USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 54
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HENRY A. GOODRIDGE.
Among the foremost factors in the amusement world today in the state of Colorado stands Henry A. Goodridge and none is more favorably known than he. As one of the promoters and organizers of the International Amusement Company he has done much to give to the public the highest class productions of the screen and is manager and director of the corporation which controls the Ogden, York and Thomp- son theatres of Denver and the Liberty Bell theatre of Leadville, Colorado.
Mr. Goodridge was born in Chicago, Illinois, January 12, 1874, a son of Henry W. and Hattie K. (Porter) Goodridge. The father was born in Dover, England, while the mother's birth occurred in Kingston, Canada, and they came to the United States as children when five and six years of age respectively. They were reared in Chicago and after attaining man's estate the father there engaged in mechanical lines until he retired from active life. Both are still residents of Chicago. Their family numbered seven children, one of whom passed away in early life, while those still living are Henry A., Blanche, Thomas A., Charles E., Olive and Sidney.
After attending the public and high schools of Chicago, Henry A. Goodridge won the Bachelor of Science degree upon graduation from the University of Illinois. He then entered upon electrical lines and learned in connection the electrical engineer- ing business. He continued to follow his chosen profession in Chicago and other cities throughout the country until he came to Denver in 1898. Here he opened an office as an electrical and consulting engineer and has done much work over a wide field for the various prominent companies of the state. He has been particularly active along the line of his chosen profession for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and is largely considered an authority upon subjects relating to electrical engineering work. He was the consulting electrician and also the electrical engineer for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad for twelve consecutive years and is still actively engaged along that line in private work. While winning substantial success in that field he also became an active and successful factor along another line. Formulating a plan of establishing a number of motion picture theatres in 1915, he with others organized what has since been known as the International Amusement Company and supervised the building of the well known palace of amusement known as the Ogden theatre. This is one of the finest neighborhood theatres of the west, located at Ogden street and East Colfax avenue in Denver. He was also one of the builders of the Thompson theatre at No. 3317 Colfax avenue. Both of these are situated on East Colfax avenue, adjacent to the finest residence district of the city. The Liberty Bell theatre at Leadville is equally well equipped, being one of the best moving picture houses in the state, and each theatre has a liberal patronage, making the enterprise one of large financial profit. Mr. Goodridge manages the Ogden theatre and is a director
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of the other houses. For five years prior to the organization of the International Amusement Company he was a director of the Alamosa Theatre and Amusement Com- pany of Alamosa, Colorado, and at the same time was manager of the Alamosa Electric Light & Power Company. He thus brought practical experience to the business and the passing weeks chronicle his growing success.
On the 15th of October, 1902, Mr. Goodridge was married to Miss Elfreda Tumler, of Chicago, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Tumler, of that city. They have one child, Eleanor, who was born in Denver in 1904 and is now a pupil in the East Denver high school.
Mr. Goodridge belongs to the Masonic fraternity. He is a loyal adherent of the teachings of the craft and his life has been an exemplification of its beneficent spirit and purposes. As a business man he deserves great credit for what he has accom- plished, striving at all times to reach out along broadening lines of activity and use- fulness in the business world. Following such a course, he has advanced to a point of creditable and enviable success.
WILLIAM G. MCINTYRE.
William G. Melntyre is well known in brokerage circles in Denver, although he has been a resident of the city only since 1917. He is a very energetic, enterprising young man, wideawake and alert, and is watchful of every opportunity pointing to legitimate success. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 18th of October, 1881, and is a son of William G. and Laura J. (Gardner) McIntyre. The father was a native of Canada and after crossing the border into the United States established his home in Detroit, Michigan, where for many years he engaged in business as a com- mission merchant. He is now deceased, survived by his widow, who makes her home in Detroit.
At the usual age William G. McIntyre began his education in the public schools of his native city and passed through successive grades to the high school, while later he further advanced his preparation for life's practical and responsible duties by pursuing a course in the Detroit Commercial School. He then started out in the busi- ness world as assistant cashier of a bank and for five years remained in Seattle in connection with the American Savings & Trust Company. He also spent two years in San Francisco, where he represented the London-Paris National Bank. He after- ward entered into the brokerage business in San Francisco and gained experience which has been of great worth to him since his removal to Denver. He came to this city in 1917 and organized the Ore Exchange and Board of Trade. In this connection he has won a place among the leading brokers of Denver and has gained a good client- age. He is thoroughly conversant with mining properties and investments and is therefore able to assist his clients in the judicious purchase of mining stock which will yield to them a good return.
In 1909 Mr. Mcintyre was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Axman, a native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and during the period of their residence in Denver they have gained many warm friends. Mr. Mclntyre greatly enjoys hunting, fishing and various forms of outdoor life and is never happier than when in the open with rod and gun. He is a young man whose success is most creditable and what he has already accomplished indicates that his future career with be well worth the watching. He possesses the spirit of enterprise which has been a dominant factor in the upbuild- ing of the west and he believes that when one avenue of opportunity seems closed he can carve out other paths whereby he may reach the desired goal. He is actuated by a laudable ambition and is steadily forging to the front.
EDWARD ROBERTS MURPHY.
Edward Roberts Murphy, now living retired in Denver, was formerly general auditor of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company and is well known in railroad circles throughout the west. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of December. 1843, a son of William C. and Almira (Roberts) Murphy. The father, espousing the cause of the Union, served with the rank of captain in the Civil war.
In the public schools of his native city Edward R. Murphy pursued his early educa- tion and passed through consecutive grades until he became a student in the Quaker
EDWARD R. MURPHY
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high school, from which he was gradnated with the class of 1861. He started out upon his business career as an employe in a country store, being thus employed for two years. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he then responded to the country's call for troops and enlisted for active duty with Company K of the One Hundred and Twenty- first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, but physical disability won him an honorable discharge, owing to the fact that he had sustained an injury to his spine. He after- ward had charge of the business of manufacturing shell fuses in the Frankford arsenal until the end of the war and was later bookkeeper for the Cooper Firearms Company at Frankford, Pennsylvania. Mr. Murphy took a course in law at the University of Pennsylvania and for a short time practiced his profession in Philadelphia, but pre- ferring a business rather than a professional career he gave up the law in 1866 to enter the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, with which he was identified until 1880. He left the position of chief clerk in the comptroller's office to become auditor with the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, in which capacity he served for a year. In 1881 he was made auditor of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company and so continued to act until June 30, 1917, when he was retired on account of his age. He had spent fifty years in railroad service and was a most trusted and capable representa- tive of the corporation which he served. For more than a third of a century he had been with the Denver & Rio Grande and was widely recognized as one of the able officials of the company.
Mr. Murphy was twice married, but the wife whom he wedded in early manhood passed away. On the 19th of May, 1910, in Denver, he married Minnie B. (Hall ) Perry, who was born May 2, 1863, a daughter of Charles L. and Mary M. (Hill) Hall. A sketch of her father appears elsewhere in the work. Mrs. Murphy had by her first marriage a daughter, Mary Antoinette, born June 27, 1888, in Denver, who is now Mrs. Frank W. Frueanff, of New York, and has a daughter, Margaret Hall, born February 23, 1913, in Denver.
Mr. Murphy gives his political endorsement to the republican party. He was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends and still retains membership in the Race Street Meeting House of Philadelphia. He is a well known representative of the Masonic fra- ternity, joining Oriental Lodge, No. 87, A. F. & A. M., of Denver, upon its organization, and he also held membership with the Royal Arch Chapter but was demitted from both in December, 1895. He belongs to the Denver Club, to the Denver Motor Club and to the Denver Artists Club and is well known in these organizations, where his social qualities have won for him popularity among the membership. He is now nearing the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey and the rest from business cares that he is now enjoying is indeed well merited.
ARTHUR D. MEYER.
Industrial activity in Denver finds a well known representative in Arthur D. Meyer, who has built up a substantial and growing job printing business. He comes to the west from Chicago, Illinois, his native city, his birth having there occurred on the 15th of August, 1870. His parents were John J. and Anna (Nommensen ) Meyer, who in 1871 removed westward with their family from Chicago to Colorado. In early life the father engaged in the shoe business, but during the great Chicago fire his establishment was destroyed and he afterward decided to try his fortune in the west. Subsequent to his arrival in Denver he took up boot manufacturing but later removed to Pueblo, where he carried on business from 1875 until 1877. In the latter year he removed to Silver Cliff, Colorado, after which he returned to Denver in 1879 and continued to make his home in that city to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1910. He had attained the age of seventy years, his birth having occurred in 1840. His wife, who was born in 1838, also died in Denver in 1910.
Arthur D. Meyer is the only surviving member of their family of six children and was their firstborn. In his boyhood days he attended the public schools of Pueblo and of Denver and was graduated from the Arapahoe street school. Later he turned his attention to the printing trade and after completing his apprenticeship he took up the job printing business on his own account in 1900 in connection with Edward Alexander. That association was maintained with mntnal pleasure and profit for sixteen years, or until 1916, when Mr. Meyer bought the interest of his partner in the business, which he has since conducted independently. He has one of the most modern and np-to-date job printing establishments in this section of the country. It is splendidly equipped with modern machinery and presses and the workmanship is
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unsurpassed. In fact, he holds to the highest standards of service, and his business enterprise and ability have won for him a very substantial patronage.
In June, 1898, Mr. Meyer was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Frieling, of Denver, a daughter of Henry A. and Louise Frieling, and they have become parents of three children: Alva J., who was born in Denver in 1900 and after attending the Manual Training high school became a student in the State University at Boulder but is now a lieutenant in the Student Army Training Corps; Violet, who was born in Denver in 1903; and Margaret, who was born in 1910. The two daughters are pupils in the schools of Denver.
Mr. Meyer's political belief is indicated in the fact that he is the secretary and one of the directors of the Denver Democratic Club. He also belongs to the Typo- graphical Union and to the Denver Typothetae, while fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He belongs to St. Paul's Evangelical church and he is interested in all that pertains to the material, intellectual, social, political and moral welfare of his community. He was called upon to represent Denver county in the twenty-first general assembly of Colorado, where he gave thoughtful and earnest consideration to the vital questions which came up for settlement. He is strong and purposeful, accomplishing what he undertakes, and in his business vocabulary there is no such word as fail, for when one avenue of opportunity seems closed he carves out other paths whereby he may reach the desired goal.
EDWIN KIRBY WHITEHEAD.
For thirty-two years Edwin Kirby Whitehead has been actively connected with the great work of protecting children and dumb animals in Colorado. The laws on the statute books of the state relating to this department have been largely due to him. The growth of the societies under which the work is carried forward is due in part to his constant oversight and to the patience and perseverance with which he has struggled for their maintenance. Opposition-and this was a continuing factor-did not discourage him and his associates from their great purpose to place the society, of which he was the state secretary, on a permanent basis. They began their notable work with the help of private citizens, who had been convinced of the need of a Humane Society in Colorado. Later their splendid work obtained state recognition and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Animals, of which he is and has since its founding been secretary, became a state institution and is now operated by legislative appropriation. The general law against cruelty to animals was passed in 1889 practically as urged by the Humane Society. Many important changes have since been suggested by them and approved by legislative enactment. In the great struggle to relieve starving cattle on snow-bound ranges of the state it was due largely to their humanitarian incentive and to their splendid efforts that conditions were speedily improved in nearly all cases that could be reached. In the long dry years, years of suffering for farmers and their families on new eastern Colorado farms, it was his society again, acting under his direction, that made speedy investigation and sought and secured relief work.
In the first volume of this history there is a record of the achievements of the State Bureau of Child and Animal Protection and that record is in itself the most complete tribute that can be paid to the man who has for more than a quarter of a century been one of its guiding spirits.
One of the ancestors of Edwin Kirby Whitehead was a fellow of Oxford, a Londoner and a friend of William Penn, with whom he came to America. He, too, was of the Quaker faith. The great-great-grandfather, Reuben W. Whitehead, was an officer of the Revolutionary war and was wounded in the battle of Saratoga. Both parents of Mr. Whitehead were descended from old familes of England and estates in their respective names in Wiltshire, Hampshire and in Yorkshire, date back to the Conquest.
Edwin Kirby Whitehead was born at Coldwater, Branch county, Michigan, April 15, 1861, a son of Charles Rollin and Emma (Kirby) Whitehead. The father was horn in Penfield, New York, July 30, 1824, and died at Denver, Colorado. September 16, 1898, after having practically spent his entire life as a farmer at Coldwater, Michigan. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Emma Kirby, was born in Huddersfield, York- shire, England. April 14. 1825, and died April 9, 1884, in Denver.
Edwin K. Whitehead pursued his education in the University of Michigan, where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1880. He read law but was too young for admittance to the bar at that time and became principal
HISTORY OF COLORADO
of the high school at Manistee, Michigan, filling that position in 1881-2. In the latter year he entered the real estate business in Denver and was active in that field until 1896. In 1888 he was admitted to the bar. His time and efforts since 1886, however, have in large measure been given to his service as secretary or treasurer of the Colo- rado Humane Society, in either of which positions he has continued to the present year, 1918. In 1901 he was made secretary of the State Bureau of Child and Animal Protection and has so continued until 1918. He is the author of a volume entitled "Dumb Animals and How to Treat Them," which has appeared in its fifth edition and which has had several foreign translations.
Mr. Whitehead gives his political allegiance usually to the republican party, although he is in a degree independent in politics, nor is he an active party worker. He belongs to the Denver Athletic Club, but his thought, interest, activity and atten- tion are mostly concentrated upon his work in relation to the Colorado Humane Society and the Colorado State Bureau of Child and Animal Protection. It would be impossible to measure the extent and influence of his efforts in this connection. His work and methods have been studied by many other workers along similar lines in other states and it is a recognized fact that the legislation of this character which he has instituted, is of the most progressive type.
LAWRENCE NICHOLS GREENLEAF.
Lawrence Nichols Greenleaf, of Denver, known as the Pioneer Poet, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 4, 1838. He was educated in the public schools of that city, being graduated from the English high school with the class of 1855. He then entered a wholesale importing house, where he remained for four years, when the glowing reports from the Pike's Peak gold region induced him to seek the far west. He left Boston on the 11th of April, 1860, and stopped at Chicago and St. Louis en route. From the latter city he took passage on a steamboat to Hannibal, Missouri, and thence proceeded by rail to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he joined the Brad Pease party, leaving there with horse teams on the 28th of April and reaching Denver May 24, 1860, after a journey of twenty-seven days. Having formed a partnership with G. G. Brewer, he purchased a mule team and loaded a wagon with groceries and miners' supplies, going to California Gulch, now Leadville, by way of Colorado City and the Ute Pass, which at that time was little more than a trail and was most hazardous traveling with a loaded wagon owing to the rough and precipitous incline. Having disposed of their stock, the partners returned to Denver and engaged in merchandising, erecting in July, 1860, the first two-story brick building on Larimer street, between Fourteenth and Fif. teenth streets. The firm continued in business for over thirty years, when it was dis- solved. after which each partner continued in business for a few years longer alone, Mr. Greenleaf figured throughout this entire period as one of the prominent and lead- ing merchants of the city, contributing in no small measure to its commercial develop- ment and ever meriting and enjoying the highest respect by reason of the energy and enterprise of his methods. Upon retiring from the mercantile business he became the publisher of the Square and Compass, a Masonic monthly, which he conducted for twenty-five years. His contributions in prose and poetry of recent years have been Masonic in sentiment and have been widely copied.
Mr. Greenleaf rightly acquired the title of Pioneer Poet in 1860. In December of that year there was founded in Denver a society under the name of the Literary and Historical Society of Denver, which projected a series of lectures, the proceeds of which were to be devoted to charitable and benevolent purposes. The first of the series took place in Mechanic's Hall in Blake street, over Tilton's store. This was a two-story brick building and was destroyed by the Cherry Creek flood of 1864. The lecturer was Dr. W H. Farner, who took for his subject The Nineteenth Century. Mr. Greenleaf was invited to deliver a poem on this occasion and preceded the lecturer in the evening. The date was December 12th. The Rocky Mountain News the next day had the fol- lowing to say concerning the poem, the report being written by Ed Bliss, who was then connected with this journal: "Before the lecture an original poem was delivered by Mr Greenleaf. It was of a humorous character, abounding in keen satire and well devised puns, and produced repeated rounds of applause from those present. Mr. Green- leaf possesses rare poetic talent and may in time become no insignificant rival of the renowned Saxe." The poem was repeated by request on the occasion of the next lecture on January 10, 1861, which was delivered by the Hon. George W. Purkins. In 1861 and 1862, under the nom de plume of Peter Punever, Mr. Greenleaf contributed humorous
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poems and quips and quirps to the columns of the Rocky Mountain News which attracted general notice in what was then the territory of Colorado. Early in 1862 he wrote a satirical poem entitled King Sham, which was first delivered on March 26, 1862, at a benefit performance at the People's Theatre, then under the management of Langrishe and Dougherty. The success which attended this effort induced Mr. Greenleaf to under- take a trip throughout the territory, and this is believed to have been the first lecture tour in this newly settled region. He was obliged to travel by stage, mule team or on mule back, as the case might be, to reach the various mining camps, sometimes crossing difficult ranges of mountains. The poem was delivered on fourteen occasions with repeated success, At the Fourth of July celebration in Denver in 1865 he delivered a poem written for the occasion. The Fourth of July, 1866, was celebrated under the auspices of the Colorado Pioneers Association. This organization is not to be con- founded with the present Pioneer Society, which was not organized until 1881. The former was composed of the blue-blood aristocracy of 'fifty-niners, none others being eligible. The committee had to have a poet and as none could be found among their own number, Mr. Greenleaf was pressed into service and became a 'fitty-niner by brevet. His poem was entitled, Pike's Peakers of '59. He has delivered poems on many occa- sions and at the rennions of the Pioneers his most ambitious effort was his Centennial Poem, delivered at the centennial celebration in Denver, July 4, 1876.
It is interesting to note in this connection that Mr. Greenleaf's first appearance in public as the author of a poem occurred even before his removal to Colorado. It was on the occasion of the annual declamation of the Lowell Literary Association, held in the Meionaon, Tremont Temple. Boston, Massachusetts, on the 13th of May, 1857. He selected the imposing subject of Art. Even at that early day he received favorable comment, the Boston Traveler saying: "A poem on Art, by L. N. Greenleaf, though at times a little faulty in metre, was well conceived and reflects credit on the writer as a promise of something better." The Daily Bee wrote as follows: "One of the most pleasing features of the entertainment was the recitation of an original poem, entitled Art, by Mr. Lawrence N. Greenleaf. The young gentleman is deserving of much praise for his production, and if the close attention and loud applause of an audience are any mark of approbation, he may well feel proud of this, his first effort." A later poem which he wrote, taking Columbus as his theme, brought forth the following from the Boston Herald: "His poem on Art, delivered last season before the Lowell Literary Association, was highly commended, but we think his last production its superior," while the Boston Transcript said of it that his poem "finely portrayed in verse the noble zeal of Columbus and evinced poetic talent of no mean order." In reminiscent mood he wrote, Just Forty Years Ago, closing with the stanza:
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