University of Colorado - Coloradan Yearbook (Boulder, CO)

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Mr. and Mrs. Culver were people of he- roism and refinement. They found a rough world this side of the Missouri 5 the plains were infested with hostile Indians. Cne night on the journey, when Mrs. Cul- ver came through, trouble was feared. An intoxicated savage came into camp with his followers and demanded the baby. Mrs. Culver fearlessly placed her first-born in his hands 5 his wild heart was touched 5 the memory of a dead boy sobered him, ten- derly he returned' the child, and departed. Mrs. Culver came to live in a log house, but she was a great soul, bringing to the wilderness culture and refinement. In af- ter years, when the University was a fact, two young professors-one a Ph.D. from Leipsic and one a Ph.D. from Yale-- thinking they had discovered Browning, spoke to her of the matter 5 i but she laughed, saying she had loved Browning before they were born, and she brought out some old volumes that had crossed the plains with her in Indian days. f The establishment of the University by the First Territorial Legislature was on paper, but it took sixteen years of hard work to bring the actual school. Nearly every man of standing in 'Boulder at each session contributed funds or visited the capital to keep the legislation alive. Captain David H. Nichols was an ardent supporter of the University in the House of 1863-4, and again in 1873, when he was elected Speaker. All friends of the University remember the distinguished labors of James P. Maxwell, he was elected to the Legis- lature in 1871, served two terms, and when Colorado became a State he was elected to the Senate, of which he was President. What sort of a hungry little town it was that kept clamoring for a uni- versity we may partly conjecture from the accompanying photograph made in wetplate days by B.. L. Thompson. The Colorado House stood on the present site of the Boulder National Bank, Thirteenth and Pearl. It was built in 1861 MRS. ROBERT CULVER V by A. J. Mackey and Charles Smith for Dave Parlin, County Judge. Miss Rippon took meals here when the house was carried on by Mrs. Mena Given. The log house onthe site of the White-Davis store was occupied by Mrs. Dab- ney. The first brick block in town, at the northeast corner of Pearl and Twelfth, was built by Mr. Mackey in 1866. Across Twelfth Street still stands the building formerly known as Al. Souleps saloon, it was moved to this loca- tion from the northeast corner of Fourteenth and Pearl, where lX lfr. Mackey had built it for a post office 3 he sold it to Jim Parker, who paid S25 for the lot on which it stands, the present asking price is htel-61106. The next building is ' '

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squared, and then marked above and below for the thickness of the boards 3 one man stood in the pit and pulled the saw down, his mate worked above the frame, and each keeping to his mark, travelled from one end of the log to the other as the saw was urged through. This lumber sold at S200 a thousand. The logs of some houses were visible on Pearl Street as late as 1884, when I came to Boulder. The house on the northwest corner of Eleventh and Spruce, for many years the home of our honored alumnus, Dr. C. Caverno, is a log house of 1859, now covered with siding, so is the building at the southeast corner of Eleventh and Pearl. In 1860 Boulder was a little town of some sixty log cabins and one or two frame houses. The first frame house in the county is at 1617 Pearl. It was built by A. J. Mackey on the northeast corner of Pearl and Fourteenth, and was for years court house, town hall and church. The winter of 1860-61 was a hard one, some of the inhabitants being reduced to a diet of parched corn. Among those who came to Gold. Hill in 1860 was Robert Culver, who brought a quartz mill. He was of New England ancestry, and at once took an interest in higher education. As early as 1861 he began to work for a university to be located at Boulder. Before the first school house was a year old, his plans were completed. A ,convention had been called at Golden to nominate representatives to the First Territorial Legislature. Every mining camp was entitled to a delegate. The story goes that several new camps were suddenly organized 5 Mr. Culver appeared at Golden with the proxies of most of them, and was chosen 'secretary of the convention. He secured the nomi- nation of Charles F. Holly as representative from Boulder County, who was pledged to push the necessary legislation. Mr. Holly redeemed his promise, and on October 26, 1861, introduced into the House a bill to establish the University of Colorado at Boulder, it was ratified by Governor Gilpin, No- vember 7. ' V X f V ...ff-xii' - ' .,.-,fwfti-rV.' . -. ..,,.,,'N' ' 'P ,... X sw.. -,-- .1 ,gf , .. . ' A pplpk , H.lg:35',,g,.'.,..:5j wwf. ,.... X A. f3.L.....M.,Q.' G' A-be :. 'G-t' rl-'f fi-.-+-1.1 ' +G Q . f v-r r'v' 't if .g,r..ft' X 'G ' 'Z ' ..,. A Xa' , . . , i'T'1 'eil-A it 5ii-g..1IT:.. . ' - fi swyg !1.ei-053-'f:,A3.,:p.'r:1fi8-?N,,.,...-:gif Qi sk ,s -- v I-,,,,...,..,.-, , '- . V 'G f 7w'l.,.,.1 -' f'L?ff77'7'T- fu 3 1 :QQ t5 'Ii.1i.i1li1iil.. 1. F..f 1'r ' A 1 1 ii. off we . 1 ' ?i'?LL..f .....,-,, 3 .M - . ' W ' f'iQE2LZi3.:.,ss' W L lg ---- .K fi ' - 5 ' - -'Q -3 s 0 fi'f'l+f sl f f'l' f J s'-- ' s -'s vi ie.. G4 'vse or 1 j X E. ifii.l:fQ : E Hg ..,. ..... fIf..f. A T .M X N-if 3 . 0 Hi if 0 .Q . I at -J, 5' ' !'.I.i..,. , F .. t ' I 4 - ' '- 1 QF 3 QQ . Z I fv 'rs - ' , ' 3' , . . - 1535- 1.1. C L X . .... ff Tj,'Qf X ' E--,:,-W ., ..... r .... S f 5 1 , j , . 5, Q z .1..gQQ......i.Qf Ajg:f3.:i:Q'kg,j Q11EET--. 's:: f WP -'li fffie' f fi , .M , Q - Q 4L..g.f.g,s-LL'i.Q,f.i. QIf.'IT1 '.','lL '. . 't't fit? -4' ' '92 -I 'C M if 'M ' Y, 1 'deaf ..' -5, H .....-.,..- ...... I 1. .. - I 1 . -f-- -s Q N l 1 'fjlgjj V J 18... ig. -p .4 -' gy. T ,..... 'ii . ,L K. ...ii .xr .. ul-g f E ' 1' 7 Jlifwl. .-. 'Q-Nfffg ef-ffT11355+ . 8. ' 'Dwi' ilgii . . v , .. . ' ' . - .f,,,...-A--f . ., .... I -vf Ns- - , ' - - -W 11' , I gk ef V p . 't ' . 8 , vm. ' .. ' ' , '1 1 x lp . .. . K K Q .. .... .. x.,,,M.,, ALA . 24 -f' TS if, p 4 .1 + . .. - .. is ,. . .1 ...... --- -M . X X - ..: I fe fl, . .N - .,,-- v- N 1 rl-I . . ---- Q. e t f 1, . - fr - Y f 1 , x - ' W - if iff 1, K :ip 4, I, N' X - i Q . X Xi:,lQypyi5x, .rg I ' ,. 'Q . .1 ,p . . J . s ,, p ...., -. l ppuh , . ...N .,.,, Q ly . V' ...,.. ,QCQ .. .U h N TTS- J, it if ,L lffii iw 551 If s , . ss-.43e,.,t,t.f N vs '. . , K . 1 A ' ,M- -. -- .T f .9- .p flap 5 M' . . Q .. N my A Hx .. L Q .S 7. 1.1 3- . G '. 1 X t 4- FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE IN COLORADO ' 17 .. I., 4 I .iii-....,:..., P fs

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l ' . A. Q . f ,, ' 6 c ' west was a clothing store taken down in 1902 3 beyond were the Boulder House and . the general store of Donnelly and Tarbor. Mr. A. J. Mackey, now president of the First National Bank, is our pioneer builder, he put up the first frame building in the county, the first brick residence, the first brick business block, the irst iron front, the Hrst plate glass. During the ten years-1861 to 1871- Boulder City hardly held its own. But the pioneers thought, as Mr. Mackey says, that the University would bring them a good class of people 3 so they kept Working and paying year after year. DAVID H. NICHOLS But the ten years brought -some social improvements. The Congregational Church, organized in a grove near Valmont July 11, 1864, began the erection of the first meeting-house in the fall of 1866, the iirst brick made in the County Were for this building, and were burned on the west side of Twelfth Street Where Ben Hagman's ice-house now is. Columbia Lodge No. 14, A. F. cb A. M., removed from the town of Columbia in the Ward mining district to Boul- JAMES P. MAXWELL derin October, 1868. Lodge No. 9, 1. C. O. F., was instituted July 10, 1869. Cthel' church buildings and fraternal organiza- tions belong to the next decade or to a later period. The first newspaper in Boulder, the Val-- Zey News, was issued April 3, 1867. It had been published previously at Valmont, but an offer of E835 induced C. C. Chamber- lain, the proprietor, to move up here in the night, leaving Boulder's little rival to the darkness of oblivion. This mite of a town was making desperate struggles for advancement. Denver had its first railway communi- cation June 22, 1870, by Way of Cheyenne, in 1871 the Denver and Bio Grande reached Colorado Springs, a city con- 19 . - I I