Regarding Fred Walsen

Although Fred Walsen is chiefly associated with Walsenburg, he lived in Denver for the latter part of his life. 

I thought it would be interesting to research the life of Fred Walsen, for whom Walsenburg is named. The following short biography of Fred Walsen is copied from:

Smiley, Jerome. Fred Walsen. In: Semi-Centennial History of The State of Colorado, Volume 2, p. 193-195.  Chicago ; New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1913.

FRED WALSEN. The time-worn adage about the great work accomplished by the man who makes two blades of grass grow where there was only one before should be replaced by a new one setting forth the grandeur of the citizen who creates a city where there was nothing before. This was the splendid honor which came into the life of the late Fred Walsen, the founder of the town of Walsenburg, Huerfano county, and for fifteen years owner of the Walsen Bank, of that place. Mr. Walsen was born in Petersagen, Prussia, Germany, June 14, 1841, the son of Henry and Fredericka Walsen. When eighteen years of age he emigrated to America, sailing from Bremerhafen in the month of August, 1859, and landing in New Orleans after a voyage of sixty-three days. After a few days’ stay in that city he proceeded up the Mississippi in a flat boat “under tow,” to St. Louis, the river trip occupying fourteen days. There he engaged in the cigar business until the beginning of the Civil war. Both through disposition and education he naturally gravitated to the Republican party, and during the exciting presidential campaign of 1860 he often marched through the streets of St. Louis as a “Wide Awake” in support of Abraham Lincoln and his cause. He further proved his loyalty to that party as a soldier in the Federal army, enlisting April 12, 1861, in Company B, First Missouri Volunteers (Col. Frank P. Blair), under the ninety days’ call, serving, however, one hundred and twelve days, and then obtaining an honorable discharge. During this term of service his regiment and company had the honor of escorting the rebel prisoners taken at Camp Jackson on the 10th of May, 1861, to the arsenal of St. Louis, General Lyons commanding. Upon the termination of his service in the field, Mr. Walsen joined the Missouri National Guard, serving as sergeant without pay, in a company called the “West End Rangers” (Captain Henry Kleinschmidt and Colonel Gray commanding the regiment), and remained in Missouri until he was again honorably discharged. In July and August, 1864, Mr. Walsen crossed the plains, alternately driving loose oxen and an ox team under Wagonmaster James B. Fullerton, for F. W. Posthoff, starting from Leavenworth, Kansas, and arriving at Fort Garland, Colorado, after a journey of sixty days. At the latter post he entered the employ of Ferdinand Meyer and Company as a clerk in a general store and remained in that capacity until 1867, when he became a partner in the business, continuing in the firm until 1870. On August 6th of that year Mr. Walsen went to what is now known as the town of Walsenburg, and there started a general store. Some Mexicans had settled there and had set apart a strip of land three hundred feet wide for a plaza, called Plaza de Los Leones, the purpose being to build a house for mutual protection against the Ute Indians, who made the Cucharas River a part of their hunting grounds. Mr. Walsen was successful in his business venture and soon became the recognized leader of the settlement. In 1873 the town was incorporated by Probate Judge John F. Read for the benefit of all the settlers, the site comprising three hundred and twenty acres, and named Walsenburg, in honor of Fred Walsen. The name had been previously suggested by the Pueblo People, a Democratic newspaper then published in Pueblo, the suggestion growing out of the fact that although Huerfano county formerly had been almost unanimously Democratic, its political complexion was radically changed upon the advent of Mr. Walsen as a Republican campaigner and leader. The name was bestowed by the post office department and largely through the enterprise and public spirit of Mr. Walsen, the little hamlet has grown to its present importance as a town of about 5,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by vast coal and stock resources, having direct railway connections and possessing many of the institutions and modern improvements of a city. For the past twenty-five years of his life Mr. Walsen was largely interested in stock raising in Huerfano county and at the time of his death owned many sheep and cattle. His plan of operations was to lease herds of cattle and sheep to care-takers on shares, and he had at one time about 20,000 head of sheep and 2,000 head of cattle thus disposed of. In the lease of sheep, Mr. Walsen took as rental from two to two and a half pounds of wool per head each year, the herder having all the increase. Settlers who were induced by Mr. Walsen to start in this way often realized a net gain of fifty to sixty per cent the first year, and in a few years acquired large herds, a comfortable home and even wealth. In the lease of cattle, one-half of the increase and one-half of the proceeds of sale were taken.

Mr. Walsen was the first mayor of Walsenburg and held that office for many years, being also for many years a town trustee. In 1889 he founded the first bank at Walsenburg, and managed and controlled it and its successors until the year 1904, when he sold his interest to the newly organized First National Bank of Walsenburg. In 1882 he became interested, with Otto Mears, in all the toll roads in the San Juan country, namely: that from Montrose to Lake City, via Ouray and Telluride; the wagon road from Ouray to Silverton and Red Mountain, and that from Silverton to Animas Forks. He became interested in the building of the Silverton Railroad, the Rio Grande Southern and the Silverton Northern Railroad and the town of Ridgeway. Under the name of Walsen and Levy the firm furnished nearly all the ties and poles to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, building from Trinidad to Santa Fe and Albuquerque in 1879-80, and, under the name of Walsen and Kennedy, a large portion of the ties of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad to Chovez Station, New Mexico. He was also quite largely interested in mining property in Ouray and Clear Creek counties, and was a real estate holder in Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Huerfano, Costilla, La Plata, Ouray and Garfield counties. From 1882 to 1884, inclusive, Mr. Walsen was treasurer of the state of Colorado, elected upon the Republican ticket from Huerfano county. Upon his taking this office he moved to Denver and made that city his permanent residence, mainly for the purpose of educating his children at home. Mr. Walsen was married July 18, 1867, at St. Louis, to Emilie F. Sporleder, who died December 21, 1896. She left four children: Frieda, now Mrs. William E. Renshaw; Emilie, now Mrs. Allen G. Chamberlain; Fred Walsen, Jr., and Cora, now Mrs. Manning B. Shannon. On December 28, 1897, Mr. Walsen married Emma Storck, of St. Louis. During the early years of his residence in Denver Mr. Walsen built a fine home on Grand avenue, and his mother, now eighty-nine years of age, at times made her home with him. The deceased was a Knight Templar, a Shriner, an Elk, and a life member of the Denver Athletic Club. With his family he attended the Unitarian church. In every sense Mr. Walsen was a patriotic and public-spirited citizen, who contributed in an unusual degree to the progress of the county and the state. He was not only a man of broad practical abilities, but of such buoyant and sunny disposition that his inspiration for progress and good was widely radiated. This combination of deep, hardy soil and warm, germinating sun was the great secret of his creative power as a man of affairs and a Christian gentleman.

Note: The picture is copied from: Representative Men of Colorado In the Nineteenth Century: a Portrait Gallery of Many of the Men Who Have Been Instrumental In the Upbuilding of Colorado, Including Not Only the Pioneers, but Others Who, Coming Later, Have Added Their Quota, Until the Once Territory Is Now the Splendid State. New York: The Rowell Art Publishing Company, 1902.

Because both the text and the picture were published before 1923, they are in the public domain and not subject to copyright.