers supported Evans in the foundation of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-orphans%E2%80%99-home"><strong>Denver Orphans’ Home</strong></a>. By 1889 more than 1,000 children had found shelter at the home, which is now called the Denver Children’s Home and still serves children who suffer from neglect, abuse, or mental illness. Meanwhile, in 1887, Ladies’ Relief society cofounder Frances Jacobs expanded the group’s model to create the Charity Organization Society, the forerunner of the United Way.</p> <p>Life was not easy for Byers. Two of her children died young, and her eighteen-year-old brother died after the doctor told her to give the wrong medicine. One of her houses burned, and another was flooded. William was reckless both financially and domestically; his affair with a woman named Hattie Sancomb ruined his chances of becoming the first governor after Colorado attained statehood in 1876.</p> <p>Dauntless, Byers used her fundraising, organizational, and artistic skills to continue to help a wide variety of organizations throughout the 1880s and 1890s. In 1885 she established the Home of the Good Shepherd for Homeless Girls, followed in 1893 by the E. M. Byers Home for Boys. In 1887 she helped found the <strong>Woman’s Home Club</strong>, which later became the YWCA. She was a member of the Woman’s Club of Denver, the <strong>Pioneer Ladies’ Aid Society</strong>, and the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-woman%E2%80%99s-press-club"><strong>Denver Woman’s Press Club</strong></a>. Elizabeth and William Byers supported <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/womens-suffrage-movement"><strong>women’s right to vote</strong></a> and provided space in the<em> Rocky Mountain News</em> for prosuffrage columns.</p> <h2>Later Years</h2> <p>In June 1883, Elizabeth and William Byers moved into a new house they had built at the corner of West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street, near their daughter Molly’s family. The Byerses lived at “<strong>Victoria</strong>,” as they called the house, for six years before building a new mansion in South Denver (later demolished for the Byers School) and selling the Bannock Street house to family friends <strong>William</strong> and Cornelia Evans.</p> <p>In the late 1890s, Byers was credited with the decision to have the <strong>State Capitol</strong> dome covered in gold. Inside the capitol, sixteen stained-glass windows honor people who made significant contributions to Colorado’s early history, including William Byers. The Pioneer Ladies Aid Society nominated Elizabeth as well, but only as the wife of William, not for her own contributions. She did not want such a window for herself. “While I gladly accord my husband every honor he is entitled to, and rejoice that he is so honored and appreciated by his fellow-citizens,” she noted, “I remember that he and I stood shoulder to shoulder through all the trials and hardships of pioneer life, and I feel that I ought not to stand wholly in the light of reflected glory.” A window went to Byers’s friend and coworker Frances Jacobs instead.</p> <p>William Byers died in 1903 and was buried in Denver’s <strong>Fairmount Cemetery</strong>. Elizabeth continued to remain active in charities and women’s clubs. She died on January 6, 1920, and is buried beside her husband.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/wroble-susan" hreflang="und">Wroble, Susan</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/elizabeth-byers" hreflang="en">elizabeth byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-byers" hreflang="en">william byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/byers-evans-house" hreflang="en">Byers-Evans House</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/old-ladies-home" hreflang="en">Old Ladies&#039; Home</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ladies-relief-society" hreflang="en">Ladies&#039; Relief Society</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ladies-union-aid-society" hreflang="en">Ladies&#039; Union Aid Society</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-orphans-home" hreflang="en">Denver Orphans&#039; Home</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/womans-home-club" hreflang="en">Woman&#039;s Home Club</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>J.v.L. Bell, <em>Elizabeth Byers: Denver Pioneer </em>(Palmer Lake, CO: Filter Press, 2019).</p> <p>Elizabeth Byers, “The Experiences of One Pioneer Woman” (undated manuscript, 1900–1920), series 2, box 3, William N. Byers and Family Papers, WH55, Western History Collection, Denver Public Library.</p> <p>Elizabeth Byers, “Mrs. W. N. Byer’s Disclaimer,” <em>Daily News </em>(Denver), December 5, 1899.</p> <p>Anne F. Hyde, “Sam Brannan and Elizabeth Byers: Mormons and Miners at Midcentury,” in <em>Western Lives: A Biographical History of the American West</em>, ed. Richard W. Etulain (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004).</p> <p>Maria Davies McGrath, <a href="https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/RealPioneersColorado.pdf"><em>The Real Pioneers of Colorado</em>, vol. 1</a> (Denver: Denver Museum, 1934).</p> <p>Wilbur Fiske Stone, <a href="https://archive.org/details/historyofcolorad03ston"><em>History of Colorado</em>, vol. 3</a> (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1918).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Gail M. Beaton, <em>Colorado Women: A History</em> (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2012).</p> <p>David Fridtjof Halaas, “The House in the Heart of a City: The Byers and Evans Families of Denver,” <em>Colorado Heritage</em> 4 (1989).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-teacher-resources--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-teacher-resources.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-teacher-resources.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-teacher-resources field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-teacher-resources"><p><a href="/sites/default/files/TRS5.%20Elizabeth%20Byers%20Duncan.docx">Elizabeth Byers Teacher Resource Set (Word)</a></p> <p><a href="/sites/default/files/TRS5.%20Elizabeth%20Byers%20Duncan.pdf">Elizabeth Byers Teacher Resource Set (PDF)</a></p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Elizabeth “Libby” Minerva Sumner Byers (1834–1920) created and supported some of Denver’s early charities, schools, churches and children’s homes.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>Elizabeth Sumner was born on August 31, 1834 in Ohio. Elizabeth married William Byers on November 16, 1854. They moved to Nebraska.</p> <h2>Arrival in Colorado</h2> <p>In April 1859, William and Elizabeth moved to Denver in April 1859. He published the first newspaper in Colorado, The Rocky Mountain News.</p> <h2>Civic and Charitable Work</h2> <p>Elizabeth Byers spent the next sixty years building charities that would help people in need. Byers helped start the city’s first school, library, and Methodist church. In 1872 Byers worked with her friends to organize the Ladies’ Relief Society. The society began a nursery, a kindergarten and an assisted-living center.</p> <p>In 1885 she built a home for girls and 1893 she built another home for boys. In 1887 she helped found the the YWCA.</p> <h2>Later Years</h2> <p>Byers was credited with the decision to have the State Capitol dome covered in gold.</p> <p>William Byers died in 1903. Elizabeth died on January 6, 1920, and is buried beside her husband.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Elizabeth “Libby” Minerva Sumner Byers (1834–1920) created and supported Denver’s early charity organizations, schools, and churches. She created orphanages for both girls and boys and an assisted-living center for elderly women.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>Elizabeth Sumner was born on August 31, 1834, in Ohio. She married William Byers on November 16, 1854. William worked for US surveying parties in the Nebraska Territory. Elizabeth helped William with the surveying business and made real estate purchases in Colorado. Their son Frank was born in 1856 and daughter Mary Eva (Molly) in 1858.</p> <h2>Arrival in Colorado</h2> <p>William bought printing presses with money from Elizabeth’s father in April 1859. He moved them moved them to what is now Denver. There he published the first issue of the Rocky Mountain News.</p> <h2>Civic and Charitable Work</h2> <p>Elizabeth Byers devoted most of the next sixty years to building charities. Byers helped start the city’s first school, library, and Methodist church. She assisted in founding the Colorado Seminary, later known as the University of Denver.</p> <p>In 1872 Byers worked with Margaret Evans and Frances Wisebart Jacobs to organize the Ladies’ Relief Society. The society created a nursery and kindergarten. In 1875 the society formed an independent and assisted-living center. In 1876 Byers supported the founding of the Denver Orphans’ Home.</p> <p>She started the Home of the Good Shepherd for Homeless Girls in 1885. In 1893 the E. M. Byers Home for Boys was begun. In 1887 she helped found the YWCA. Elizabeth and William Byers supported women’s right to vote. The Rocky Mountain News provided space for prosuffrage columns.</p> <h2>Later Years</h2> <p>Byers is credited with the decision to have the State Capitol dome covered in gold.</p> <p>William Byers died in 1903 and was buried in Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery. She died on January 6, 1920, and is buried beside her husband.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Elizabeth “Libby” Minerva Sumner Byers (1834–1920) created and supported Denver’s early charity organizations, schools, and churches. Her focus on the poor led her to create orphanages for both girls and boys and an assisted-living center for elderly women.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>Elizabeth Minerva Sumner was born on August 31, 1834, in Chillicothe, Ohio. She was the third of Horatio and Minerva Sumner’s nine children.</p> <p>Elizabeth married William Byers on November 16, 1854. William worked for US surveying parties in the Nebraska Territory. Elizabeth helped William with the surveying business in Nebraska and made real estate purchases in Colorado. Their son Frank was born in 1856 and daughter Mary Eva (Molly) in 1858.</p> <h2>Arrival in Colorado</h2> <p>The Byers family decided to leave Nebraska after hearing news of gold strikes along the Front Range in 1858-59. William bought printing presses with money from Elizabeth’s father. In April 1859, William moved the presses to what is now Denver. He published the first issue of the Rocky Mountain News on April 23. It was the first newspaper published in Colorado.</p> <h2>Civic and Charitable Work</h2> <p>After arriving in Denver, Elizabeth Byers dedicated most of the next sixty years to building charities. Byers helped found the city’s first school, library, and Methodist church. She assisted in founding the Colorado Seminary, which in 1880 became the University of Denver.</p> <p>In 1872 Byers worked with Margaret Evans and Frances Wisebart Jacobs to organize the Ladies’ Relief Society. The society founded a nursery and kindergarten. It regularly provided free supplies, food, and medicine to the needy. In 1875 the society created an independent and assisted-living center, which is still in operation today. In 1876 Byers supported the founding of the Denver Orphans’ Home. It is now called the Denver Children’s Home and is still open today.</p> <p>She started the Home of the Good Shepherd for Homeless Girls in 1885. In 1893 she founded the E. M. Byers Home for Boys. In 1887 she helped create the Woman’s Home Club, later known as the YWCA. Elizabeth and William Byers supported women’s right to vote. Space was provided in the Rocky Mountain News for prosuffrage columns.</p> <h2>Later Years</h2> <p>Elizabeth and William Byers moved into a new house they had built in June 1883. They lived in this house for six years before building a new mansion in South Denver.</p> <p>In the late 1890s, Byers was credited with the decision to have the State Capitol dome covered in gold. Inside the capitol, sixteen stained-glass windows honor people who made significant contributions to Colorado’s early history, including William Byers.</p> <p>William Byers died in 1903 and was buried in Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery. She died on January 6, 1920, and is buried beside her husband.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 10 Apr 2020 21:37:07 +0000 yongli 3219 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Byers-Evans House http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/byers-evans-house <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Byers-Evans House</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-03-13T14:45:41-06:00" title="Friday, March 13, 2020 - 14:45" class="datetime">Fri, 03/13/2020 - 14:45</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/byers-evans-house" data-a2a-title="Byers-Evans House"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fbyers-evans-house&amp;title=Byers-Evans%20House"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Built in 1883, the Byers-Evans House at 1310 Bannock Street in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> is a Victorian mansion notable for its association with two of the city’s most influential early families. <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers"><strong>William Byers</strong></a>, who built the house, had established the city’s first newspaper, the <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong>, and during his time in the house helped lead the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-tramway-company"><strong>Denver Tramway Company</strong></a>. In 1889 Byers sold the house to a fellow Tramway executive, <strong>William Gray Evans</strong>, who was the son of former territorial governor <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a> and the sister of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/anne-evans"><strong>Anne Evans</strong></a>, one of the city’s leading cultural patrons.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After William Evans died in 1924, his wife, sister, and daughters maintained the residence for more than fifty years as the surrounding neighborhood shifted from residential to commercial to cultural. In 1981 the Evans family donated the property to the Colorado Historical Society (now <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/history-colorado-colorado-historical-society"><strong>History Colorado</strong></a>), which continues to operate it as the Center for Colorado Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House Museum.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Byers House</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Byers and Evans families were closely connected from Denver’s early years, and they both had ties to the land where the Byers-Evans House sits before the house itself was built. In 1866 John Evans first acquired an interest in eighty-one acres southeast of Broadway and <strong>Colfax Avenue</strong>. Two years later, after Evans platted and subdivided the land, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/elizabeth-byers"><strong>Elizabeth Byers</strong></a> bought six lots at the corner of what is now West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Byers land sat vacant for fifteen years before the family decided to build on it. In early 1883, Elizabeth and William Byers built a large brick house in a style variously described as Italianate or Victorian eclectic. Facing west toward the mountains, the house featured a front porch with a red tile floor and pressed-tin ceiling. Inside, the 3,600-square-foot residence was appointed with mahogany woodwork, water and sewer service (including a second-story bathroom, rare at the time), and gas lights. A two-story carriage house stood at the rear of the property. The Byers family moved in on June 3, 1883.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Evans House</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Five months after the Byers family moved into their new house, John Evans’s eldest son, William Gray Evans, married <strong>Cornelia Lunt Gray</strong> in the <strong>Evans Chapel</strong> across the street. By the end of the decade, the couple had two young children but were still living in the house of <strong>Samuel Elbert</strong>, William Evans’s brother-in-law. When William Byers, who had become Evans’s business partner at the Denver Tramway Company, decided to move to his South Denver estate in 1889, Evans jumped at the chance to buy the Byers house. The $30,000 purchase was completed on April 20. William and Cornelia Evans moved in with their children, John and Josephine, and welcomed a second daughter, Margaret, at the end of the year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Soon after family patriarch John Evans died in 1897, his widow, Margaret, and their youngest daughter, Anne, moved in with William and Cornelia Evans. To give his mother and sister private spaces separate from his own growing family (a third daughter, Katharine, had been born in 1894), William significantly expanded his house in 1899–1900. The addition was essentially a whole new dwelling attached to the southeast corner of the original house. The two-story, 1,840-square-foot apartment had a kitchen, dining room, and library on the first floor and three bedrooms and a bath upstairs. The addition’s exterior blended seamlessly with that of the original house. Two years later, as the elder Margaret Evans’s mobility decreased, a bedroom and bath were added to the first floor so that she would not have to use stairs.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Evans Women</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Further additions to the Evans house followed in the first two decades of the 1900s, most notably a connection to the carriage house in 1911–12. The house experienced its greatest period of change, however, in the 1920s. William Gray Evans died in 1924, leaving the house in the hands of the Evans women who lived there: his widow, Cornelia, daughters Josephine and Katharine, and sister Anne.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>At the same time, the area surrounding the house was in the midst of a transition from a wealthy residential neighborhood to a commercial district. Other private houses still dotted the nearby blocks, but they were giving way to businesses and to the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civic-center"><strong>Civic Center</strong></a> complex of parks, government buildings, and cultural institutions that was taking shape just north of the house. In 1925 the block where the house sits was zoned as commercial. By the end of the decade, the Evans women were neighbors to a Ford showroom.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite the changes around them, the Evans women were committed to maintaining their house as a home. Under Katharine’s leadership, they were also committed to preserving the house largely as it had appeared in the early 1900s, down to the furniture. That campaign proved largely successful, even as the house’s roster of Evans women shifted over time. Anne died in 1941, and Cornelia followed in 1955. After the death of her mother and her husband, Margaret Evans Davis moved back into the house to live with her two sisters.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The area around the Evans house changed again in the decades after <strong>World War II</strong>. Cultural institutions that Anne Evans had helped establish began to surround her former home as the Civic Center continued to develop. In the 1940s, the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-art-museum"><strong>Denver Art Museum</strong></a> began to acquire land just north of the house for its first permanent home, which opened in 1949. A block east, the <a href="/article/denver-public-library"><strong>Denver Public Library</strong></a> opened a new central library in 1956. Then, in 1967, the entire block surrounding the Evans house was razed to make way for a new Denver Art Museum building. The intensive construction work threatened the structural integrity of the Evans house, so concrete pilings were driven into the ground around the house to protect it from damage. The new museum opened next door in 1971.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, even with the Evans sisters still in residence, the house was increasingly recognized for its historic value, in part because it seemed so clearly threatened by the large-scale development around it. In 1968 the house received Denver landmark designation, and in 1970 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1974 it became the only single-family house included in the Civic Center National Historic District.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Museum</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>As the Evans women who lived in the house passed away—Josephine in 1969, Katharine in 1977—the remaining family members made plans to give the house to the Colorado Historical Society upon the death of the house’s last resident, Margaret Evans Davis, which occurred in 1981. The historical society’s Byers-Evans House Museum opened to the public the next year. In 1989 Long Hoeft Architects restored the house to its 1910s appearance. For the next three decades, it functioned as a house museum displaying the Evans family furniture and containing exhibits on the Byers and Evans families.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With house museums declining in popularity, History Colorado decided in 2018 to establish the Center for Colorado Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House Museum. The center is a way of increasing interest in the museum while also honoring the legacy of the influential and active women who called the Byers-Evans House their home. The first space in the state dedicated to women’s history, the center hosts exhibits, talks, workshops, and book clubs focused on women’s history and offers fellowships for scholars in the field.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-byers" hreflang="en">william byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/elizabeth-byers" hreflang="en">elizabeth byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-gray-evans" hreflang="en">William Gray Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cornelia-evans" hreflang="en">Cornelia Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/anne-evans" hreflang="en">Anne Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civic-center" hreflang="en">Civic Center</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/center-colorado-womens-history" hreflang="en">Center for Colorado Women&#039;s History</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/byers-evans-house" hreflang="en">Byers-Evans House</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/margaret-evans" hreflang="en">Margaret Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/josephine-evans" hreflang="en">Josephine Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/katharine-evans" hreflang="en">Katharine Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/margaret-evans-davis" hreflang="en">Margaret Evans Davis</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Victoria Carodine, “<a href="https://www.5280.com/colorados-first-womens-history-center-opens-in-denver/">Colorado’s First Women’s History Center Opens in Denver</a>,” <em>5280</em>, March 20, 2018.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>David Fridtjof Halaas, “The House in the Heart of a City: The Byers and Evans Families of Denver,” <em>Colorado Heritage</em> 4 (1989).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thomas J. Noel and Nicholas J. Wharton, <em>Denver Landmarks and Historic Districts</em>, 2nd ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2016).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Elaine Colvin Walsh and Jean Walton Smith, <em>The Byers-Evans House</em> (Denver: n.p., 1985).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>John Wenzel, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/21/center-for-colorado-womens-history/">Harnessing the Power of #MeToo, History Colorado Creates First-Ever Women’s History Museum</a>,” <em>Denver Post</em>, March 21, 2018.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Allen duPont Breck, <em>William Gray Evans, 1855–1924: Portrait of a Western Executive</em> (Denver: University of Denver, 1964).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/center-colorado-womens-history">Center for Colorado Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House Museum</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Barbara Sternberg with Jennifer Boone and Evelyn Waldron, <em>Anne Evans—A Pioneer in Colorado’s Cultural History: The Things That Last When Gold Is Gone</em> (Denver: Buffalo Park Press, 2011).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:45:41 +0000 yongli 3180 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org William N. Byers http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">William N. Byers</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3344--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3344.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/william-byers"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/William-N.-Byers-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=k9kjer4W" width="900" height="1636" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/william-byers" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">William Byers</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>William Newton Byers (1831-1903) founded the Rocky Mountain News in 1859 and used this platform to promote his adopted hometown of Denver.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3345--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3345.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/early-rocky-mountain-news-office"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/William-N.-Byers-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=Fz6BRiZx" width="1090" height="876" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/early-rocky-mountain-news-office" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Early Rocky Mountain News Office</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Byers printed the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News on April 23, 1859, and started publishing daily in 1860 to counter rising competition. The publication moved offices frequently in its early years.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3346--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3346.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/hot-sulphur-springs"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/William-N.-Byers-Media-3_0.jpg?itok=aAKYRLOt" width="1090" height="1072" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/hot-sulphur-springs" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Hot Sulphur Springs</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In 1864 Byers bought the townsite of Hot Sulphur Springs in Middle Park and worked to make the town a spa and resort. The project embodied Byers's tendency to mix Colorado boosterism with personal profit.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3153--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3153.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/byers-evans-house"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/William%20N%20Byers%20Media%204%20%281%29.jpg?itok=J7F4k_OU" width="1024" height="667" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/byers-evans-house" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Byers-Evans House</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After Byers retired from newspaper publishing, in 1883 he and his wife built themselves a mansion at what is now the corner of Bannock Street and West Thirteenth Avenue in Denver.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 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'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-01-16T15:27:19-07:00" title="Thursday, January 16, 2020 - 15:27" class="datetime">Thu, 01/16/2020 - 15:27</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers" data-a2a-title="William N. Byers"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fwilliam-n-byers&amp;title=William%20N.%20Byers"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>William Newton Byers (1831–1903) founded the first newspaper in Colorado, the <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong> (1859–2009) and was <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>’s biggest booster during the city’s early days. Byers used his newspaper as a platform for his advocacy, as his knowledge of the territory allowed him to broker land deals. His coverage of Colorado and stories of the West drew people to Denver and consequently brought money to the city. Byers is best known for helping to expand the population of Colorado and contributing to the development of public services in the region, such as post offices and transportation.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>William Byers was born on February 22, 1831, in Madison County, Ohio, where he grew up on a farm and attended West Jefferson Academy. After graduating at age seventeen, Byers worked for a few years transporting railroad ties for the Cleveland, Columbus &amp; Cincinnati Railroad. When his family moved to Iowa in 1850, Byers quit the railroad and decided to take a job with a federal surveying party. These groups traveled the country surveying land, mapping borders, and scouting geological resources. While working for surveying parties, Byers traveled through Oregon, Washington, California, and Nebraska.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1854 Byers married <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/elizabeth-byers"><strong>Elizabeth Minerva Sumner</strong></a> and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. There the couple had two children, a daughter named Mary Eva and a son named Frank. Byers was elected to the First Nebraska Territorial Legislature.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>News in the Rockies</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In July 1858 gold was found in the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/south-platte-river"><strong>South Platte River</strong></a> near what’s now Denver, starting the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a>. Denver City was founded on November 22, 1858. The population was small in number, and most residents lived in camps and roughly constructed lodgings. Denver lacked social services, such as a post office or a newspaper, and was therefore far removed from happenings elsewhere in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Looking to capitalize on the growing number of gold seekers, Byers joined the rush to Colorado with the intention of establishing a newspaper. By April 1859, he was on track to start the first newspaper in Colorado. Just one week after moving, Byers and his new business partners, George C. Monell and Thomas Gibson, purchased a printing press from “a starved-to-death newspaper” in Nebraska. Byers had the press shipped via ox cart from Nebraska to Denver. Although he had no prior training as a journalist or printer, Byers printed the first edition of the <em>Rocky Mountain News </em>on April 23, 1859. Nicknamed “the Rocky,” this was the first newspaper printed in Colorado, beating another publication, <em>Merrick’s Cherry Creek Pioneer</em>, by just twenty minutes. Merrick sold out to Byers that day for thirty dollars.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Early news articles focused on gold mining in Colorado and drawing people to Denver, claiming that the city was one of the most desirous establishments in the West. Byers sketched a sunny vision of Denver’s future, using flowery words and cunning marketing to promote agriculture in the area. He made it seem possible, or even inevitable, that farmers would make the “<a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article"><strong>Great American Desert</strong></a>” into  a productive garden. Byers also published a trail guide, <em>Handbook to the Gold Fields</em>, to help travelers settle in Colorado. This publication was useful, but also full of misinformation that topographers later corrected.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> proved successful from the start, owing in large part to Byers’s own personality and charisma. When the paper’s growing staff lost employees at the outbreak of the <a href="/article/civil-war-colorado"><strong>Civil War</strong></a>, Byers filled the gaps by hiring disappointed miners returning from the mountains. The paper moved locations three times and was flooded once. Nonetheless, Byers persisted. He saw his work as a civilizing force in the West. But not everyone approved of Byers’s tireless promotion of himself and his city. Byers made his fair share of enemies and kept a revolver close by at all times.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To counter rising competition, the <em>Rocky </em>began publishing daily editions in 1860. This made it the most frequently updated newspaper in Denver. However, Byers found that he was often short of new content. At the time, the nearest post office was at Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming, a full week’s journey from Denver. Byers couldn’t abide the delay in getting news from the rest of the country, so he pressed for the establishment of a Denver post office—ideally with himself in charge so that he would have early access to incoming news. In 1864 Byers was selected to be the Denver postmaster.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s practices in business and in journalism were standard in the 1860s but are viewed less sympathetically today. His emphatic, at times hyperbolic, descriptions of Denver’s agricultural promise and productive mines often stretched or simply disregarded the truth, as eastern newspapers often pointed out. The <em>Rocky Mountain News </em>was far from the only outlet peddling these exaggerations, but it did play a key role in shaping early settlers’ ideas of the West. Byers remained convinced that the city benefited from his boosterish promotion.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Service to Denver aside, Byers was rebuked at the time and continues to be criticized for his views of the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sand-creek-massacre-0"><strong>Sand Creek Massacre</strong></a>. The “Sand Creek Campaign,” as Byers called it, was an attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples by the US Army in November 1864. Colonel <strong>John Chivington</strong> led the massacre of roughly 200 people, mainly women and children. Despite evidence to the contrary, Byers consistently argued that the regiment of Colorado volunteers was justified in its actions. The <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> office itself “furnished fourteen recruits for the regiment,” which may explain why the paper sided with the military. Byers published articles sympathetic toward the military for days after the event while ignoring testimony that questioned or criticized their actions. Eastern newspapers condemned the <em>Rocky</em> for this view, but Byers brushed off such chastisements as the work of “self-righteous philanthropists.” Fifteen years later, he continued to maintain that Sand Creek had “saved Colorado and taught the Indians the most salutary lesson they ever learned.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>From Newspapers to Tramcars</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s boosterish promotion of Denver’s potential naturally led him into businesses beyond the <em>Rocky</em>. In the 1860s, he attempted and failed to use his clout at the <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> to sway railway bosses to bring a transcontinental line through Denver. After the Union Pacific chose to go through Wyoming, he declared that the railroad had made a huge mistake “by ignoring the resources of this rich though now struggling territory.” He turned his attention to other ventures in 1864, when he bought the townsite of <strong>Hot Sulphur Springs</strong>, near <strong>Granby</strong>, Colorado. He worked to make the town a spa and resort, another dream that never came to fruition.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In May 1878 Byers retired from his nearly twenty-year career as a newspaperman, selling the <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> and all of its equipment to Kemp G. Cooper. He built his family a mansion at the corner of West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street, which was completed in 1883. He continued to be a tireless promoter of Denver, advocating for railways, roadways, and other forms of infrastructure development.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When his words were not enough, he went into business for himself. In 1886 Byers joined with other prominent Denver businessmen, including former governor <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a>, his son <a href="/article/william-gray-evans"><strong>William Gray Evans</strong></a>, <strong>Henry C. Brown</strong>, and Roger Woodbury, to start the <a href="/article/denver-tramway-company"><strong>Denver Tramway Company</strong></a> (DTC). They convinced the city to grant them a monopoly on transportation by streetcar, and from that foundation their electric streetcars quickly rivaled cable cars and horse-drawn carts. Eventually, Byers’s more efficient electric streetcars pushed the other companies out of business. The streetcars enabled more of the city’s growing population to go downtown for work.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Later Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers became embroiled in scandal in 1889, at the age of nearly sixty, when his mistress, Hattie Sandcomb, attempted to kill him on a public street. Sandcomb shot at Byers, with the bullet barely missing him and his wife, Elizabeth. Afterward, the Byers sold their Denver mansion to Byers’s business partner, William Gray Evans, and moved out of the city to South Denver (the area around what is now <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/washington-park"><strong>Washington Park</strong></a>). Byers died of a paralytic stroke on March 25, 1903, at the age of eighty-two.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers is remembered for tirelessly promoting Denver through his newspaper and for bringing transportation developments to the city. Although his legacy is marred by the Sand Creek Massacre and a scandalous affair, Byers did as much as anyone to advance the early growth of Denver and its outlying neighborhoods. The <em>Rocky Mountain News </em>thrived under his ownership and afterward, until it shut its doors just short of its 150th anniversary in 2009.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Numerous sites in Denver and around the state pay tribute to Byers, including the town of <strong>Byers</strong> east of Denver, as well as Byers Peak and the surrounding Byers Peak Wilderness south of Hot Sulphur Springs. In 1921 Byers Junior High School (now DSST Byers) opened on the former site of the Byers family’s South Denver estate. In 1981 Byers’s Denver mansion was donated to the Colorado Historical Society (now <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/history-colorado-colorado-historical-society"><strong>History Colorado</strong></a>) and transformed into the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/byers-evans-house"><strong>Byers-Evans House Museum</strong></a>, named in honor of the two famous families who lived there.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/flowers-kaylyn-mercuri" hreflang="und">Flowers, Kaylyn Mercuri</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-byers" hreflang="en">william byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/elizabeth-byers" hreflang="en">elizabeth byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/rocky-mountain-news" hreflang="en">rocky mountain news</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/byers-evans-house" hreflang="en">Byers-Evans House</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hot-sulphur-springs" hreflang="en">Hot Sulphur Springs</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-tramway-company" hreflang="en">Denver Tramway Company</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>William Newton Byers, “Early Journalism in Colorado,” <em>Magazine of Western History </em>9, no. 6 (April 1889).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Newton Byers, <em>Handbook of the Gold Fields of Nebraska and Kansas </em>(Denver: Nolie Murney, 1949).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Newton Byers, <em>The Sand Creek Affair </em>(Denver: MS, 1884).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Nancy Capace, <em>Encyclopedia of Colorado</em> (Berkeley, CA: Somerset Publishers, 1999).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado Virtual Library, “<a href="https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/digital-colorado/colorado-histories/beginnings/william-byers-founder-of-the-rocky-mountain-news/">William N. Byers: Founder of the Rocky Mtn News</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Levette J. Davidson, “Colorado Place-Name Studies,” <em>Western Folklore</em> 12, no. 3 (July 1953).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Levette J. Davidson, “The Early Diaries of William N. Byers,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em> 22, no. 4 (1945).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“Denver Post Office Collection, 1864–1870,” MSS 200, History Colorado, Denver, Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Deryl Vaughn Gease, “William Newton Byers: Promoter of Early Colorado Agriculture, 1859–1870” (MA thesis, University of Denver, 1966).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="http://www.hotsulphurspringsco.com/town-history.htm/">Hot Sulphur Springs History</a>,” Town of Hot Sulphur Springs, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thomas J. Noel, “All Hail the Denver Pacific: Denver’s First Railroad,”<em> Colorado Magazine</em> 50, no. 2 (Spring 1973).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Kate Phillips, <em>Helen Hunt Jackson: A Literary Life</em> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.rfrajola.com/MayerCO/MayerColoPH.pdf">Putting Together Colorado Territory Philatelically: A Private Collection</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mary Ellen Snodgrass, <em>Frontier Women and Their Art: A Chronological Encyclopedia </em>(New York: Rowan and Littlefield, 2018).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2017/william_byers.pdf">William Byers</a>,” History Colorado, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://history.nebraska.gov/publications_section/william-n-byers/">William N. Byers</a>,” History Nebraska, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2330100219/UHIC?u=auraria_main&amp;amp;sid=UHIC&amp;amp;xid=a57977d1">William Newton Byers</a>,” <em>Encyclopedia of the American West</em>, ed. Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod (New York: Macmillan Reference, 1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“William N. Byers, Pioneer Newspaper Man, Passes Away,” <em>Salida Record</em> (March 27, 1903).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Thomas J. Noel and Duane A. Smith, “Hard Times,” in <em>Colorado: The Highest State</em> (Denver: University Press of Colorado, 2011).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jerome C. Smiley, <em>History of Denver: With Outlines of the Earlier History of the Rocky Mountains</em> (Denver: Times-Sun Publishing, 1901).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>William Newton Byers (1831–1903) founded the Rocky Mountain News (1859–2009). It was the first newspaper in Colorado. He was Denver’s biggest promoter during the city’s early days. His coverage of Colorado drew people to Denver and brought money to the city. Byers is best known for helping grow Colorado's population and contributing to the development of public services.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>William Byers was born on February 22, 1831, in Madison County, Ohio. He grew up on a farm and attended West Jefferson Academy. After graduating, Byers worked transporting railroad ties for the Cleveland, Columbus &amp; Cincinnati Railroad. When his family moved to Iowa in 1850, Byers quit the railroad. He took a job with a federal surveying party. These groups traveled the country surveying land and mapping borders.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1854 Byers married Elizabeth Minerva Sumner and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. There the couple had two children.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>News in the Rockies</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In July 1858 gold was found in the South Platte River near what is now Denver. This started the Colorado Gold Rush. Denver City was founded on November 22, 1858. The population was small. Most residents lived in camps. Denver lacked services, like a post office or a newspaper. The city was removed from events in the rest of the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers joined the rush to Colorado. He wanted to establish a newspaper. Byers and his business partners purchased a printing press from newspaper in Nebraska. They had the press shipped via ox cart from Nebraska to Denver. Byers printed the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News on April 23, 1859. Nicknamed “the Rocky,” it was the first newspaper printed in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Early news articles focused on gold mining and drawing people to Denver. Byers used flowery words to promote agriculture. He published a trail guide to help travelers settle in Colorado. The publication was useful. However, it was also full of errors.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky Mountain News proved successful from the start. The paper lost employees at the start of the Civil War. Byers filled positions by hiring disappointed miners returning from the mountains. The paper moved locations three times and flooded once. Byers persisted. He saw his work as a civilizing force in the West. Not everyone approved of Byers’s promotion of himself and the city. Byers made his fair share of enemies. He kept a revolver close at all times.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky began publishing daily editions in 1860. This made it the most updated newspaper in Denver. However, Byers was often short of new content. At the time, the nearest post office was at Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. That was a full week’s journey from Denver. Byers disliked the delay in getting news from the rest of the country. He pressed for the creation of a Denver post office. In 1864 Byers was selected to be the Denver postmaster.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s practices in business and in journalism were standard in the 1860s. They are viewed differently today. His descriptions of Denver’s farming promise often stretched the truth. Byers remained convinced that the city benefited from his promotion.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers was rebuked at the time and continues to be criticized for his views of the Sand Creek Massacre. The “Sand Creek Campaign,” as Byers called it, was an attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples by the US Army in November 1864. Colonel John Chivington led the massacre of roughly 200 people. Despite evidence to the contrary, Byers argued that the regiment of Colorado volunteers was justified. The Rocky Mountain News office “furnished fourteen recruits for the regiment.” This may explain why the paper sided with the military. Byers published articles sympathetic toward the military for days after the event. He ignored testimony that questioned or criticized the regiment's actions. Eastern newspapers condemned the Rocky for this view. Byers brushed off the criticism.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>From Newspapers to Tramcars</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s promotion of Denver led him into businesses beyond the Rocky. In the 1860s, he tried to use the Rocky Mountain News to bring a transcontinental rail line through Denver. The Union Pacific chose to go through Wyoming instead. In 1864, he bought the townsite of Hot Sulphur Springs, near Granby, Colorado. He worked to make the town a spa and resort. The dream never came to fruition.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In May 1878 Byers retired from his career as a newspaperman. He sold the Rocky Mountain News. Byers built his family a mansion at the corner of West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street. He continued to advocate for railways, roadways, and other forms of development.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When his words were not enough, he went into business for himself. In 1886 Byers joined with other Denver businessmen to start the Denver Tramway Company (DTC). They convinced the city to grant them a monopoly on transportation by streetcar. Their electric streetcars quickly rivaled cable cars and horse-drawn carts. Eventually, Byers’s more efficient electric streetcars pushed the other companies out of business. The streetcars enabled more of the city’s growing population to go downtown for work.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Later Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers became embroiled in scandal in 1889. At the age of nearly sixty, his mistress, Hattie Sandcomb, attempted to kill him on a public street. Sandcomb shot at Byers. The bullet barely missed him and his wife. Afterward, the Byers sold their Denver mansion. They moved out of the city to South Denver (the area around what is now Washington Park). Byers died of a stroke on March 25, 1903, at the age of eighty-two.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers is remembered for promoting Denver through his newspaper and for bringing transportation developments to the city. The Rocky Mountain News thrived under his ownership.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Numerous sites in Denver and around the state pay tribute to Byers. These include the town of Byers east of Denver and Byers Peak. In 1981 Byers’s Denver mansion was donated to the Colorado Historical Society (now History Colorado). It was and transformed into the Byers-Evans House Museum. The museum is named in honor of the two famous families who lived there.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>William Newton Byers (1831–1903) founded the first newspaper in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain News (1859–2009). He was Denver’s biggest booster during the city’s early days. His coverage of Colorado and stories of the West drew people to Denver and brought money to the city. Byers is best known for helping grow Colorado's population and contributing to the development of public services.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>William Byers was born on February 22, 1831, in Madison County, Ohio. He grew up on a farm and attended West Jefferson Academy. After graduating, Byers worked transporting railroad ties for the Cleveland, Columbus &amp; Cincinnati Railroad. When his family moved to Iowa in 1850, Byers quit the railroad and took a job with a federal surveying party. These groups traveled the country surveying land, mapping borders, and scouting resources.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1854 Byers married Elizabeth Minerva Sumner and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. There the couple had two children.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>News in the Rockies</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In July 1858 gold was found in the South Platte River near what is now Denver. This started the Colorado Gold Rush. Denver City was founded on November 22, 1858. The population was small. Most residents lived in camps and roughly constructed lodgings. Denver lacked social services, such as a post office or a newspaper. The city was removed from happenings elsewhere in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Looking to capitalize on the growing number of gold seekers, Byers joined the rush to Colorado. He intended to establish a newspaper. Just one week after moving, Byers and his business partners purchased a printing press from “a starved-to-death newspaper” in Nebraska. Byers had the press shipped via ox cart from Nebraska to Denver. Although he had no prior training as a journalist or printer, Byers printed the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News on April 23, 1859. Nicknamed “the Rocky,” this was the first newspaper printed in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Early news articles focused on gold mining in Colorado and drawing people to Denver. Byers used flowery words and cunning marketing to promote agriculture. He published a trail guide, Handbook to the Gold Fields, to help travelers settle in Colorado. The publication was useful. However, it was also full of errors.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky Mountain News proved successful from the start. The paper’s growing staff lost employees at the outbreak of the Civil War. Byers filled the gaps by hiring disappointed miners returning from the mountains. The paper moved locations three times and flooded once. Byers persisted. He saw his work as a civilizing force in the West. Not everyone approved of Byers’s tireless promotion of himself and the city. Byers made his fair share of enemies. He kept a revolver close at all times.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky began publishing daily editions in 1860. This made it the most updated newspaper in Denver. However, Byers was often short of new content. At the time, the nearest post office was at Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. That was a full week’s journey from Denver. Byers disliked the delay in getting news from the rest of the country. He pressed for the creation of a Denver post office. In 1864 Byers was selected to be the Denver postmaster.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s practices in business and in journalism were standard in the 1860s. They are viewed differently today. His descriptions of Denver’s agricultural promise and productive mines often stretched or disregarded the truth. The Rocky Mountain News was not the only outlet peddling these exaggerations. However, it did play a key role in shaping early settlers’ ideas of the West. Byers remained convinced that the city benefited from his promotion.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers was rebuked at the time and continues to be criticized for his views of the Sand Creek Massacre. The “Sand Creek Campaign,” as Byers called it, was an attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples by the US Army in November 1864. Colonel John Chivington led the massacre of roughly 200 people, mainly women and children. Despite evidence to the contrary, Byers argued that the regiment of Colorado volunteers was justified. The Rocky Mountain News office itself “furnished fourteen recruits for the regiment.” This may explain why the paper sided with the military. Byers published articles sympathetic toward the military for days after the event. He ignored testimony that questioned or criticized the regiment's actions. Eastern newspapers condemned the Rocky for this view. Byers brushed off the criticism.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>From Newspapers to Tramcars</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s promotion of Denver led him into businesses beyond the Rocky. In the 1860s, he tried to use his clout at the Rocky Mountain News to bring a transcontinental rail line through Denver. After the Union Pacific chose to go through Wyoming, he declared that the railroad had made a huge mistake. In 1864, he bought the townsite of Hot Sulphur Springs, near Granby, Colorado. He worked to make the town a spa and resort. The dream never came to fruition.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In May 1878 Byers retired from his nearly twenty-year career as a newspaperman. He sold the Rocky Mountain News. Byers built his family a mansion at the corner of West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street. He continued to advocate for railways, roadways, and other forms of development.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When his words were not enough, he went into business for himself. In 1886 Byers joined with other Denver businessmen to start the Denver Tramway Company (DTC). They convinced the city to grant them a monopoly on transportation by streetcar. Their electric streetcars quickly rivaled cable cars and horse-drawn carts. Eventually, Byers’s more efficient electric streetcars pushed the other companies out of business. The streetcars enabled more of the city’s growing population to go downtown for work.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Later Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers became embroiled in scandal in 1889. At the age of nearly sixty, his mistress, Hattie Sandcomb, attempted to kill him on a public street. Sandcomb shot at Byers. The bullet barely missed him and his wife. Afterward, the Byers sold their Denver mansion. They moved out of the city to South Denver (the area around what is now Washington Park). Byers died of a stroke on March 25, 1903, at the age of eighty-two.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers is remembered for promoting Denver through his newspaper and for bringing transportation developments to the city. The Rocky Mountain News thrived under his ownership.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Numerous sites in Denver and around the state pay tribute to Byers. These include the town of Byers east of Denver and Byers Peak. In 1981 Byers’s Denver mansion was donated to the Colorado Historical Society (now History Colorado). It was and transformed into the Byers-Evans House Museum. The museum is named in honor of the two famous families who lived there.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>William Newton Byers (1831–1903) founded the first newspaper in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain News (1859–2009). He was Denver’s biggest booster during the city’s early days. Byers used his newspaper as a platform for his advocacy. His knowledge of the territory allowed him to broker land deals. His coverage of Colorado and stories of the West drew people to Denver and brought money to the city. Byers is best known for helping to expand the population of Colorado and contributing to the development of public services.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Life</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>William Byers was born on February 22, 1831, in Madison County, Ohio. He grew up on a farm and attended West Jefferson Academy. After graduating, Byers worked transporting railroad ties for the Cleveland, Columbus &amp; Cincinnati Railroad. When his family moved to Iowa in 1850, Byers quit the railroad and took a job with a federal surveying party. These groups traveled the country surveying land, mapping borders, and scouting resources. While working for surveying parties, Byers traveled through Oregon, Washington, California, and Nebraska.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1854 Byers married Elizabeth Minerva Sumner and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. There the couple had two children, a daughter named Mary Eva and a son named Frank. Byers was elected to the First Nebraska Territorial Legislature.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>News in the Rockies</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In July 1858 gold was found in the South Platte River near what is now Denver. This started the Colorado Gold Rush. Denver City was founded on November 22, 1858. The population was small, and most residents lived in camps and roughly constructed lodgings. Denver lacked social services, such as a post office or a newspaper. The city was removed from happenings elsewhere in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Looking to capitalize on the growing number of gold seekers, Byers joined the rush to Colorado. He intended to establish a newspaper. By April 1859, he was on track to start the first newspaper in Colorado. Just one week after moving, Byers and his new business partners, George C. Monell and Thomas Gibson, purchased a printing press from “a starved-to-death newspaper” in Nebraska. Byers had the press shipped via ox cart from Nebraska to Denver. Although he had no prior training as a journalist or printer, Byers printed the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News on April 23, 1859. Nicknamed “the Rocky,” this was the first newspaper printed in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Early news articles focused on gold mining in Colorado and drawing people to Denver. Byers sketched a sunny vision of Denver’s future. He used flowery words and cunning marketing to promote agriculture. He made it seem like farmers would make the “Great American Desert” into a productive garden. Byers also published a trail guide, Handbook to the Gold Fields, to help travelers settle in Colorado. This publication was useful. However, it was also full of misinformation that was later corrected.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky Mountain News proved successful from the start. When the paper’s growing staff lost employees at the outbreak of the Civil War, Byers filled the gaps by hiring disappointed miners returning from the mountains. The paper moved locations three times and was flooded once. Nonetheless, Byers persisted. He saw his work as a civilizing force in the West. But not everyone approved of Byers’s tireless promotion of himself and his city. Byers made his fair share of enemies and kept a revolver close by at all times.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To counter rising competition, the Rocky began publishing daily editions in 1860. This made it the most frequently updated newspaper in Denver. However, Byers found that he was often short of new content. At the time, the nearest post office was at Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming, a full week’s journey from Denver. Byers couldn’t abide the delay in getting news from the rest of the country, so he pressed for the establishment of a Denver post office—ideally with himself in charge so that he would have early access to incoming news. In 1864 Byers was selected to be the Denver postmaster.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s practices in business and in journalism were standard in the 1860s but are viewed less sympathetically today. His emphatic, at times hyperbolic, descriptions of Denver’s agricultural promise and productive mines often stretched or simply disregarded the truth, as eastern newspapers often pointed out. The Rocky Mountain News was far from the only outlet peddling these exaggerations, but it did play a key role in shaping early settlers’ ideas of the West. Byers remained convinced that the city benefited from his boosterish promotion.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Service to Denver aside, Byers was rebuked at the time and continues to be criticized for his views of the Sand Creek Massacre. The “Sand Creek Campaign,” as Byers called it, was an attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples by the US Army in November 1864. Colonel John Chivington led the massacre of roughly 200 people, mainly women and children. Despite evidence to the contrary, Byers consistently argued that the regiment of Colorado volunteers was justified in its actions. The Rocky Mountain News office itself “furnished fourteen recruits for the regiment,” which may explain why the paper sided with the military. Byers published articles sympathetic toward the military for days after the event while ignoring testimony that questioned or criticized their actions. Eastern newspapers condemned the Rocky for this view, but Byers brushed off such chastisements as the work of “self-righteous philanthropists.” Fifteen years later, he continued to maintain that Sand Creek had “saved Colorado and taught the Indians the most salutary lesson they ever learned.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>From Newspapers to Tramcars</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers’s boosterish promotion of Denver’s potential naturally led him into businesses beyond the Rocky. In the 1860s, he attempted and failed to use his clout at the Rocky Mountain News to sway railway bosses to bring a transcontinental line through Denver. After the Union Pacific chose to go through Wyoming, he declared that the railroad had made a huge mistake “by ignoring the resources of this rich though now struggling territory.” He turned his attention to other ventures in 1864, when he bought the townsite of Hot Sulphur Springs, near Granby, Colorado. He worked to make the town a spa and resort, another dream that never came to fruition.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In May 1878 Byers retired from his nearly twenty-year career as a newspaperman, selling the Rocky Mountain News and all of its equipment to Kemp G. Cooper. He built his family a mansion at the corner of West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street, which was completed in 1883. He continued to be a tireless promoter of Denver, advocating for railways, roadways, and other forms of infrastructure development.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When his words were not enough, he went into business for himself. In 1886 Byers joined with other prominent Denver businessmen, including former governor John Evans, his son William Gray Evans, Henry C. Brown, and Roger Woodbury, to start the Denver Tramway Company (DTC). They convinced the city to grant them a monopoly on transportation by streetcar, and from that foundation their electric streetcars quickly rivaled cable cars and horse-drawn carts. Eventually, Byers’s more efficient electric streetcars pushed the other companies out of business. The streetcars enabled more of the city’s growing population to go downtown for work.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Later Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers became embroiled in scandal in 1889, at the age of nearly sixty, when his mistress, Hattie Sandcomb, attempted to kill him on a public street. Sandcomb shot at Byers, with the bullet barely missing him and his wife, Elizabeth. Afterward, the Byers sold their Denver mansion to Byers’s business partner, William Gray Evans, and moved out of the city to South Denver (the area around what is now Washington Park). Byers died of a stroke on March 25, 1903, at the age of eighty-two.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Byers is remembered for tirelessly promoting Denver through his newspaper and for bringing transportation developments to the city. Although his legacy is marred by the Sand Creek Massacre and a scandalous affair, Byers did as much as anyone to advance the early growth of Denver and its outlying neighborhoods. The Rocky Mountain News thrived under his ownership and afterward, until it shut its doors just short of its 150th anniversary in 2009.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Numerous sites in Denver and around the state pay tribute to Byers, including the town of Byers east of Denver, as well as Byers Peak and the surrounding Byers Peak Wilderness south of Hot Sulphur Springs. In 1921 Byers Junior High School (now DSST Byers) opened on the former site of the Byers family’s South Denver estate. In 1981 Byers’s Denver mansion was donated to the Colorado Historical Society (now History Colorado) and transformed into the Byers-Evans House Museum, named in honor of the two famous families who lived there.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Thu, 16 Jan 2020 22:27:19 +0000 yongli 3138 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Longmont http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/longmont-0 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Longmont</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2864--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2864.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/fourth-main-c-1900"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Longmont-Media-5_0.jpg?itok=c31hYTft" width="1000" height="581" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/fourth-main-c-1900" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Fourth &amp; Main, c. 1900</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This photograph looks south at the intersection of Main Street and Fourth Avenue in Longmont around 1900. The post office (marked at right behind the McFarland's Dry Goods sign) dated to the city's founding in the early 1870s. Many of the brick buildings in this photo still stand today.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-12-11T13:09:01-07:00" title="Monday, December 11, 2017 - 13:09" class="datetime">Mon, 12/11/2017 - 13:09</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/longmont-0" data-a2a-title="Longmont"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Flongmont-0&amp;title=Longmont"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Longmont is a city of about 92,000 along the <a href="/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a> in eastern <a href="/article/boulder-county"><strong>Boulder County</strong></a>. Named after the prominent <a href="/article/longs-peak"><strong>Longs Peak</strong></a> to the west, the city was founded in 1871 by members of the <a href="/article/chicago-colorado-colony"><strong>Chicago-Colorado Colony</strong></a>, near the confluence of Left Hand and St. Vrain Creeks.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After its founding, Longmont quickly developed into an agricultural hub where local farmers and ranchers brought produce to be processed and shipped out on rail lines. Beginning in the 1960s, the Longmont economy diversified to include high-tech and other industries, and the population swelled to 71,000 by 2000. Today, even though agriculture is more a part of Longmont’s past than its present or future, the city maintains a hard-working, industrious spirit, with a large population of blue-collar and service industry workers and a thriving artist and professional class.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The sheltered and well-watered region along Colorado’s Front Range has drawn human populations for millennia, as far back as the <a href="/article/paleo-indian-period"><strong>Paleo-Indian</strong></a> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/folsom-people"><strong>Folsom peoples</strong></a> about 12,000 years ago or earlier. By the nineteenth century, the <strong>Arapaho</strong> and <strong>Cheyenne</strong> people lived in the area, making winter camp near the sites of present-day cities such as <a href="/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a> and <a href="/article/fort-collins"><strong>Fort Collins</strong></a>. Left Hand Creek is named for the Arapaho leader <a href="/article/left-hand-niwot"><strong>Niwot</strong></a>, or “Left Hand,” who encountered the first white prospectors in what became Boulder County.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Vrain Creek, Longmont’s other main waterway, was named after <strong>Ceran St. Vrain</strong>, a fur trader of French descent who came to the area in the early nineteenth century.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Beginnings at Burlington</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The <a href="/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> of 1858–59 brought thousands of white settlers to the Front Range. The first to settle near present-day Longmont were prospector Alonzo Allen and his seventeen-year-old stepson, <a href="/article/william-h-dickens"><strong>William Henry Dickens</strong></a>, who in 1860 built a cabin on the south bank of St. Vrain Creek.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1862 Allen and Dickens filed for adjacent <a href="/article/homestead"><strong>homesteads</strong></a> on St. Vrain Creek. Allen’s cabin was located near a convenient ford of the creek, so it soon became a stage stop and post office. Allen’s wife, Mary, arrived in 1863, and they set up a tavern and inn that served passengers on stage routes between <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> and Laramie, Wyoming. A small settlement of 150 took shape around Allen’s stage stop and was named Burlington. The community added a school in 1864 and a newspaper in 1871, but frequent <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/flooding-colorado"><strong>flooding</strong></a> stunted its growth.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Chicago-Colorado Colony</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony Company incorporated in Chicago on November 20, 1870, with the goal of establishing an agricultural community in what was then <a href="/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>. A committee headed by former lumberman Seth Terry and <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong> founder <a href="/article/william-n-byers"><strong>William Byers</strong></a> arrived in <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> in January 1871 to search for a suitable location for the colony. Byers, along with the group’s secretary, Cyrus N. Pratt, were investors in the <strong>Denver Pacific Railway</strong> and wanted the colony to buy land from the railroad.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After a tour of the Front Range that included a visit to <strong>Horace Greeley</strong>’s <strong>Union Colony</strong>, Terry bought 23,000 acres near the Burlington settlement from the Denver Pacific’s National Land Company. In early March 1871, Terry led a group of about 250 settlers to the confluence of St. Vrain and Left Hand Creeks.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Terry surveyed and platted a town, naming it Longmont after the stunning view of Longs Peak to the west. The colonists immediately set to work digging ditches and building homes.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like the Union Colony, the Chicago-Colorado Colony was envisioned as an agricultural utopia where colonists would farm the land and share the benefits of their work. Temperance was written into the colony’s constitution although it was quickly challenged, and saloons became legal as early as 1873. The colonists had plans for churches, parks, a library, a college, and even a county courthouse, as they hoped to take over the county seat from <a href="/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Longmont never became the county seat, but many of the colonists’ other plans quickly came to fruition. The city’s first church, the United Methodist, was founded in 1871. Lake Park, one of Colorado’s earliest public parks, was completed just west of Main Street that same year. The park was supposed to hold a lake, but it was eventually filled in and made into a horse racing track. Elizabeth Thompson, a wealthy East Coast philanthropist, financed the construction of Colorado’s first public library in Longmont in 1871. The library doubled as the city’s first schoolhouse.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Growing City</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Longmont absorbed the older community of Burlington in 1871 and incorporated in 1873. The Chicago-Colorado Colony all but dissolved with Longmont’s incorporation. That year the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> arrived from <a href="/article/golden-0"><strong>Golden</strong></a>, allowing Longmont to ship farm products to miners in the mountains.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Some of the Burlington homesteaders became leading citizens of Longmont, the most famous being <a href="/article/william-h-dickens"><strong>William Henry Dickens</strong></a>. He built the <a href="/article/dickens-opera-house"><strong>Dickens Opera House</strong></a> at Third Avenue and Main Street in 1881, which served for decades as the social hub of the city, hosting not only concerts, plays, and operas but also dances, club meetings, political rallies, and other events. Among other ventures, Dickens also founded Farmers National Bank, which helped local farmers secure funds for land and farm equipment.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>A year after Dickens built his opera house, the Chicago, Burlington &amp; Quincy Railroad arrived in Longmont, giving the city its second rail line and easier access to markets in Chicago, Kansas, and elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1887 entrepreneur Thomas Callahan and his wife Alice arrived and opened a dry goods store on Main Street called the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule was immediately successful, and Callahan soon opened other locations throughout the Front Range and Wyoming. In 1892 the Callahans acquired and improved the large mansion at the corner of Third Avenue and Terry Street, now known as the <a href="/article/callahan-house"><strong>Callahan House</strong></a>. Meanwhile, the local Presbyterian synod built Longmont’s first college on East Sixth Avenue in 1886, but only had enough money to complete one building, now known as <a href="/article/longmont-college-landmark"><strong>The Landmark</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As Longmont developed, pro- and anti-drink crowds battled over temperance. Saloons were first allowed in Longmont in 1873, but liquor was periodically banned and allowed between 1875 and 1916, when Colorado enacted statewide prohibition. During these decades, the<em> Longmont Ledger</em>, a weekly newspaper dating to 1877, was one of the loudest voices for temperance, while the <em>Longmont Call</em>, founded in 1893, defended saloons. The situation became so heated that in 1903 a group of pro-liquor Longmontians moved north and established the new town of Rosedale, also known as North Longmont. Rosedale welcomed not only saloons but also gambling and prostitution. After a lengthy and controversial annexation process, Longmont officially absorbed Rosedale in 1913. Legal booze finally won out in Longmont with the lifting of national prohibition in 1933.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Agricultural Hub</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Longmont had a flour mill as early as 1872, but its days as a processing center for local produce were only beginning. In 1889 Denver businessman John Empson opened the <a href="/article/kuner-empson-cannery"><strong>Empson Cannery</strong></a> in Longmont and began buying up local farmland to grow vegetables. The cannery helped anchor the city’s growing economy, and in 1891 Empson’s money and canned pumpkin helped make Longmont’s first annual Pumpkin Pie Days a success. Empson’s company became one of the leading producers of canned peas in the world, and in the 1920s, it merged with the successful Kuner Pickle Company of Denver.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Longmont’s economy received another major boost when the city gained a sugar beet factory in 1903. City trustee Frank M. Downer led the campaign for the factory. He formed the Longmont Sugar Company, and local businessman Henry O. Havemeyer agreed to provide funds for the plant. With Thomas Callahan supplying the bricks, the Longmont beet factory was built just southeast of downtown. At the time of its completion, it was the largest beet factory in Colorado, employing more than 700 men, women, and children.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>At its peak, the factory processed 3,650 tons of beets and produced more than one million pounds of sugar per day. The Longmont Sugar Company was soon acquired by the Great Western Sugar Company, the agricultural titan that dominated the <a href="/article/sugar-beet-industry"><strong>sugar beet industry</strong></a> in Colorado for nearly seven decades.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beet farms needed labor, and Longmont’s sugar beet boom brought hundreds of newcomers from all parts of the world. Germans from Russia joined Japanese and Mexican families that either worked in the beet fields or set up farms of their own.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1900 the US census recorded no one with a Spanish surname living in Longmont, but by 1920 the city had thirty-one households headed by a person with a Spanish last name. Great Western built a small <em>colonia</em>—a cluster of barely adequate company houses—near its factory, and Latino beet workers spent winters there until the 1940s. In 1907 German Russians established Longmont’s first German-speaking church, the Evangelical Lutheran. The first generation of Japanese farmers in the St. Vrain valley arrived between 1915 and 1920. One prominent early Japanese farmer was Goroku Kanemoto, who moved his family to a large farm near Terry Lake in 1919.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As one of the most prosperous agricultural hubs in Colorado, Longmont enjoyed continued growth even during the <a href="/article/dust-bowl"><strong>Dust Bowl</strong></a> and <strong>Great Depression</strong>, events that hollowed out other farm communities. In 1934 some 380 of Boulder County’s 1,500 farms reported crop failure, yet the city’s population kept rising, reaching 7,406 by 1940.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Diversification and Growth</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Continued growth through the postwar years gave way to economic diversification in the 1960s and 1970s. State Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont was paved and straightened in 1960, allowing more Longmont residents to commute to university and other non-farming jobs in Boulder. The US government built an air traffic control center in Longmont in 1962 and IBM added a large facility southwest of the city in 1965.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As the ranks of commuters grew and government and tech jobs arrived, agricultural and industrial jobs dried up. Outdated equipment and infrastructure forced the Kuner-Empson cannery to close in 1970 and decades of corporate mismanagement led to the closure of the Longmont sugar factory in 1977.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Economic transformation proved to be a boon for Longmont, as the city’s population exploded from 11,489 in 1960 to 42,942 by 1980. Longmont developers were quick to seize the demand for new housing. After the IBM campus opened, the Kanemoto family stopped farming and built the 700-home Southmoor Park neighborhood on some of their land. The neighborhood was one of several Kanemoto developments in town. In the 1980s, the old Longmont College building was converted into apartments, and developer Roger Pomainville turned the old brick warehouses of the Kuner-Empson cannery into apartments.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Redevelopment of Longmont’s downtown district also began in the 1980s. The city council formed the Longmont Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) in 1982, and over the next two decades the authority invested more than $45 million in new buildings and renovations along Main Street. The LDDA also oversaw the construction of pedestrian-friendly alleys and crosswalks, the planting of trees and flowers, and other beautification efforts.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alongside downtown development came historic preservation, in the form of two <a href="/article/longmont-historic-districts"><strong>historic districts</strong></a> located east and west of Main Street. The districts were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986–87.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The city’s Latino community grew along with the city, as the changing economy attracted more people from elsewhere in the United States and immigrants from Mexico and Central America. When IBM first set up its facility, the company did not hire many Latinos, but a discrimination lawsuit in 1971 changed that. By the middle of the decade, Longmont was home to some 101 Latino professionals, many of whom worked at IBM or the <strong>University of Colorado</strong>. Hundreds more Latinos worked in service or industrial jobs such as the Longmont turkey processing factory, which was known for poor working conditions.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although Latinos were a fundamental part of the city’s culture and economy, they faced discrimination and police harassment throughout the twentieth century. In August 1980 a Longmont police officer shot and killed two unarmed Latino men during a routine traffic stop. In response, Latino community leaders formed El Comité, a group that demanded reform of the Longmont Police Department and increased dialogue between the police and the Latino community. El Comité’s efforts were largely successful, and the group continues to advise Longmont police today on behalf of a Latino community that now makes up 25 percent of the city’s population.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Today Longmont’s population boom continues, mirroring the explosive growth of the Front Range. Housing developments continue to spring up, such as the 115-unit Roosevelt Park Apartments and Pomainville’s 220-unit Mill Village. Like its Front Range neighbors Boulder and Fort Collins, Longmont has also developed a thriving craft beer industry, anchored by <strong>Left Hand Brewery</strong> and <strong>Oskar Blues</strong>. More affordable than nearby Boulder, Longmont is home to many working-class residents who commute to the affluent county seat for jobs in construction and service or at the University of Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Though it has seen plenty of changes over the last 150 years, Longmont remains dedicated to preserving its heritage. The <strong>Longmont Museum</strong>, which opened in 2002 south of downtown, is one of the more robust museums along the Front Range. In 2008 its permanent exhibit Front Range Rising won History Colorado’s Josephine H. Miles History Award and the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. Still in touch with its agricultural roots, Longmont is home to the <strong>Boulder County Agricultural Heritage Center</strong>, along Ute Highway at the west end of town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After three decades of redevelopment, downtown Longmont is now a hub for restaurants, brewpubs, coffee shops, and boutiques. In addition to The Landmark and the Empson cannery, which still house apartments, many of the city’s oldest buildings remain in use. The Dickens Opera House continues to offer live entertainment on the second floor and dining on the first, while the city-maintained Callahan House welcomes visitors and hosts a variety of public and private events.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/elizabeth-thompson" hreflang="en">elizabeth thompson</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-byers" hreflang="en">william byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/rocky-mountain-news" hreflang="en">rocky mountain news</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-pacific-railroad" hreflang="en">denver pacific railroad</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-dickens" hreflang="en">william dickens</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/dickens-opera-house" hreflang="en">dickens opera house</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sugar-beet-industry" hreflang="en">sugar beet industry</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/longmont-museum" hreflang="en">longmont museum</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/longmont-historic-districts" hreflang="en">longmont historic districts</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county" hreflang="en">boulder county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county-history" hreflang="en">boulder county history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/latino-history" hreflang="en">latino history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/agriculture" hreflang="en">agriculture</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/front-range" hreflang="en">front range</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Robert R. Crifasi, <em>A Land Made from Water: Appropriation and the Evolution of Colorado’s Landscape, Ditches, and Water Institutions </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mabel Downer Dunning, <em>The Chicago-Colorado Company Founding of Longmont</em>, ed. Mildred Neeley, Clara Williams, Muriel Harrison, Colleen Cassell, and Mildred Brown (Longmont, CO: n.p., 1975).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Longmont Downtown Development Authority, “<a href="https://www.downtownlongmont.com/about">About Us</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Candy Hamilton, <em>Footprints in the Sugar: A History of the Great Western Sugar Company </em>(Ontario, OR: Hamilton Bates, 2009).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Erik Mason, “<a href="https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/museum/collections/history-of-longmont">History of Longmont</a>,” City of Longmont, Colorado, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Marjorie K. McIntosh, <em>Latinos of Boulder County, Colorado, 1900–1980</em>. Vol. 1:<em> History and Contributions</em> (Palm Springs, CA: Old John, 2016).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Marjorie K. McIntosh, <em>Latinos of Boulder County, Colorado, 1900–1980</em>. Vol. 2:<em> Lives and Legacies </em>(Palm Springs, CA: Old John, 2016).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thomas J. Noel and Dan W. Corson, <em>Boulder County: An Illustrated History </em>(Carlsbad, CA: Heritage Media, 1999).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Vrain Valley Historical Association, <em>They Came to Stay: Longmont, Colorado, 1858–1920 </em>(Longmont, CO: Longmont Printing, 1971).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Department of Agriculture, “<a href="https://usda.library.cornell.edu/">Colorado</a>,” USDA Census of Agriculture, Vol. 1, Pt. 41 (1935).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alicia Wallace, “<a href="https://www.timescall.com/2014/10/05/apartment-boom-playing-out-in-longmont/">Apartment boom playing out in Longmont</a>,” <em>Longmont Times-Call</em>, October 5, 2014.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Magdalena Wegrzyn, “<a href="https://www.timescall.com/2012/03/21/longmonts-link-to-japan-began-with-immigrants-continues-with-students/">Longmont’s link to Japan began with immigrants, continues with students</a>,” <em>Longmont Times-Call</em>, March 25, 2012.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carah Wertheimer, “<a href="https://www.timescall.com/2016/09/04/the-rise-and-fall-of-north-longmont-a-century-old-tale-of-saloons-water-rights-and-the-ballot-box/">The rise and fall of North Longmont: A century-old tale of saloons, water rights and the ballot box</a>,” <em>Longmont Times-Call</em>, September 4, 2016.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p><a href="https://bouldercounty.gov/open-space/education/museums/agricultural-heritage-center/">Boulder County Agricultural Heritage Center</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://bocolatinohistory.colorado.edu/">Boulder County Latino History</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/">City of Longmont</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dorothy Large, <em>Old Burlington: First Town on the St. Vrain, 1860–1871 </em>(Longmont, CO: St. Vrain Publishing, 1984).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Longmont Hispanic Study, <em>We, Too, Came to Stay: A History of the Longmont Hispanic Community </em>(Longmont, CO: Longmont Hispanic Study and El Comité, 1988).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.rootsweb.com/~colgs/">Longmont Genealogical Society</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/museum">Longmont Museum</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Erik Mason, <em>Longmont:</em> <em>The First 150 Years </em>(Virginia Beach, VA: Donning, 2020).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="http://longmontian.blogspot.com/">Observations about Longmont, Colorado (blog)</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="http://www.stvrainhistoricalsociety.com/">St. Vrain Historical Society</a></p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 11 Dec 2017 20:09:01 +0000 yongli 2862 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Chicago-Colorado Colony http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/chicago-colorado-colony <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Chicago-Colorado Colony</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-12-06T12:21:54-07:00" title="Wednesday, December 6, 2017 - 12:21" class="datetime">Wed, 12/06/2017 - 12:21</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/chicago-colorado-colony" data-a2a-title="Chicago-Colorado Colony"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fchicago-colorado-colony&amp;title=Chicago-Colorado%20Colony"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony (1871–73) established the city of <a href="/article/longmont-0"><strong>Longmont</strong></a> near the confluence of <strong>St. Vrain</strong> and Left Hand Creeks in 1871. Financed by wealthy Chicagoans and consisting mostly of immigrants from the Midwest, the colony was an agricultural community that emphasized thrift, temperance, and the communal use of resources—most importantly, <a href="/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Inspired by <strong>Horace Greeley</strong>’s <strong>Union Colony</strong>, members of the Chicago-Colorado Colony built a robust <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/irrigation-colorado"><strong>irrigation</strong></a> system that allowed Longmont to prosper as a major agricultural hub along the <a href="/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a> for nearly a century. Many of Longmont’s streets—including Bross, Collyer, Gay, Pratt, and Terry—are named for colony founders. In addition to establishing some of Colorado’s first public parks, the Chicago-Colorado Colony was also home to the state’s first public library.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Though it eventually adopted the idealistic slogan of “industry, temperance, and morality,” the Chicago-Colorado Colony had somewhat less idealistic origins as part of a scheme to sell railroad land. To encourage railroad building in the American West during the nineteenth century, the US government routinely granted railroads land on either side of their right-of-way; the railroads could then offer the land for sale to pay for railroad construction or to make a profit.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1870 the <strong>Denver Pacific Railroad</strong> (DP) was looking to sell land along its right-of-way between <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> and Cheyenne. Chicagoan Col. <strong>Cyrus N. Pratt</strong> was the general agent of the National Land Company, the real estate subsidiary of the DP. Pratt, along with <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong> founder and fellow DP investor <a href="/article/william-n-byers"><strong>William Byers</strong></a>, believed an agricultural colony modeled after the <strong>Union Colony, </strong>established that year in present-day <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/greeley"><strong>Greeley</strong></a>, made a perfect client.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With Pratt as secretary, the Chicago-Colorado Colony Company incorporated in Chicago on November 20, 1870. Unitarian minister Robert Collyer served as president, with newspaperman Sidney H. Gay as vice president. Another prominent investor was former Illinois lieutenant governor William Bross. In January 1871, while Pratt helped secure some 300 investors in Chicago, Byers led a committee consisting of former lumberman Seth Terry and several other colony representatives to what was then <a href="/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>During a tour of the Front Range that included a visit to the Union Colony, the committee crossed paths with Enoch J. Coffman, a <a href="/article/homestead"><strong>homesteader</strong></a> near the small community of <a href="/article/burlington-boulder-county"><strong>Burlington</strong></a>, located along St. Vrain Creek. Impressed with Coffman’s wheat harvest, the committee chose the area near Coffman’s homestead—the confluence of St. Vrain and Left Hand Creeks—for the location of the colony. The Chicago-Colorado Colony quickly bought 23,000 acres from the National Land Company and secured an additional 37,000 acres from the federal government and other landowners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To recruit new residents for the colony, Byers filled the <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> with advertisements that promised potential colonists bountiful harvests and instant prosperity. The <em>Chicago Tribune </em>published similar ads. <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-climate"><strong>Colorado’s climate</strong></a>, said to be a cure for many maladies, already had a sterling reputation in the humid Midwest, so the colony had little difficulty persuading Chicagoans to make the journey across the plains. For $150 plus an initiation fee of $5, colonists received a forty-acre farm, and an additional $50 bought a lot in town.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>First Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Once the land was secured, Terry and some 250 colonists took a train to Erie, Colorado, and then wagons to Burlington, arriving at the site of their new home in early March 1871. They built a temporary shelter and set to work digging ditches and building homes. Terry, later elected the colony’s first president, laid out a town and named it Longmont, after the area’s striking view of <a href="/article/longs-peak"><strong>Longs Peak</strong></a> to the west.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the end of May 1871, the colony had 390 members, including 151 from Illinois and another 89 from Colorado. Thirty-six came from Massachusetts. Of the Coloradans who relocated to Longmont, about 75 came from Burlington. Others, including doctors Conrad Bardill and Joseph B. Barkley, came from the Union Colony. Longmont’s first winter was mild, leading Terry to mistakenly believe that the colony would not suffer during the coldest months. The next year’s harsh winter changed the settlers’ perception of the climate, but they were undaunted.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Perhaps more important to the colony than anything else were the irrigation ditches, which allowed farming and provided drinking water to Longmont. By the summer of 1871, colonists had dug numerous small ditches in town and near their fields. Initial crops included wheat, strawberries, and pumpkins, and colonists also raised turkeys and cattle for meat and dairy. Illinoisan Jarvis Fox built the colony’s first flour mill in 1872.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the summer of 1871, colonists had also begun digging an eighteen-foot-wide primary ditch that they called the Excelsior. The colony soon ran out of money, however, and the ditch was never completed. Improvising, the colonists formed the Highland Ditch Company to build and manage their primary ditch, which was now to be called the Highland. Money from a Chicago investor helped pay for the construction of a headgate at the mouth of St. Vrain Canyon, and water from the St. Vrain began flowing into the eight-mile-long, twelve-foot-wide Highland Ditch on March 30, 1873. From there, it was diverted into numerous other ditches to water crops and to provide drinking water to Longmont.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony was home to one of Colorado’s first public parks—Lake Park, named for Lake Michigan and completed in 1871—as well as the territory’s first public library, founded in 1871 by Elizabeth Thompson, a philanthropist who lived on the East Coast. The library doubled as Longmont’s first schoolhouse. Seth Terry’s fourteen-year-old son William attended school there and became the first librarian.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Temperance was enshrined in the colony’s constitution, and anyone caught with alcohol in the early days had to return their land to the colony. However, residents soon put the temperance law to the test, and saloons were allowed as early as 1873. A protracted fight between proponents of drink and of temperance ensued, resulting in periodic bans on liquor between 1875 and 1916, when Colorado instituted statewide prohibition. Legal liquor finally prevailed in Longmont with the lifting of national prohibition in 1933.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Though the community it founded continued to prosper, the Chicago-Colorado Colony essentially ended with the incorporation of the city of Longmont in 1873. The company continued selling off property until it formally dissolved in 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The initial work of the Chicago-Colorado colonists—especially the irrigation ditches they built—allowed Longmont to become one of the most agriculturally productive places in Colorado for nearly a century. The Highland Ditch, for example, has been enlarged six different times since its construction and currently irrigates more than 20,000 acres each year. Residents of Longmont maintain the hard-working, pragmatic attitudes of their predecessors.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like the Union Colony after which it was modeled, the Chicago-Colorado Colony became a manifestation of communitarian ideals in Colorado. But unlike Horace Greeley’s venture, the Chicago-Colorado Colony was founded on equal parts corporate scheming and utopian idealism. As such, the colony serves as an example of how opposing ideologies of communitarianism and capitalism nonetheless combined to build stable communities in the nineteenth-century American West.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/longmont-history" hreflang="en">longmont history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/chicago-colorado-colony" hreflang="en">chicago-colorado colony</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nc-pratt" hreflang="en">n.c. pratt</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/seth-terry" hreflang="en">seth terry</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-byers" hreflang="en">william byers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-pacific-railroad" hreflang="en">denver pacific railroad</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/robert-collyer" hreflang="en">robert collyer</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-bross" hreflang="en">william bross</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/longmont" hreflang="en">longmont</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county" hreflang="en">boulder county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county-history" hreflang="en">boulder county history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/horace-greeley" hreflang="en">Horace Greeley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colony" hreflang="en">Colony</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/agriculture" hreflang="en">agriculture</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/farming" hreflang="en">farming</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Robert R. Crifasi, <em>A Land Made from Water: Appropriation and the Evolution of Colorado’s Landscape, Ditches, and Water Institutions </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mabel Downer Dunning, <em>The Chicago-Colorado Company Founding of Longmont</em>, ed. Mildred Neeley, Clara Williams, Muriel Harrison, Colleen Cassell, and Mildred Brown (Longmont, CO: n.p., 1975).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Vrain Valley Historical Association, <em>They Came to Stay: Longmont, Colorado, 1858–1920 </em>(Longmont, CO: Longmont Printing, 1971).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carah Wertheimer, “<a href="https://www.timescall.com/2016/09/04/the-rise-and-fall-of-north-longmont-a-century-old-tale-of-saloons-water-rights-and-the-ballot-box/">The rise and fall of North Longmont: A century-old tale of saloons, water rights and the ballot box</a>,” <em>Longmont Times-Call</em>, September 4, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>James F. Willard, ed., <a href="https://archive.org/stream/experimentsincol00jame/experimentsincol00jame_djvu.txt">Experiments in Colorado Colonization 1869–1872</a> (Boulder: University of Colorado, 1926).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Karen Antonacci, “<a href="https://www.timescall.com/2015/01/31/happy-144th-birthday-longmont/">Happy 144th birthday, Longmont</a>,” <em>Longmont Times-Call</em>, January 31, 2015.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony (1871–73) established the city of Longmont. It was paid for by wealthy Chicagoans and made up mostly of people from the Midwest.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Members of the Chicago-Colorado Colony built an <strong>irrigation</strong> system that made Longmont a major farming community. Many of Longmont’s streets are named for colony founders. The colony established some of Colorado’s first public parks. It was also home to the state’s first public library.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony was initially part of a plan to sell railroad land. The US government wanted to encourage railroad building. The government gave railroads land on either side of their tracks. The railroads could sell the land to pay for railroad construction or to make a profit.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1870 the <strong>Denver Pacific Railroad</strong> (DP) was looking to sell land between <strong>Denver</strong> and Cheyenne. Chicagoan Col. <strong>Cyrus N. Pratt</strong> and <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong> founder <strong>William Byers</strong> wanted to build a farming colony in this area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony Company was formed in Chicago on November 20, 1870. In January 1871, Byers led a committee to what was then <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>During a tour of the Front Range, the committee met Enoch J. Coffman, a <strong>homesteader</strong> near the small community of <strong>Burlington</strong>. The committee was impressed with Coffman’s wheat harvest. They chose the area near Coffman’s homestead for their colony. The Chicago-Colorado Colony bought 23,000 acres. They secured 37,000 acres from the federal government and other landowners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To get new residents, Byers filled the <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> with ads that promised good harvests. The<em> Chicago Tribune</em> published similar ads. <strong>Colorado’s climate</strong> was said to be a cure for many illnesses. That meant the colony didn't have trouble getting Chicagoans to come. For $150 plus an initiation fee of $5, colonists got a forty-acre farm. An additional $50 bought a lot in town.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>First Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Some 250 colonists arrived in early March 1871. They set to work digging ditches and building homes. They laid out a town and named it Longmont, after the view of Longs Peak to the west.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the end of May 1871, the colony had 390 members. There were 151 from Illinois and another 89 from Colorado. Thirty-six came from Massachusetts. Of the Coloradans who moved to Longmont, about 75 came from Burlington.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The most important part of the colony was the irrigation ditches. The ditches allowed farming and provided drinking water to Longmont. By the summer of 1871, colonists had dug many small ditches. Crops included wheat, strawberries, and pumpkins. Colonists also raised turkeys and cattle for meat and dairy.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The colonists formed the Highland Ditch Company to build and manage their primary ditch. The ditch was to be called the Highland. Money from a Chicago investor helped pay for the construction. Water from the St. Vrain began flowing into the eight-mile-long, twelve-foot-wide Highland Ditch on March 30, 1873. From there, it went into other ditches to water crops and provide drinking water.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony was home to one of Colorado’s first public parks. Lake Park was named for Lake Michigan. It was completed in 1871. The territory’s first public library was also founded in 1871. The library doubled as Longmont’s first schoolhouse.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony essentially ended with the creation of the city of Longmont in 1873. The company continued selling off property until it dissolved in 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The work of the Chicago-Colorado colonists made Longmont one of the most productive farming communities in Colorado for nearly a century. The Highland Ditch has been enlarged six times since its construction. It currently irrigates more than 20,000 acres each year.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony (1871–73) established the city of <strong>Longmont</strong>. It was paid for by wealthy Chicagoans and made up mostly of immigrants from the Midwest.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Members of the Chicago-Colorado Colony built an <strong>irrigation</strong> system that made Longmont a major agricultural hub. Many of Longmont’s streets—including Bross, Collyer, Gay, Pratt, and Terry—are named for colony founders. The colony established some of Colorado’s first public parks. It was also home to the state’s first public library.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony was originally part of a plan to sell railroad land. To encourage railroad building in the American West, the US government granted railroads land on either side of their right-of-way. The railroads could then sell the land to pay for railroad construction or to make a profit.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1870 the <strong>Denver Pacific Railroad</strong> (DP) was looking to sell land along its right-of-way between <strong>Denver</strong> and Cheyenne. Chicagoan Col. <strong>Cyrus N. Pratt</strong> was the general agent of DP's real estate subsidiary. Pratt, along with <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong> founder and fellow DP investor <strong>William Byers</strong>, believed a farming community modeled after the <strong>Union Colony</strong> in <strong>Greeley</strong> would work.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony Company was formed in Chicago on November 20, 1870. In January 1871, Byers led a committee to what was then <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>During a tour of the Front Range, the committee crossed paths with Enoch J. Coffman, a <strong>homesteader</strong> near the small community of <strong>Burlington</strong>. The committee was impressed with Coffman’s wheat harvest.  They chose the area near Coffman’s homestead for the location of the colony. The Chicago-Colorado Colony bought 23,000 acres from the National Land Company. They secured an additional 37,000 acres from the federal government and other landowners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To recruit new residents for the colony, Byers filled the <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> with ads that promised large harvests. The <em>Chicago Tribune</em> published similar ads. <strong>Colorado’s climate</strong> was said to be a cure for many illnesses. That meant the colony didn't have trouble persuading Chicagoans to come. For $150 plus an initiation fee of $5, colonists received a forty-acre farm. An additional $50 bought a lot in town.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>First Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Some 250 colonists arrived at the site of their new home in early March 1871. They built a temporary shelter and set to work digging ditches and building homes. They laid out a town and named it Longmont, after the view of <strong>Longs Peak </strong>to the west.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the end of May 1871, the colony had 390 members. There were 151 from Illinois and another 89 from Colorado. Thirty-six came from Massachusetts. Of the Coloradans who moved to Longmont, about 75 came from Burlington. Others came from the Union Colony.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The most important part of the colony was the irrigation ditches. The ditches allowed farming and provided drinking water to Longmont. By the summer of 1871, colonists had dug numerous small ditches. Crops included wheat, strawberries, and pumpkins. Colonists also raised turkeys and cattle for meat and dairy. Illinoisan Jarvis Fox built the colony’s first flour mill in 1872.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the summer of 1871, colonists had begun digging a primary ditch that they called Excelsior. However, the colony ran out of money, and the ditch was never completed. The colonists then formed the Highland Ditch Company to build and manage their primary ditch. The ditch was to be called the Highland. Money from a Chicago investor helped pay for the construction of a headgate at the mouth of St. Vrain Canyon. Water from the St. Vrain began flowing into the eight-mile-long, twelve-foot-wide Highland Ditch on March 30, 1873. From there, it went into other ditches to water crops and provide drinking water to Longmont.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony was home to one of Colorado’s first public parks. Lake Park was named for Lake Michigan. It was completed in 1871. The territory’s first public library was also founded in 1871 by Elizabeth Thompson. The library doubled as Longmont’s first schoolhouse.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Temperance was in the colony’s constitution. In the early days, anyone caught with alcohol had to return their land. However, saloons were allowed by 1873. The fight over alcohol continued for several years. There were some bans on liquor between 1875 and 1916. In 1916, Colorado passed statewide prohibition. Liquor become legal in Longmont when national prohibition ended in 1933.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony essentially ended with the creation of the city of Longmont in 1873. The company continued selling off property until it dissolved in 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The work of the Chicago-Colorado colonists made Longmont one of the most productive farming communities in Colorado for nearly a century. The Highland Ditch has been enlarged six times since its construction. It currently irrigates more than 20,000 acres each year. Residents of Longmont maintain the hard-working attitude of the colonists.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> </p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony (1871–73) established the city of <strong>Longmont </strong>near the confluence of <strong>St. Vrain</strong> and Left Hand Creeks in 1871. It was financed by wealthy Chicagoans and consisted mostly of immigrants from the Midwest. The colony was an agricultural community that emphasized thrift, temperance, and the communal use of resources.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Inspired by <strong>Horace Greeley’s Union Colony</strong>, members of the Chicago-Colorado Colony built an <strong>irrigation</strong> system that made Longmont a major agricultural hub. Many of Longmont’s streets—including Bross, Collyer, Gay, Pratt, and Terry—are named for colony founders. In addition to establishing some of Colorado’s first public parks, the Chicago-Colorado Colony was also home to the state’s first public library.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Though it adopted the slogan “industry, temperance, and morality,” the Chicago-Colorado Colony had less idealistic origins. It was part of a plan to sell railroad land. To encourage railroad building in the American West during the nineteenth century, the US government routinely granted railroads land on either side of their right-of-way. The railroads could then offer the land for sale to pay for railroad construction or to make a profit.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1870 the <strong>Denver Pacific Railroad</strong> (DP) was looking to sell land along its right-of-way between <strong>Denver</strong> and Cheyenne. Chicagoan Col. <strong>Cyrus N. Pratt</strong> was the general agent of the National Land Company, the real estate subsidiary of the DP. Pratt, along with <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong> founder and fellow DP investor <strong>William Byers</strong>, believed an agricultural colony modeled after the <strong>Union Colony</strong>, established that year in present-day <strong>Greeley</strong>, made a perfect client.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony Company incorporated in Chicago on November 20, 1870. In January 1871, while Pratt helped secure some 300 investors in Chicago, Byers led a committee to what was then <strong>Colorado Territory.</strong></p>&#13; &#13; <p>During a tour of the Front Range that included a visit to the Union Colony, the committee crossed paths with Enoch J. Coffman, a <strong>homesteader </strong>near the small community of <strong>Burlington</strong>. Impressed with Coffman’s wheat harvest, the committee chose the area near Coffman’s homestead—the confluence of St. Vrain and Left Hand Creeks—for the location of the colony. The Chicago-Colorado Colony quickly bought 23,000 acres from the National Land Company and secured an additional 37,000 acres from the federal government and other landowners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To recruit new residents for the colony, Byers filled the <em>Rocky Mountain News</em> with advertisements that promised potential colonists bountiful harvests and instant prosperity. The <em>Chicago Tribune</em> published similar ads. <strong>Colorado’s climate</strong> was said to be a cure for many maladies, so the colony had little difficulty persuading Chicagoans to make the journey across the plains. For $150 plus an initiation fee of $5, colonists received a forty-acre farm. An additional $50 bought a lot in town.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>First Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Once the land was secured, some 250 colonists took a train to Erie, Colorado, and then wagons to Burlington. They arrived at the site of their new home in early March 1871. They built a temporary shelter and set to work digging ditches and building homes. They laid out a town and named it Longmont, after the view of Longs Peak to the west.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the end of May 1871, the colony had 390 members, including 151 from Illinois and another 89 from Colorado. Thirty-six came from Massachusetts. Of the Coloradans who relocated to Longmont, about 75 came from Burlington. Others, including doctors Conrad Bardill and Joseph B. Barkley, came from the Union Colony. Longmont’s first winter was mild, colonists to mistakenly believe that the colony would not suffer during the coldest months. The next year’s harsh winter changed the settlers’ perception of the climate.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>More important to the colony than anything else were the irrigation ditches. The ditches allowed farming and provided drinking water to Longmont. By the summer of 1871, colonists had dug numerous small ditches in town and near their fields. Crops included wheat, strawberries, and pumpkins. Colonists also raised turkeys and cattle for meat and dairy. Illinoisan Jarvis Fox built the colony’s first flour mill in 1872.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the summer of 1871, colonists had also begun digging an eighteen-foot-wide primary ditch that they called the Excelsior. The colony soon ran out of money, however, and the ditch was never completed. Improvising, the colonists formed the Highland Ditch Company to build and manage their primary ditch, which was to be called the Highland. Money from a Chicago investor helped pay for the construction of a headgate at the mouth of St. Vrain Canyon. Water from the St. Vrain began flowing into the eight-mile-long, twelve-foot-wide Highland Ditch on March 30, 1873. From there, it was diverted into other ditches to water crops and provide drinking water to Longmont.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony was home to one of Colorado’s first public parks—Lake Park. The park was named for Lake Michigan and completed in 1871. The territory’s first public library was founded in 1871 by Elizabeth Thompson. The library doubled as Longmont’s first schoolhouse.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Temperance was enshrined in the colony’s constitution. In the early days, anyone caught with alcohol had to return their land to the colony. Residents soon put the temperance law to the test, and saloons were allowed as early as 1873. A protracted fight between proponents of drink and of temperance ensued. This resulted in periodic bans on liquor between 1875 and 1916, when Colorado instituted statewide prohibition. Legal liquor finally prevailed in Longmont with the lifting of national prohibition in 1933.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Chicago-Colorado Colony essentially ended with the incorporation of the city of Longmont in 1873. The company continued selling off property until it formally dissolved in 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The work of the Chicago-Colorado colonists allowed Longmont to become one of the most agriculturally productive places in Colorado for nearly a century. The Highland Ditch has been enlarged six times since its construction. It currently irrigates more than 20,000 acres each year. Residents of Longmont maintain the hard-working attitude of the colonists.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 06 Dec 2017 19:21:54 +0000 yongli 2816 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org