As I said before, once I left downtown I wanted to come back there again... So I did! Next week we drove there again and walked here without any plan. Sometimes it feels really good just to wander around...
First we parked the car and looked around... The building, a classic example of Denver’s small scale nineteenth-century commercial blocks, is located mid-block on the northwest side of Curtis Street between 20th and 21st Streets in downtown Denver. Designed by Adolf Holmberg and constructed in 1890 for S.A. Grimm, a butcher shop owner, the Grimm Block is a three-story, rectangular brick building with a four bay, ground level storefront and two entrances to the second and third floor residential area. It is one of two structures of its type which has not been demolished or altered.
Later we moved from the old business district and passed some skyscrapers (I don't want any pictures of them here)... and ended up in the heart of Denver downtown.
The Filbeck building was built in 1917 and has a wonderful history and has been a place of art and creativity since the 1960's. The lot that the Bovine Metropolis Theater currently resides was added to the city in 1859 as part of "East Denver". This building is a 3 story rectangular build constructed of brick with a flat roof. There are Decorative Terra cotta and Decorative Cornice on the facade.
The architectural style is late 19th and early 20th century revival. The building was designed by well known Denver architect John J. Huddart who has designed numerous buildings that are listed on the National Register. The original owners were mother and daughter Anna S. and Anna B. Filbeck. They paid $16,000 for the building and construction took just over 5 months. They used the building as a millinery supply company supplying parts for women's hats up into the 1940's.
During the 1960's the second and 3rd floor were used as a Mexican dance studio. Now it is a house for Bovine Metropolis School of improvisation, the largest school of Improvisation in the region. And the building looks really nice from both sides and the neighbouring building is nice too...
The architectural style is late 19th and early 20th century revival. The building was designed by well known Denver architect John J. Huddart who has designed numerous buildings that are listed on the National Register. The original owners were mother and daughter Anna S. and Anna B. Filbeck. They paid $16,000 for the building and construction took just over 5 months. They used the building as a millinery supply company supplying parts for women's hats up into the 1940's.
During the 1960's the second and 3rd floor were used as a Mexican dance studio. Now it is a house for Bovine Metropolis School of improvisation, the largest school of Improvisation in the region. And the building looks really nice from both sides and the neighbouring building is nice too...
Kettle Arcade building has a couple of nice murals, dated 1988. It was commissioned to be painted by Evans & Brown, a California company specializing in murals.
The two murals showing people who influenced Denver’s past include General Larimer, Robert Speer and Soapy Smith.
General William Larimer Jr. moved west when opportunity presented itself. He belonged to the Pennsylvania Militia where he got his rank as General. He was a Whig, then a Republican, an abolitionist and a Presbyterian. He supported women’s suffrage. In 1855 he was a member of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature. He arrived at the confluence of the Platter River and Cherry Creek on November 12, 1858. Ten days later he founded the Denver City Town Company, earning him the surveyor’s scope in the mural. He was influential in bringing the stage to Denver City. Auraria and Denver consolidated into Denver on April 5, 1860. In December of that year he was in Washington D.C. hoping to be appointed governor to the future Colorado Territory, founded December, 2 1861. He lost that bid, returned to Denver, then went back to Leavenworth Kansas in January of 1862. During the Civil War he served in the Kansas Cavalry and was discharged a Captain. He stayed in Kansas, serving in the Kansas Senate in 1867-1870. He died in 1875. His family sold his last lots in Denver in 1906.
The mural depicts his cabin with a glass pane window. It was located approximately where the entrance to the Comedy Club is now facing 15th Street. It is doubtful he brought a urn with him, perhaps minted coins, but he did bring wood for caskets that served as a door to his cabin.
Robert Speer came to Colorado in 1877 to help his sick sister recover from tuberculosis. When they returned to their native Pennsylvania she passed away. Then Speer discovered he too had contracted the disease. He returned to Colorado the next year. Cured in the dry, high altitude air, he stayed. His first job was as a carpet salesman at Daniels & Fishers. He then entered the real estate business. By 1884 he was city clerk. The same year he was also promoting Horace Tabor’s Lookout Mountain Resort Company, and was the director of the Manufacturer’s Bureau. In 1891 he was appointed to the Fire & Police Board. He was not on the board when the City Hall War occurred in 1893. Again appointed to the board, he served in 1897. In 1901 he was appointed president of the Board of Public Works. This appointment gave him experience to try to control public works when he was elected mayor in 1904.
Speer served in the time of political “bosses.” Some considered him a political boss. Others considered him taking orders from a boss, William G. Evans. He had turbulent times with the public utilities. He had a constant battle in the newspapers with Thomas M. Patterson (Patterson’s house is on the Capitol Hill tour). But Speer improved the city. Cherry Creek was improved, numerous swimming pools and beaches were opened for the citizens to enjoy, golf courses were started, viaducts built, lighting erected, parkways were built and numerous other city improvements were made.
Social programs did not improve at the same rate as infrastructure improvements. Graft and other illegal activities still existed. Speer’s 1908 election was sprinkled with fodder for the newspapers and do-gooders. He was elected in 1908 but by only a margin of 5% more votes than his opponent. During this term he was able to visit Europe and study city government in numerous European cities. He also was able to see the beauty of these cities. He was on the European trip with his wife for two and a half months! Speer was reelected as mayor in 1916 after a failed experiment in committee government. He only served 2 years, passing away in 1918 as one of the first victims of the worldwide flu epidemic.
Pictured as a prospector, Speer was usually digging for support of his political machine. Public utilities were growing at the time and high powered Denverites like Cheeseman, Moffat, and Evans were looking for favors. The city was becoming beautiful with Speer but behind the scenes is where the ugliness played out.
General William Larimer Jr. moved west when opportunity presented itself. He belonged to the Pennsylvania Militia where he got his rank as General. He was a Whig, then a Republican, an abolitionist and a Presbyterian. He supported women’s suffrage. In 1855 he was a member of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature. He arrived at the confluence of the Platter River and Cherry Creek on November 12, 1858. Ten days later he founded the Denver City Town Company, earning him the surveyor’s scope in the mural. He was influential in bringing the stage to Denver City. Auraria and Denver consolidated into Denver on April 5, 1860. In December of that year he was in Washington D.C. hoping to be appointed governor to the future Colorado Territory, founded December, 2 1861. He lost that bid, returned to Denver, then went back to Leavenworth Kansas in January of 1862. During the Civil War he served in the Kansas Cavalry and was discharged a Captain. He stayed in Kansas, serving in the Kansas Senate in 1867-1870. He died in 1875. His family sold his last lots in Denver in 1906.
The mural depicts his cabin with a glass pane window. It was located approximately where the entrance to the Comedy Club is now facing 15th Street. It is doubtful he brought a urn with him, perhaps minted coins, but he did bring wood for caskets that served as a door to his cabin.
Robert Speer came to Colorado in 1877 to help his sick sister recover from tuberculosis. When they returned to their native Pennsylvania she passed away. Then Speer discovered he too had contracted the disease. He returned to Colorado the next year. Cured in the dry, high altitude air, he stayed. His first job was as a carpet salesman at Daniels & Fishers. He then entered the real estate business. By 1884 he was city clerk. The same year he was also promoting Horace Tabor’s Lookout Mountain Resort Company, and was the director of the Manufacturer’s Bureau. In 1891 he was appointed to the Fire & Police Board. He was not on the board when the City Hall War occurred in 1893. Again appointed to the board, he served in 1897. In 1901 he was appointed president of the Board of Public Works. This appointment gave him experience to try to control public works when he was elected mayor in 1904.
Speer served in the time of political “bosses.” Some considered him a political boss. Others considered him taking orders from a boss, William G. Evans. He had turbulent times with the public utilities. He had a constant battle in the newspapers with Thomas M. Patterson (Patterson’s house is on the Capitol Hill tour). But Speer improved the city. Cherry Creek was improved, numerous swimming pools and beaches were opened for the citizens to enjoy, golf courses were started, viaducts built, lighting erected, parkways were built and numerous other city improvements were made.
Social programs did not improve at the same rate as infrastructure improvements. Graft and other illegal activities still existed. Speer’s 1908 election was sprinkled with fodder for the newspapers and do-gooders. He was elected in 1908 but by only a margin of 5% more votes than his opponent. During this term he was able to visit Europe and study city government in numerous European cities. He also was able to see the beauty of these cities. He was on the European trip with his wife for two and a half months! Speer was reelected as mayor in 1916 after a failed experiment in committee government. He only served 2 years, passing away in 1918 as one of the first victims of the worldwide flu epidemic.
Pictured as a prospector, Speer was usually digging for support of his political machine. Public utilities were growing at the time and high powered Denverites like Cheeseman, Moffat, and Evans were looking for favors. The city was becoming beautiful with Speer but behind the scenes is where the ugliness played out.
Little Raven visited Washington in 1863, then again in 1871. Known as a great orator, he gave a speech at the Cooper Union. The Cooper Union is a progressive educational institution that hosted Republican Abraham Lincoln. In a noted speech, Lincoln argued eleven years earlier, that slavery should not be expanded to Western Territories.
Little Raven eventually moved to Oklahoma Territory living at Fort Sill. He was a victim of the influx to the Colorado Piedmont, the loss of the buffalo migration and the region’s lack of water. His conversion to the settler’s ways of using a fork and knife, smoking cigars, supporting farming and education was not enough to integrate fully into white man’s society. His mural is in memory of his initial peaceful welcoming of the settlers.
The next mural is that of Annie Oakley riding two stallions bareback proudly waving the American Flag and shooting her pistol. Annie is waving a flag of 32 stars. The United States supported the 32 star flag for only one year, starting on July 4th, 1958. It commemorated the addition to the Union of Minnesota and was retired when Oregon was added a year later. James Buchanan was the President when settlers arrived in Kansas Territory to establish Auraria and Denver. Buchanan is regarded as one of the worst presidents because his failure to unify the nation over the question of slavery that led to the Civil War. Buchanan’s vice-president was John C. Breckinridge. The town of Breckenridge was named after him, but changed the spelling when Breckinridge fled to the new Confederacy as the nation split.
Annie Oakley’s specialty was not riding bare back but sharp shooting. She joined Buffalo’s Wild West in 1885. Born Phoebe Ann Mosey, she shot to stardom.
Always a supporter of women’s ability to do anything they wanted, she volunteered for the Spanish American war as a sharpshooter. Her offer was declined. It was in this war that Teddy Roosevelt named his unit after Buffalo Bill’s show, calling them the Rough Riders.
Annie is said to have shot the ashes off of German Kaiser Wilhelm II’s cigarette at his request, during a European tour. If she missed it is said the course of history would have been changed. Credited with teaching 15,000 women how to handle a firearm, she was an inspiration for women to be independent.
Annie died childless in 1926. Her husband of almost 50 years, her manager, Frank E. Butler died shortly afterwards. She left her fortune to her family and charities. Living as the generous person she was, she figuratively let the last check bounce.
Pictures were taken on September 01, 2018.
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