History Lessons

Researching the people who had a vested interest in this property has been fascinating. Deeds read like a who’s who of Colorado’s colorful pioneers. The 1870s were exciting times for Boulder with the railroad coming to town, the university opening and land being snatched up by savvy businessmen like Amos Widner. In 1871, Widner created the East Boulder Addition from land he acquired from the U.S. government in 1866.   He platted the land stretching from 18th Street on the west to 25th Street on the east and from Walnut Street on the south to Bluff Street on the north and dedicated streets and alleys to the city. Gay Spencer Allen purchased land from Widner for $1500 (a sizable sum in 1872) for what would one day be the site of our house. (It is not known if this represented payment for a single lot or multiple lots.)

Gay S. Allen, a preacher like his father, was among the first of the pioneer Methodist preachers in Colorado. He held the land for just a year before transferring it to his brother, Henly W. Allen.

Henly Allen was a physician, druggist and the former President of the Board of Education of Boulder. In a 1904 article published in Colorado Medicine, Henly tells of traveling overland by wagon train from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Denver in November, 1864. He camped in Council Bluffs for 2 months awaiting permission from the military to continue and describes atrocities committed by hostile Indians and the state of terror that existed west of the Missouri river during this period. (link to article)

It’s a fascinating article worth reading. I love his thoughts on life: “It was necessary to success then, as it always will be, that a man have not only brains, but sand, and sufficient initiative to carve out his own fortune without a pull.”