An 1880s Victorian Mansion in the Colorado Rockies: The Estemere Estate at Palmer Lake

by Edwards, Daniel

  Margaret and George Martin

  During the summer of 1897, Judge Caldwell’s daughter, Margaret, and her husband, George W. Martin, stayed at Estamere. George was born in Columbia, Tennessee, in June 1858, and worked as a young man in the cotton business in Little Rock, Arkansas. There he met Margaret Caldwell, and the two were married in 1882. The Martins came to Denver in 1895, where George worked first for the Colorado Midland Railroad. In 1906, he was appointed western passenger agent for the Rock Island Railroad, a position he held until his retirement in 1928. While in Denver, Martin was president of the Travelers Aid Society, active in the Community Chest, and a director of the Denver Union Terminal Railway. An avid golfer, Martin won the senior golf championship at the Denver County Club at the age of 67. Margaret and George Martin both died in Denver in the summer of 1934.

  E. Chapin Gard Writes Palmer Lake the Gem of the Rockies

  In 1894, E. Chapin Gard wrote a small travelogue entitled Palmer Lake The Gem of the Rockies (1894). This booklet was published by the Town of Palmer Lake and was probably distributed throughout the East and possibly Europe in an effort to attract visitors to Palmer Lake in fulfillment of Dr. Thompson’s dream of making Palmer Lake the health resort capital of the Rockies. [Sabin

  [30] provides background information on Gard’s booklet that is quite interesting.]

  Gard’s style of writing was very flowery, as illustrated in his description of Palmer Lake and Estamere:

  A second edition of this booklet was published in 1895, without Gard’s name on the title page. Certain sections of the text were rearranged, a poem about the D&RG eating house was added, and some of the photos in the 1894 edition were deleted, as well as a few advertisements. The Denver Public Library has copies of both editions.

  Gard’s efforts, like Thompson’s before him, were for naught, as Palmer Lake never achieved great status as a health resort.

  Gard pp. 5 and 13-14.

  More items related to this chapter are on the DVD.

  Chapter 3

  The Summer House of Emily and Eben Smith

  (1898-1909)

  Eben Smith Buys Estamere

  The Denver branch of the investment firm E. H. Rollins and Sons had been trying to sell Estamere for more than six years when, in May of 1898, it sent a special announcement to Eben Smith and possibly other wealthy men in Denver. The firm noted that because it was withdrawing from the real estate business to focus on municipal bonds, it was making a special offer and would sell Estamere and its grounds for $6,000.[31]

  Letter from E.H. Rollins & Sons to Eben Smith offering Estamere for sell at $6,000.

  Whether there was a formal auction or whether the deal was made over the telephone or by private correspondence, the Estamere property passed into the hands of Eben Smith on 30 June 1898 for the sum of $5,000.[32] The deed, dated 28 July 1898, conveyed Block 80, and the deed had this description of Block 80:

  … on which is located a frame house of about sixteen rooms, and a stable, also a stone wall part of the way around said property on the west south and east sides and barbed wire fence on north and east sides….

  It is unknown if the stable was the same as the carriage house, or if there was a stable and a carriage house.

  Two Denver newspapers incorrectly reported that the sales price was $45,000. The documents closing the deal for the purchase of Estamere were signed in early August. It was said that Smith intended to make extensive improvements to the property and occupy the house during the summer months.

  Eben had a survey of Estamere performed shortly after his purchase as evidenced by this survey map dated 06 August 1898. The locations of the house and fountains are slightly off, but the property lines are accurate.

  Estamere survey dated 06 August 1898.

  Finley Thompson’s sister, Mrs. C.A.J. Berry, continued to live at Estamere for substantial periods of time, both before the Smith purchase and then for years after he bought the property. In March 1898, for example, Mrs. Berry had a band perform and served refreshments during a social entertainment at her Estamere “home.”

  Ebenezer (Eben) Smith

  Eben Smith was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 17 December 1832. At the age of 19, he sailed for California via the Isthmus of Panama. Eben began work as a placer miner and later constructed and became part owner of the largest milling plant in California. Smith operated the mill until 1859, when he sold out and returned East. While in California, Eben married Caroline Jordan in 1852, and they had three children. He soon headed West again, and upon reaching St. Joseph, Missouri, met a party returning from the Rocky Mountains. Hearing stories about the Pikes Peak gold rush, Smith decided to build a small mill at Leavenworth, Kansas, and have it freighted to Colorado. In St. Joseph, Smith also met and became a business partner with Jerome B. Chaffee, who was to become one of the founders of the town of Denver and later was a U.S. Senator from Colorado.

  Smith followed Chaffee to Denver where he arrived in 1860 and went to Gilpin County. There he assembled his mill. Smith was the only man in the area who had experience in the most advanced means of milling for the extraction of gold. He developed new gold lodes around Central City and Blackhawk as he continued to operate his mill. In 1865, Smith and Chaffee were among those who established the First National Bank of Denver, of which Chaffee became president. Smith continued his mining operations in Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties and was elected to the Colorado legislature for one term. Later he became superintendent of a mine in Boulder County that he purchased with David H. Moffat. Moffat, Chaffee, and Smith subsequently acquired a group of mines in Pitkin County, at Creede, and at Aspen. Smith lived at Aspen for a while, and when he and his partners bought properties at Leadville, he moved there to oversee their mining operations. Smith’s twin sons from his first marriage, Samuel and Lemuel, also lived in Leadville. Samuel died there in June 1887. Lemuel continued to work as an engineer in Leadville for many years. Lemuel died in Denver on 21 April 1918.

  While Eben Smith was not a graduate of any college and was not a trained geologist or engineer, his practical knowledge of mining gained over a period of 46 years was unsurpassed, and his dedication to hard work brought him great wealth.

  Smith settled in Denver in 1893 and, with Moffat and others, built the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad and invested in mines in Teller County. Eben Smith and his second wife Emily, a native of New York, had two children who reached adulthood: Cora Isabel, born in Central City in 1868 and Frank Leroy, born in the same town in 1871. (See their biographical sketches at the end of this chapter.) In 1896, Smith became president of the Mine and Smelter Supply Company that had been organized by his son, Frank Smith. Eben Smith retired from the mining business in 1901 and bought a home in Los Angeles, where he lived most of the time until his death, although he continued to travel abroad and spend time during the summers at Palmer Lake. Eben Smith died at his daughter’s home in Denver on 05 November 1906 at the age of 74 and was interred in Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery.

  The Smith Family at Estamere

  Mrs. Eben Smith surely knew something about Estamere before her husband purchased it, as she had stayed at The Rocklands Hotel during most of the summer of 1897. As soon as the Smiths bought the house the following year, it was reported:

  Estamere house is being thoroughly renovated and furnished by Eben Smith, whose horses and carriages have arrived and are in the Estamere barn, which is one of the largest and most complete barns in the country.[33]

  Estamere had a part in the 4th of July 1898 celebrations at Palmer Lake:

  The town was a mass of flags and happy looking people, and the war news [from the Philippines] had made everyone feel patriotic. Crowds in every sort of vehicles, on horses, mules and burros, with a preponderance of wheelmen and wheelwomen commenced to arrive early in the morning, and dancing in the pavilion began before noon and was continued until evening, when the dancers adjourned to Estamere barn and kept up the merry whirl until daylight.[34] The [Palmer Lake
] band…discoursed fine music at intervals, and a good orchestra of four pieces and piano furnished music for dancing.[35]

  In later years, the Smiths allowed dancing in the mansion itself on 04 July.

  A newspaper account of 1900 on the summer home of the Eben Smith family said:

  Estamere house is the “show place” here [at Palmer Lake.] The place is surrounded with extensive lawns, graveled roads, beautiful flower beds, extensive verandas and every kind of flowering shrub. The house contains twenty [sic] rooms and the stables contain fourteen horse and carriages in corresponding abundance.[36]

  While Eben’s son, Frank, was staying at Estamere in August 1901, he was injured when he was thrown from his “trap” [one-horse buggy]:

  While passing near the Denver & Rio Grande station the horse became frightened at an incoming train and, in spite of young Smith’s efforts to hold him, [the horse] dashed off at a high rate of speed. The driver was handicapped in checking the horse because his hand had been wounded by a dog bite shortly before. The injured young man sustained several deep gashes, the largest being over the heart.[37]

  Soon her daughter, Cora, who was married to Charles T. Carnahan, and grandchildren joined her, and by the middle of the month, the Smith family had moved into its new summer home. The following month, Mrs. Frank Smith (and presumably her children) had joined her mother-in-law and sister-in-law at the residence. It was reported that Eben Smith was preparing to spend several thousand dollars to improve the property.

  Eben and Emily Smith, the Carnahans, and the Frank Smiths continued to spend time during summers at Estamere. The house was usually opened in mid-June, and the families returned to Denver (and the Carnahans to Leadville) around Labor Day. Eben and Frank likely commuted from their offices in Denver on weekends from 1898 to 1900, but once Eben retired from managing his Colorado business enterprises in 1901, he probably was at Estamere more often. Eben continued to put money into Estamere. In May of 1900, a news item said that Frank Smith had gone to Palmer Lake to inspect the extensive improvements that Eben was making. Later that summer, a glimpse of life at the house was provided in this brief report:

  Visitors at the Eben Smith country home at Palmer Lake declare it a veritable country mansion. With three generations of the family in the house, a retinue of servants and a dozen or fifteen blooded horses in the stables, life is like what one reads about in English novels of country life. Colonel Hughes drives over from Perry Park with a four-in-hand and a gay party now and then, and there is a constant succession of visitors from Denver.[38]

  In July 1900, it was reported that:

  Members of the family of Eben Smith, spending the summer at Palmer Lake, had a narrow escape last week when the carriage horses became unmanageable, overturned the vehicle, and threw out the occupants. The horses were injured and the carriage damaged, but no serious consequences to the ladies or Mr. Smith.[39]

  In 1902, Eben and Emily Smith came to Colorado from Los Angeles and spent the summer at Estamere. They and the Carnahans celebrated the 4th of July at Palmer Lake:

  Mr. and Mrs. C.T. Carnahan entertained a large house party over the Fourth at Estamere, their country home near Palmer Lake. Among those who went up from Denver were: Mrs. Edwin Hoff, Miss Edna Case, Miss Bessie Jordan, George Miller, Hugh Swearingen and Fred Spencer of Colorado Springs. The party went up Friday morning and will return tomorrow.[40]

  In August, Eben Smith made news by purchasing the largest life insurance policy ever sold by Mutual Life when he sent the company a check for $203,150. Eben Smith's letter to the Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, 08 August 1902:

  Dear Sir: I take pleasure in acknowledging receipt of policy for $250,000, issued on the 3.5% guaranteed gold bond plan, for which I have already given you my check for $203,150 in full for all payments thereon. This, I understand, is the largest premium every paid in the world on one policy. This makes my total holdings in the Mutual Life Insurance Company over $600,000, and after thorough investigation, I take pleasure in recommending your company to all persons looking for protection to their families and investment for themselves. [Signed] Eben Smith[41]

  The Smiths left Estamere at the end of August to travel East and possibly on to Europe. Early in 1903, Eben Smith wrote his son about his wish to sell the house:

  Regarding the Palmer Lake property I would like very much to dispose of it at some price that would put me somewhere even with the investment. It stands me in about twenty thousand dollars. How much this covers on furniture and fixtures I cannot tell, but I know there are certain things Mother would like reserved in case of a sale. I think perhaps the amount mentioned (twenty thousand dollars) would cover the whole thing outside of the few pieces of bricabrac that Mother would want reserved, so see what you can do and let me know.[42]

  A Denver attorney wrote Eben the next month noting that Frank Smith had spoken to him about selling Estamere:

  … and I have already laid some lines for a deal on that. I had no idea it was for sale, and you certainly know you never gave me a chance at it before.[43]

  However, nothing came of these efforts, but Eben’s relocation to Los Angeles clearly had diminished his interest in maintaining a summer house in Colorado. It appears that Eben and his wife were not at Estamere in 1903, although the Carnahans did make an appearance.[44] Estamere was not re-opened until the end of July in 1904. Frank Smith and his family arrived first, but Eben and his wife planned to stay at the house through September.

  In early June of 1905, the Smiths left Los Angeles for Colorado and opened Estamere, where, during the summer, they were joined again by the Carnahan and Frank Smith families. While the Smiths invited other guests to stay with them, there was no “formal entertaining.” There was a display of fireworks at Estamere on July 4th, and the following week, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Walling and Mr. and Mrs. George Cook and son stayed at Estamere. (See short bios of them and other Estamere guests of the Smiths and Carnahans at the end of Chapter 4.) It is interesting to note that in mid-July, Finley Thompson’s second daughter, Lucile Campbell, was visiting her aunt, Clarissa Berry, in Palmer Lake. Surely Clarissa and Lucile went to Estamere to see Eben Smith and the Carnahans and reminisce about an earlier era when the Thompson family lived there. [Lucile is mentioned in a 1902 RMN article, as well. The article contains several inaccuracies.] Frank Smith and his family spent August at Estamere:

  The grounds about Estamere are in perfect condition and the house will soon be hidden from view by the extraordinary growth of the shade trees and shrubbery.[45]

  Guests of the Smiths at Estamere in 1905.

  It appears that Eben and Emily Smith did not stay at Estamere during the summer of 1906; they rented a beach cottage near Venice, California, for the summer season. Cora Carnahan spent the summer there with them, and Mrs. Frank Smith also went to visit her in-laws in July. Eben Smith was visiting his daughter, Cora, in Denver in November when he died of appendicitis. Press accounts speculated that Smith’s estate was worth about $5 million.

  After his death, Eben’s sons continued to make the news. In Eben’s will, Lemuel Smith, Eben’s son from his first marriage, was given only the interest on $25,000 unless Lem demonstrated to the executors that he had “reformed his life and habits.”

  [In 2003 David Forsyth submitted his thesis Eben Smith: Western Mining Man in partial fulfillment for his MA degree in history at the University of Colorado at Denver. David’s biography of Eben Smith preserves the story of this pioneer of Colorado’s glory days of mining.]

  Smith’s Efforts to Rebuild the Town’s Water System

  As soon as Eben Smith purchased Estamere, he signed a contract with the Palmer Lake Water Company regarding the Rio Grande Railroad furnishing water from its pipes to his house.[46] Eben Smith also had signed a contract with the D&RG and paid the railroad $40.00 for a year’s supply of water from 01 October 1898 to 01 October 1899. He paid the same amount to the town of Palmer Lake. Smith’s receipts were reviewed and approved by no less t
han four D&RG officials!

  Smith obviously was concerned about the dependability of the supply of water furnished to Estamere, and in February 1899, he and other local taxpayers signed a petition asking the town to negotiate the purchase of the old water-works (the plant franchise and water rights) for $5,500.[47] The town authorized the issuance of bonds that were awarded to E.H. Rollins and Sons. Eben Smith then signed an agreement with the town on 22 May 1899 whereby he agreed to purchase $1,300 worth of six-inch cast iron pipe that would extend from the source of the town’s water supply in Monument Creek Canyon to Estamere. The town agreed to lay the pipe at its expense and to provide water to Estamere at the annual rate of $100.00. That sum was to be credited each year to the cost of the new pipe. Smith or his heirs would not pay water rent to the town for 13 years, until he had received $1,300 worth of water to reimburse him for the cost of the pipe he purchased. The town agreed to maintain a pressure of not less than 50 pounds per square inch in the two-inch pipe that took water into Estamere from its connection with the six-inch main line.[48]