History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 112

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 944

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In politics Mr. Anthony is a democrat and is now ably serving as a member of the town council, making a most creditable and commendable record. He is active in war service work having served on the Liberty Loan committee and the success of the cam- paign in his community must in part be ascribed to his tireless efforts. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, while fraternally he is identified with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Anthony reside at No. 311 Clayton street and are a popular and esteemed young couple of the town of Brush, where the former enjoys recognition as an enterprising, progressive and leading business man.

SETH BRIGGS BRADLEY.

The measure of a man's worth to his community is not often in such tangible shape that it can be seen and appreciated for all time. To only a few is it given to leave their mark upon the physical beauty of a great city or along constructive civic and utilitarian lines. Seth Briggs Bradley is one of those to whom Denver owes the planning and initiation of one of its greatest improvements, the Colfax-Larimer via- duct, and he was the first man to actually initiate the movement for the now world- famous mountain park system of Denver.

Seth B. Bradley was born at Odessa, Missouri, February 24. 1862, a son of B. A. and Martha R. Bradley. The father is still living at Holden, Missouri, hale and hearty at the age of eighty-six, and only recently visited his son Edgar, who is business man- ager of the St. Louis Star and was for some years general manager of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Seth B. Bradley was graduated from the Warrensburg (Mo.) Normal School in 1880, the same year in which his warm personal friend, now widely known as General Pershing, was graduated from the neighboring school at Kirksville. Neither of them, however, followed the teacher's profession long. Mr. Bradley devoted one year to teaching and then pursued a two years' course in the University of Missouri at Colum- bia, lacking one year of graduation. He located at Holden, Missouri, where he turned his attention to the banking business, and later entered the real estate business. In the fall of 1890 he came to Denver and at once became identified with the real estate business in association with his brother, John D. Bradley. They have been partners throughout their business careers and their activity has been an effective source in promoting the real estate interests of the city.

In 1910 the long and honorable career of Seth B. Bradley was given its croix de guerre by election to the presidency of the Denver Real Estate Exchange, a large and influ- ential body of men to which the city owes much in the way of progress and develop- ment. It was while occupying this position that Mr. Bradley appointed the first committee of eleven with K. A. Pence as chairman to look into the matter of acquir- ing mountain parks for Denver. This was the actual official beginning of this great movement which has since eventuated in the creation of the greatest municipal sys- tem of mountain parks in the world.

For twenty-five years what is now known as the Colfax-Larimer viaduct was one of

SETH B. BRADLEY

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the city's great needs. Yet through all these years there was one to take up this important matter, no one to plan and execute a crying engineering necessity. In 1912 Mr. Bradley was appointed president of the Board of Public Works of Denver, the highest honor in the gift of the mayor and one that called for not alone a knowledge of this city's needs in the way of improvement, but the skill to put them into execu-

and the tact and diplomacy to please conflicting elements. It was Mr. Bradley's great opportunity and he lost no time in planning the great work. The railroads and the Tramway Company were induced to cooperate and before he left the office speci- fications and the necessary legislation had been made and the entire project was prac- tically under way. This is a large reinforced concrete viaduct, the first of the kind in this part of the country. Its length is two miles, one of the longest in the world. The cost of this enterprise was nearly one million dollars. Mr. Bradley also named the project which at first was called merely the Colfax viaduct. As it established a con- nection between the business section adjacent to Larimer street and the residence section of Capitol Hill with West Colfax it was very appropriately termed the Colfax- Larimer viaduct. It was also during his term of office that the now historic Cherry Creek flood of 1912 occurred. This required the most careful readjustment in the physical condition of that stream. Mr. Bradley planned and carried out the extension of the walling of Cherry creek from the city hall to the mouth of the Platte river and built four new reinforced concrete bridges over Cherry creek.

In 1903 Mr. Bradley married Miss Pauline E. Breunert, of Denver, and they have one son, Seth B. Bradley. Jr., now six years of age. He has two older daughters, Mar- garet C. Bradley and Mrs. Ethel Mae Richards, both the children of a former marriage, their mother having died many years ago.

The Bradley Realty Investment Company, which is the title under which the brothers, Seth B. and John D. Bradley are operating, is one of the leading realty firms of Colorado. As a real estate dealer as well as a public official Mr. Bradley has made valuable contribution to the city's growth, progress and improvement, actuated at all times by a marked devotion to the general good and holding to the highest ideals in city building and municipal progress.

ROBERT RICE LOKEY.

Robert Rice Lokey is making good in the business world as the president of the Colorado Springs Motor Company. Adaptable, persevering and determined, he has so shaped his course that substantial results have accrued and he is now president of a growing business conducted at Colorado Springs. He has been identified with the automobile trade in this city since 1914. A native of Ripley, Ohio, Mr. Lokey was born in 1871 and comes of a family of Scotch-Irish extraction. His grandfather, William Lokey, was born in Queen Annes county, Maryland. His father, Hamer Lokey, was born in Aberdeen, Ohio, in 1844 and became a paymaster in the Union army at Lexing- ton, Kentucky, thus serving through the period of the Civil war. He was married in Ripley, Ohio, to Luella Hamilton Rice, and they now make their home in Ripley. The Rice family is also of Scotch-Irish descent.

It was in the public schools of his native city that Robert Rice Lokey pursued his education, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. He left home at the age of eighteen years and went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he began clerking in a shoe store, in which he spent two and a half years He next removed to Atlanta, Georgia, and was employed as a clerk in the Byck shoe store of that city for seven years. He afterward spent two years with the same firm in Savannah, Georgia, at the end of which time he left Savannah and returned to Atlanta, where he continued until he went upon the road for a Rochester (N. Y.) house, continu- ing as a traveling salesman until 1907. In that year he embarked in the retail shoe trade at Decatur, Illinois, organizing the Shade-Lokey Company. He continued in the business at that point for two years, at the end of which time the store was destroyed by fire. His health being impaired, he, in August, 1910, moved to Colorado to seek relief in the bracing, invigorating mountain air and came to Colorado Springs, where he spent four years in convalescing. Having regained his strength he entered the employ of the Rouse-Stephens Automobile Company and was afterward with the Marksheffel Automobile Company, both of Colorado Springs. In July, 1916, he took over the agency for the Overland and Willys-Knight cars, both of which he is now handling, conducting business under the name of the Colorado Springs Mctor Company, which was organized in July, 1916, and of which he is the president.

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On the 30th of June, 1902, in Atlanta, Georgia, Mr. Lokey was married to Miss Myrtys Sawtell, a daughter of the late Henry Clay Sawtell and a native of Tennessee. Their children are: Robert R., born November 18, 1906; and Hulsey Sawtell, born April 10,1910.

Mr. Lokey is identified with the Royal Arch Masons and has membership with the Chamber of Commerce. He is a popular citizen, devoted to the welfare of his com- munity and at all times guiding his life so that it measures up to high standards. He is approachable, genial and courteous, and these qualities have contributed to the up- building of the fine business which he has developed within two years.

GUY LEWIS PRYOR.

Guy Lewis Pryor, deputy collector of internal revenue, with offices in Colorado Springs, was born in Leon, Iowa, in 1881. a son of Augustus Marion and Amelia (Kelley) Pryor. The father was born at Garden Grove, Iowa, in 1853 and the mother is a native of Leon, Iowa, where they now reside. The paternal grandfather was Allen Pryor, wlio was born in Ohio and became one of the pioneer settlers of Iowa, taking up liis abode in that state in 1850. There he followed farming and stock raising and continued actively in the business to the time of his death, which occurred in 1893. His son, Augustus M. Pryor, followed in his business footsteps, devoting many years to farming with good suc- cess. In 1900, however, he withdrew from that field of activity and has since been engaged in the real estate and loan business in Leon. He is active in democratic politics, exert- ing considerable influence in local political circles.

Guy Lewis Pryor was reared in his native town and acquired his preliminary educa- tion there, being graduated from the high school with the class of 1901. He afterward became a student in a business college at Des Moines, Iowa, where he completed his course with the class of 1903. He then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for two years, in 1904 and 1905, in Decatur county, Iowa. In the latter year he removed to the west, making his way to Colorado Springs, and here he entered the employ of the Brown Commission Company, with which he was connected until April 1, 1918, when he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for Colorado, with offices at Colorado Springs. He is now acceptably serving in this capacity, proving him- self an efficient and trustworthy officer.

On the 5th of October, 1913, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mr. Pryor was married to Miss Jewel Mary Tucker, a daughter of William R. Tucker, and their children, two in number, are: Warren Guy, born June 9, 1915; and Clayton Robert, born February 8, 1917.

Mr. Pryor belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is a democrat but has never been an office seeker and the only political position which he has held is the one that he is now filling. He enjoys the respect and goodwill of all with whom he is associated through business. official, church or fraternal relations, being a young man of genuine worth of character.

JOSEPH AUSTIN YENNE.

Prominent among the energetic, far-sighted and successful business men of Fort Morgan is Joseph A. Yenne, a furniture dealer and undertaker, whose enterprising busi- ness methods have constituted the basis of his constantly growing success. A native of Indiana, he was born on the 4th of January, 1855, a son of George and Sarah (Albaugh) Yenne, who were natives of Ohio. The father was a wagon maker by trade and on leaving the Buckeye state removed to Martin county, Indiana, taking up his abode near the town of Shoals, on a farm and he worked at his trade for a short time. He then entered land from the government, for which he paid the usual price of a dollar and a quarter per acre, and with characteristic energy he began its development and improve- ment, continuing its cultivation to the time of his death save for the period of the Civil war, when he placed patriotism and duty to country ahead of all else and joined the army, enlisting in 1862 as a member of Company I. Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, with which command he continued until he gave his life in ransom for his country, his

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death occurring at Murfreesboro in 1864. His widow continued to reside in Indiana throughout her remaining days and passed away in October, 1912.

Joseph A. Yenne was reared and educated in Indiana and remained with his mother upon the home farm until twenty-five years of age, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, as he assisted largely in the development and improvement of the fields, for he was only nine years of age when his father died. At twenty-five years of age he removed to Shoals, where he engaged in merchandising, remaining in business there for about five years. He next went to Grant, Perkins county, Nebraska, where he carried on business until 1901 and then became a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, removing to that city in order to educate his children. In 1902 he came to Fort Morgan, where he engaged in the furniture and un- dertaking business, establishing a store which he has since successfully conducted. It is now carried on under the firm style of J. A. Yenne & Son, and L. H. Parker is also associated with Mr. Yenne in the undertaking department of the business, having worked for him ever since Mr. Yenne located in Fort Morgan. The firm carries an extensive stock of furniture, ranging from low to high priced goods, and the enterprise of their business methods and their earnest desire to please their customers has insured for them a constantly growing patronage. In addition Mr. Yenne owns three hundred and twenty acres of land ten miles northwest of Fort Morgan, which is operated by his son-in-law.

In August, 1878, Mr. Yenne was married to Miss Hulda M. Hungerford and to them were born five children: Minnie, who died at the age of one year; Sophia H., now the wife of Claude A. Arterburn, residing on a ranch ten miles from Fort Morgan owned by her father; Lena, who became the wife of Frank H. Potter and died July 17, 1907; Foss A., who is in business with his father; and Herbert, attending the Nebraska State Uni- versity. The wife and mother passed away May 17, 1918, after an illness of ten days, when fifty-seven years of age.

Mr. Yenne gives his support to the republican party and has served as a member of the city council of Fort Morgan for two years, while through six years he filled the office of county coroner. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, to the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. His has been a well spent life and as a result of his industry and perseverance, intelligently directed, he is now the owner of an attract- ive home at No. 103 West Platte avenue besides his farm and his business establishment, which occupies a double store building of two stories and basement on Main street. All these things are the visible evidence of his life of well directed energy and thrift and his success has been so honorably won and his opportunities so wisely used that the most envious cannot grudge him his prosperity.

WILLIAM LINTON HAYS.

William Linton Hays is the oldest member of the Logan county bar still in active practice. He located in Sterling in April, 1887, and through the intervening period has been connected with the profession. The story of his life is the story of earnest endeavor and of steady progression. The opportunities which have come to him he has carefully and wisely utilized and his career has been marked by continuous advancement along those lines which make life worth while. He was born April 28, 1851, in Gilmer county, West Virginia, a son of John Eliot and Henrietta Frances (Lewis) Hays, both representatives of old southern families found in Virginia or Maryland. The father was a lawyer by profession who served as prosecuting attorney in his county and enjoyed an extensive law practice. He also represented his district in the Virginia legislature. His father was prominent politically in Virginia for many years, serving in the general assembly of that state and also as member of congress in 1840. It was he who appointed Thomas J. Jackson, better known as "Stonewall" Jackson, as a cadet to West Point. The death of John Eliot Hays, father of W. L. Hays of this review, occurred in 1888, in West Vir- ginia, while his wife survived until 1914.

With the arrival of W. L. Hays in Sterling he became actively identified not only with the practice of law but with public interests of the community and has always stood for progress and improvement in every connection. During the early period of his residence here he served for one term as a member of the board of county commissioners and he was a member of the board when, with J. W. Ramsay and H. C. Sherman, he in 1890 proposed the introduction of sugar beet culture into the county. They did this by

WILLIAM L. HAYS

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purchasing a few pounds of seed, which they distributed among the farmers, who very successfully cultivated sugar beets that year-a work that has since been continued until now Logan county is one of the largest producers of the sugar beet in the state and it would seem was the first county in the state to cultivate the beet as an agricultural crop. Mr. Hays also served as deputy district attorney for several years, was district attorney for one term for the thirteenth judicial district, covering the years 1898, 1899 and 1900, and for several years was county attorney for the board of county commissioners. His public service in which he takes the most pride, however, was that of member of the Logan county high school committee, which completed the present high school building for Logan county in 1912. The distinctive feature of this institution is its ample pro- vision for giving vocational training and instruction, the school being one of the pioneers along that line of education. Mr. Hays insists that the high schools should become the people's universities, wherein boys and girls should be prepared for useful vocations in life; and such training can be given without any sacrifice of mental discipline or culture. While thus active in public service Mr. Hays has at the same time continued in the practice of law and his ability in this connection is widely acknowledged. He has com- prehensive understanding of the principles of jurisprudence and is seldom, if ever, at fault in the application of such principles. He prepares his cases with thoroughness and care and is strong in argument, logical in his deductions and at all times resourceful in presenting his cause before the court.

In 1892 Mr. Hays was united in marriage to Miss Kate Boehme and to them have been born seven children. the family circle still remaining unbroken by the hand of death. The eldest, John Eliot, is now serving his country as a sailor in European waters on board the Conner. He completed his four years' term of enlistment as a seaman January 9, 1918, but immediately reenlisted for the war. Henry Clay is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Logan county. Julia Virginia was educated in the high school of Logan county and in the Teachers' College at Greeley. Myron Reed is a volunteer in the United States Army at Fort Logan, where he is drilling for active service. Mary Elizabeth is also a high school graduate and for one year attended college at Greeley. Sidney Law- rence and Ralph Allen are the younger members of the family.

Mr. Hays is not only well known as a lawyer but is also the president of the Sterling Real Estate & Improvement Company and through the conduct of his real estate business has added in material way to the development and improvement of the district in which he lives. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for eight years and of the Elks lodge for three years. The major part of his time, thought and effort is concentrated upon his business affairs and the public duties which he has discharged. He stands high not only as a lawyer but as a citizen and he has a circle of friends in Sterling that is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

THE LOGAN COUNTY INDUSTRIAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOL.

The history of Logan county could scarcely be considered complete without reference to its high school, known as the Logan County Industrial Arts high school, a name sug- gested by its first principal, Professor J. B. Ragan. The distinctive idea back of this institution is providing the usual cultural advantages of the high school to its students and at the same time giving them such vocational training as will fit them for useful positions in the industrial world. In 1910 the county high school committee, composed of Miss Arba Brown, F. W. Rieke, Wilder A. Jones, J. B. Reinhardt and W. L. Hays, was called upon to construct a new and more commodious high school building, for the county had outgrown the former structure used for high school purposes. The people voted eighty-five thousand dollars in bonds for the purpose and with this modest sum the committee set about to provide a building and course of instruction which at that time was quite a departure from the prevalent ideas of such institutions of learning, for they determined upon introducing and providing means for vocational training in several trades and occupations. Their plans resulted in making provisions for the teaching of agriculture, carpentry, blacksmithing, mechanical drawing, bookkeeping, typewriting, stenography, domestic science, cooking, millinery and sewing. After the completion of the building teachers and competent instructors were employed to instruct along those lines with as much care as could be given to the employment of teachers for any science usually taught.

D. C. Bascom, a graduate of the Kansas Agricultural College and a young man full of enthusiasm for his work, was employed as instructor in agriculture and farm manage- ment. For several years he conducted not only classes among the students but classes

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of old and young alike all over the county, where scientific farming and farm manage- ment was taught to farmers and their families with noted success. After a few months of successful work along these lines a proposition was made to the committee from the agricultural department at Washington whereby the federal government should pay part of the salary of such instructor in return for services along the same line rendered for the agricultural department. This arrangement was accepted and a further agreement was later made with the State Agricultural College whereby the college, the United States government and the high school carry on jointly through the latter a system of teaching agriculture, farm management and other matters pertaining thereto to old and young alike throughout the county in addition to its regular instruction on those subjects as a part of the curriculum of the school. In addition to the regular work for the students of the school a short course of six weeks in agriculture for the men of the county and a course in household economics for the women is provided every winter, these courses being open to the citizens of the county free of charge. They have proven quite popular and to them are largely due the bumper crops and prosperous farming interests for which Logan county is justly celebrated.

For the instruction of agriculture to the students ground has been donated by private citizens whereon, under expert instruction of competent teachers, the students pursue their lessons and experiments in the actual growing of products right from the soil.

Classes in the other industrial branches mentioned are maintained with the most sat- isfactory results. The young are taught self-confidence by demonstrating their ability to do and accomplish by actual work and are taught to reverence and respect industry and ability and capacity to be useful citizens.

The school under the management of its principal, Professor J. A. Sexson, for the last six years has steadily grown in influence and patronage, so that it has become a part of the economic and social life of the community, being regarded as a people's university where those who have neither means nor time to acquire a technical training in higher institutions of learning may acquire such proficiency in these trades and callings that their lives may be successful and useful.

The influence of the school is not limited to those minors of school age, but a short course of six weeks is maintained during the winter months for all of whatever age who may desire to attend. These short courses have been quite popular among the grown people of the city as well as among the farmers and residents of outside communities. The most thorough instruction is given not only along industrial lines but in scientific and literary branches as well. It is a pleasant sight to see these people who would otherwise be confined to dreary homes oftentimes, learning new things about cooking, household management, or taking a course in English literature, or studying on kindred subjects where they have not had, or improved, better opportunities in early life.

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 112

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 944

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 944