Anne Evans was the sister of William Gray Evans and daughter of Colorado’s territorial governor, John Evans. She never married but became quite devoted to philanthropy and her family. She was the vice president and the director of the Evans Investment Company. The company managed the Evans’ family’s real estate, railroad and other assets. Art was one of her passions, studying at the Willard School in Berlin and the Art Students League in New York City. She was one of the founding members of the Denver Artist’s Club and was instrumental in bringing many pieces of art to the now Denver Art Museum. She held a special interest in Native Americans, after her father’s involvement in the Sand Creek Massacre. Thus, she created the first separate collection of Native American Art in the Denver Art Museum. Mayor Robert Speer appointed Evans to the Denver Art Commission and the Denver Public Library Commission, where she organized the Western History Collection. She also co-founded the Central City Opera Association. Anne Evans was the perpetual force that brought and maintained Denver’s cultural affairs. 2009-06-15T20:32:38Z 0 12 Anne Evans 525429143a3775fb7732abf7b5574c6ddc3bf4f4 2009-06-17T19:47:11Z As the son of a white slave owner and a slave mother, Barney Ford’s life began as a slave in Virginia. While working on a Mississippi riverboat, Ford was presented with the opportunity to escape from a life of slavery. He escaped in Illinois and eventually settled in Chicago with the aid of the Underground Railroad. He married Julia Lyoni and became a successful barber when he was in Chicago. After hearing of the gold rush in California, the Fords sailed west, through Central America in 1851. While waiting for passage to California, in Nicaragua, Ford heard many stories of failed attempts at gold. He decided he would cater to the travelers instead. He managed to create two successful hotels in Nicaragua, before he sold them when a civil war broke out. He returned to Chicago. Ford’s next endeavor was Denver and the Colorado Gold Rush. Although he had land claims, unfortunate events and scams forestalled his gold ambitions. Therefore, Ford returned to barbering and started a small restaurant. In Denver, Ford took an interest in politics, especially civil rights issues. He actively worked alongside other black community leaders to prevent Colorado from entering the Union without the guarantee of minorities the right to vote. Ford was passionate towards the effort to protect and acquire minority rights, but his successful People’s Restaurant at 1514 Black Street and other business ventures, brought him the label of “Black Baron of Colorado” from his political rivals. Nonetheless, to the end of his days, Barney Ford remained a leading member of the Denver business community and a prime example of the Republican party. 2009-06-15T17:35:20Z 0 9 Barney Ford 92706d7f90c37ec47849bb70d46203fd32fb4698 2009-06-17T15:43:08Z Known sometimes as the “Cecil Rhodes of the Rockies” or the “Empire Builder”, David Moffat is largely credited for saving the small town of Denver from obscurity. Originally from New York, Moffat established himself as one of Denver’s first successful entrepreneurs through banking. He worked at the First National Bank of Denver as elected cashier from 1867 to 1880, until he was elected president of the bank in 1880. When the Union Pacific did not include Denver within its east-west rail system in 1867, Moffat collaborated with Walter Cheesman, John Evans and other prominent figures to establish the Denver Pacific Railway. The railway connected Denver with the integral east-west railroads and prevented Denver from disappearing under the shadow of Cheyenne. Moffat’s next endeavor was water. Due to the growing number of people in Denver, the existing wells were insufficient to satisfy the population. After several failed ventures, he joined with Cheesman in 1889, to begin the Citizens Water Company. Concerned with water quality and prices, the company prevailed over competitors and expanded to become the Denver Union Water Company in 1894. The company eventually became the Denver Water Board when it was bought by the city in 1918. Moffat built an elaborate mansion at 8th Avenue and Grant Street in 1900. It had Tiffaney stained-glass windows, elegant woodworking and ornate decor. When it was demolished in the early 1970s, it became a catalyst for historic preservation in Denver. When you stop by, be sure to notice what stands at the intersection today... 2009-06-15T16:04:49Z 0 8 David Halliday Moffat b12e2d53e49b640f781de166996d2cb9217d73e9 2009-07-22T18:13:08Z A neighbor to Molly Brown beginning in 1911, the building that now houses the Kirkland Museum was constructed by Henry Reed to house his Student's School of Art. Read was one of the 13 founders of the Artists Club, which later became the Denver Art Museum. 2009-06-15T20:33:12Z 0 13 Henry Read 3bfb04e984db109d47f83d06785fe39f1cecad7e 2009-06-15T22:12:16Z In the 1950s Jack Kerouac famously spent time in Denver while writing his novel, On the Road. His haunts included the Rossonian Hotel in Five Points, where he could listen to jazz, to the Colburn Hotel, where he and Neal Cassady visted the future Carolyn Cassady, to Vance Kirkland's art school and studio where he could rub elbows with other artists, writers and musicians. The photograph of Neal and Jack printed in the Story Trek brochure was reprinted with permission from Carolyn Cassady, who took the photo. 2009-06-22T22:09:28Z 0 18 Jack Kerouac c6b9433ff5e70399a9c6b50aca045468bab6f986 2009-06-22T22:09:28Z Justina Ford grew up and received her medical education in Illinois. She worked as a physician in Alabama in 1900, specializing in gynecology, pediatrics and obstetrics. However, it was not easy to be a doctor, a woman and African-American, simultaneously in the early twentieth-century. Ford decided to move to Denver in 1902, because she believed Denver to be open to racial matters, than other cities. Ford failed to receive membership of the American Medical Association because the Colorado Medical Society did not accept African-Americans in the early 1900s. Thus, she and other black doctors were not accredited at Denver hospitals. Ford came to assist mostly immigrant and minority patients and by the time of her death, she could converse in seven different languages. Specializing in obstetrics, she was able to provide home births to immigrants and minorities, who were not even allowed in Colorado hospitals. She usually was paid with little or no cash. Instead, she was offered goods and services by her patients. She was known as the “Lady Doctor”, who would never turn away a patient. There are even stories of Ford helping her patients and their families by providing them with food, coal and blankets. Ford is in the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame and there is the Justina Ford Medical Society at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Her legacy remains through the Ford Warren Public Library and the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, which is in her former home. The house was relocated to its present-day site in 1981. 2009-06-12T19:26:23Z 1 4 Justina Ford e7e3b37e2334156c480767b40ae2a88393058742 2009-06-17T16:09:31Z Levi and Millie Booth purchased Four Mile House from Mary Cawker in 1864, when the Cherry Creek flood hit. The Booths maintained the house as a stage stop and tavern. The Butterfield Overland Dispatch especially utilized the Four Mile House as a stage station, before their demise and the stage ceased running and the railway rolled into Denver. Afterwards, the Four Mile House became primarily functioning as a ranch and farm. From honey making, butter producing and poultry raising, the farm became the new identity of the Four Mile House. In 1893, Millie and her daughter Grace both actively campaigned for women's suffrage. Booth's descendants continued working the farmland at Four Mile into the 1940s. 2009-06-15T20:48:17Z 0 17 Levi and Millie Booth e1641f1c48b54ef70c08fea7903c1cc0bf9a77b6 2009-06-17T15:48:10Z Mrs. Crawford Hill, nee Louise Sneed, was Denver's most conspicous society doyenne from the late 19th century through at least 1915. She authored Denver's first social register and although Margaret "Molly" Brown was not a member of her elite Sacred 36, Mrs. Hill did give a party for Mrs. Brown after her return from the Titanic disaster. Mrs. Hill's father-in-law, Nathaniel Hill, is credited with bringing the smelting industry to Denver and making mining a truly profitable enterprise in Colorado. The Hill's home is located at 969 Sherman St. and was designed by Theodore Davis Boal in 1906. It still stands today but is used as private offices. 2009-06-12T19:42:03Z 0 5 Louise Sneed Hill f65c20dbbea157374706425168c58ea2a0ae0844 2009-06-29T20:08:55Z Margaret Tobin was born to Irish immigrants in Missouri. From an early age, her mother concentrated on providing an education for her children, to ensure success in their future. Margaret moved to Leadville, Colorado at the age of eighteen, hoping to marry into wealth. However, when she met James Joseph “J.J” Brown, she decided to marry for love. They came to have two children, Lawrence Palmer and Catherine Ellen. The family eventually acquired the long sought wealth when J.J’s engineering efforts resulted in the production of a profitable ore seam at Little Jonny mine. His impressed employers at Ibex Mining Company awarded J.J with 12,500 shares of stock and a seat on their board. Despite the wealth, Margaret devoted her time to philanthropy and other causes. She became involved in women’s rights, even helping to establish the Colorado chapter of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association and working in soup kitchens for miners’ families. When the Browns moved from Leadville to Denver, there were new social opportunities provided to them. Brown trained to become a suitable society lady and thus became well-learned in the arts and became quite fluent in French, German and Russian. Her passions and reputation led her to bid in an unsuccessful U.S. Senate race. Her marriage quietly dissolved from J.J in 1909 but the two remained fond of one another and remained connected. Brown continued with philanthropy and her travels. She assisted the Denver Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and in her effort to aid needy children, established United States’ first juvenile court system. Although most remembered in world history as a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, Margaret or Molly as most would come to recognize her, was first and foremost an advocate and activist. 2009-05-29T09:03:45Z 1 1 Margaret "Molly" Brown 83eb5a3265fbd3b77c5a026a7292c0f04010ab5d 2009-06-17T16:08:42Z Widow Mary Cawker bought the Four Mile House, a two year-old log home on the banks of the Cherry Creek from Jonas Brantner in 1860. Cawker continued the usage of the house as an inn, but supposedly used the upstairs as a dance hall. After the dances, the guests would find lodging for the night. In the morning, Cawker would serve coffee, fries, beans and salty meat to her guests and allow them to enjoy the view of the Rocky Mountains. Cawker established the Four Mile House as a stage station and tavern to supply fresh teams of horses to the stage line as well as refreshments to passengers before the last four mile trek into downtown Denver. In 1864, when a flood brought the Cherry Creek too near her house, Cawker sold the station and moved into the city where she ran a boarding house for performers. 2009-06-15T20:47:24Z 1 16 Mary Cawker a0a0367755bfedda9f052343692c8a5aedfbaa68 2009-06-29T19:42:22Z Mayor Robert Speer was an entrepreneur turned politician that influenced much of the public services in Denver. Although he was originally from Pennsylvania, Speer moved to Denver to recover from tuberculosis in 1878. After improving his health, Speer came to work at the Fischer store and even dabbled in real estate. In 1884, he became the city clerk of Denver and in 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed Speer as Denver postmaster. A career in politics presented many acquaintances, especially with city workers and people in city utilities. Speer was appointed to Denver Fire and Police Board in 1891 and became head of the Board of Public Works in 1901. Even in the late 1800s, the quality of the city government of Denver was unstable. State intervention and efforts to create an established Denver led to a charter in 1902. Article XX of the Colorado Constitution unified the city of Denver with several towns around the area with a unified set of ground rules. Robert Speer became mayor and he served from 1904 to 1912 and from 1916 to 1918. Although his reign as mayor had controversies and bred many adversaries, Speer provided the foundation in which to build an efficient city. Speer supported city planning and an urban architectural movement called “City Beautiful”. The movement led to park building, paved roads, sidewalks, trees and an organization in infrastructure. 2009-06-15T20:22:12Z 0 10 Robert Speer 9c83a5277f48121cecbff2cdc5d083e30dd04359 2009-06-17T15:49:04Z Charles Boettcher I first came to Colorado when he decided to visit his bother in Cheyenne, when he was seventeen. He decided to stay and seek opportunities. At the time, the dominant economy in Colorado was mining, but Boettcher decided to sell hardware and other supplies to miners. His motto was “Hard goods. Hardware. Hard cash.” In 1874, he married Fannie Augusta Cowen. They had a son, Claude in 1875, who would eventually continue and expand onto the Boettcher enterprise. They also had a daughter, Ruth. Boettcher had a talent for discovering business opportunities and capitalizing upon them. His ventures included everything from meatpacking, ranching, real estate and banking. When Boettcher visited his native Germany in 1900, he discovered German sugar beet and cement and decided to bring those industries to Denver. His idea launched the Great Western Sugar Company and the Portland Cement Company. Although plagued by some tragic personal events in his later years, Boettcher remained active in business and even more involved in philanthropy in his later years. The Boettcher family built a fortune in Colorado, expanding a hardware business into an empire that included Great Western Sugar, the Brown Palace Hotel, Ideal Cement, and the Denver Tramway Company. Claude Boettcher, son of pioneer and family patriarch Charles Boettcher, purchased the home at 8th & Logan from Walter Cheesman's widow in 1923. He and his wide Edna lived in the home until the late 1950s, hosting many elaborate parties and collecting antiques from around the world. In this photo they address questions from reporters after the kidnapping and escape of their adult son, Charles II. After the Boettcher's deaths their family foundation donated the home to the State of Colorado to serve as the Governor's Residence. 2009-06-15T20:40:57Z 0 14 The Boettcher Family de4675dcbf3d246e11c14e239a774b0c0c8014b7 2009-07-22T18:14:33Z In 1932 Vance Krikland rented and later bought 1311 Pearl Street for studio space and his own art school. At the time, Margaret "Molly" Brown was still living around the corner. Kirkland occupied the building for almost fifty years and created over 1,100 paintings during his career. Both an innovator and a visionary, Krikland is recognized as one of the century's great modern painters. Kirkland's studio stood steady as Capitol changed around it, moving out of its Victorian period as a haven for the elite, into a sometimes gritty beacon for the Beat Generation in the 1950s. Beat icon Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road, spent some evenings at the Kirkland, listening to the Jazz musicians who passed through Denver and conversing with other artists and bohemians. Vance Kirkland is remembered as both an independent painter and an educator. Kirkland first arrived in Denver at the age of twenty-four in 1929, when he became the founding director of the Art School at the University of Denver. He stayed at the school until 1932, when he got into a dispute over the degrees the university was willing to give to the art students. He instead opened the Kirkland School of Art. Kirkland eventually returned to the University of Denver (DU) as head of the art school and chairman of the arts and humanities department. It is rumored that he was paid more than the chancellor and promised the stipulation of reporting directly to the chancellor, to avoid debate with administrators. He successfully created a curriculum that focused on breeding artists, than training how to teach art in an elementary school. Although Western art was popular during his time, he found the landscape tradition unimpressive. Instead, he sought to present the west in a realist and surrealist perspective. He found great critical and commercial success. However, being opinionated and unconventional, he decided to change his style and painted more abstracted works in oils, during his later years. 2009-06-12T20:07:55Z 1 7 Vance Kirkland 0dc9510f3a6c1cc3a1a42e2748f8cd0db2ee2b7b 2009-06-17T15:40:40Z Walter Cheesman came to Denver, from Chicago in 1861. He collaborated with his brother in the drug store business, where he sold water. Soon afterwards, he expanded his interest into banking, railroads and water. His enthusiasm for his businesses helped him to bring the railroad into Denver, develop the city’s real estate industry and improve Denver’s water resources. Cheesman became the president of the Denver Union Water Company in 1894. The company was instrumental in planning and constructing the first of the major segment of Denver’s water system. 2009-06-15T20:45:51Z 0 15 Walter Cheesman 06b0925aab573ac8f6202aaeb167fd0263f35d72 2009-06-17T15:49:44Z William Evans was the son of Colorado’s territorial governor, John Evans and sister of Anne Evans. He became president of the Denver Tramway. He also succeeded David Moffat as president of the Denver and Salt Lake Railway. Through his ventures, Evans built upon his father’s legacy. The Denver Tramway connected communities with the greater city of Denver and the railroads provided Colorado a connection with the nation. 2009-06-15T20:29:27Z 1 11 William Gray Evans 29de20000341cfdc2fe5d3bf8beb6d179314b387 2009-06-17T15:41:42Z