A Look Back at the Talks in 2023

January 26, 2022: Robert Burns Statue in City Park by Monta Lee Dakin

This talk recounted the story of how the statue of Robert Burns came to be placed in City Park in 1904, and why it is there on Robert Burns Night celebrating the anniversary of his birth in 1759. Monta Lee has worked as a curator and director in museums such as Mount Vernon, Smithsonian, Strawbery Banke Museum and Gadsby’s Tavern Museum. She is currently a partner in the firm Friesen-Dakin Museum Consulting and follows her interests in family, local and migration history.

February 23, 2022: Colorado and the Silver Crash: The Panic of 1893 by John Steinle

This talk explores the 1893 Silver Crash in Colorado. Steinle traces the financial, social and political ferment in Colorado during the 1890s, including labor strikes and violence. Steinle served as Director at several Ohio museums before emigrating to Colorado in 1992. He became the Administrator of the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen, in 1994, working for Jefferson County Open Space. He retired in 2016.

March 23, 2022: February, scheduled presentation cancelled due to a family emergency, Deputy Sheriff and former Denver Police Detective Don Lindley gave a presentation on Prostitution in Denver.

April 27, 2022: Twenty Miles of Fence: Blueprint of a Cowboy by Bob West

This talk recounted a decade of transformation when Bob West decided to escape the pretense of his unfulfilling architectural life to become, quite simply, a cowboy. He bought the Devil’s Washtub Ranch in Wyoming and discovered that ownership of two horses does not equal twenty miles of fence, 3,200 deeded acres, 400 BLM acres, 154 head of black angus, two and a half miles of the North Laramie River—and what would become for him the very best of times. West also related his family connection to Fort Laramie and the Indian Wars and his 2nd great grandfather’s Civil War exploits.

May 25, 2022: Gone and Mostly Forgotten by Bob Easterly

Easterly recounted the first burial ground in Gunnison, Colorado, where the earliest pioneers were interred about 1884. He got interested in the subject when he learned that the cemetery was on a ranch that his grandfather and father owned back in the 1930s. Bob Easterly is a fourth-generation Coloradoan, who grew up as a rancher’s kid. He is a Past President of the Mount Evans Chapter – Sons of the American Revolution, Past Sheriff of the Denver Posse.

June 22, 2022: Dr. Rose Kidd Beere 1859-1927 by Rebecca A. Hunt, Ph.D.

Rose Kidd Beere was a doctor in Colorado in the nineteenth century. In 1892, she moved to Durango to practice medicine. In 1895 Governor Alva Adams asked her to take over the new State Home for Dependent and Neglected Children in Denver. In 1898, the First Colorado Infantry went to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War; and she went too, not as a doctor but as a nurse. Dr. Rebecca Hunt presented a first-person account of Rose Kidd Beere‘s life. Hunt, is a third-generation Casper native with her family home on Casper Mountain. She is on the advisory committee for History Colorado’s Center for Colorado Women’s History.

July 27, 2022: The Heart of Colorado: Symbolism at the Statehouse by Derek R. Everett

There is no more symbolically powerful place in Colorado than the state capitol; the place where we gather to protest and celebrate, to legislate and mourn, to explore what it means to be a Coloradan. Derek R. Everett has conducted research and given tours at the capitol since 1997, and is working on his second book about the building. The stories that unfold at the capitol shape our state’s identity, and the ways in which we interpret Colorado’s past under the dome makes compelling statements about priorities and principles in our state. Everett is the author of three books.

August 20, 2022: Summer Rendezvous, Tour of the Tunnels at the Colorado State Capitol conducted by Colorado State Patrol

A sign on the door reads, “NO ADMITTANCE AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.” The intrigue: It’s the entrance to the underground tunnels beneath the Colorado State Capitol. The tunnels were originally used to transport coal to keep the domed building heated. Their main use now is for infrastructure like electric wiring and pipes, and the enclosed passageways connect to several nearby buildings.

September 28, 2022: Lessons from a 19th Century Pauper Cemetery: The Story of the Leadville Irish Memorial by Dr. James Patrick Walsh

This talk explored the history of Leadville’s Irish community, the largest of its time between the West coast and Kansas City. The role played in the community by Irish women and children, the space occupied by Annunciation Church and St. Vincent’s Hospital, and why these emigrants died so very young was explained. The presentation also covered the story of the Leadville Irish Memorial, a 7-year project to “name the unnamed” buried in Evergreen Cemetery’s Catholic Free section. Dr. Walsh has focused much of his time since joining the instructional staff at Regis University on Irish and Celtic issues including co-authoring Irish Denver with Posse members Tom Noel and the late Dennis Gallagher.

October 26, 2022: Colorado and the Civil War by John Steinle

In 1861, Colorado’s territorial government was firmly in Union hands, and multiple Colorado units were formed within the Union Army. They served throughout the West, and in Colorado built forts that later grew into communities. Fighting in the largest battles of the Civil War west of the Mississippi, Coloradans served alongside Hispanic, Native American and African American Union troops. Marred by the atrocities at the notorious Sand Creek Massacre, Coloradans nevertheless helped save the West for the Union. John Steinle served as Director at several Ohio museums before emigrating to Colorado in 1992. He became the Administrator of the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen, in 1994, working for Jefferson County Open Space. He retired in 2016.

November 16, 2022: Walnut Creek Massacre by Jeff Broome

On May 18, 1864, mostly Kiowa Indians attacked a freight train near today’s Great Bend, KS, and killed ten freighters and wounded five, two of which were scalped. This was the first attack of what became known as the 1864 Indian war. Broome has written four books on the Central Plains Indian war, covering the years 1864-1869. Broome retired from teaching and in 2016 moved to Beulah, southwest of Pueblo, in the Wet Mountains.

December 14, 2022: Winter Rendezvous, Galloping Gourmet: Dining with Buffalo Bill by Steve Friesen

This lecture explores a little-known aspect of Buffalo Bill’s life. He wasn’t just a buffalo hunter, scout, and showman ... he was also a gourmet. He was as comfortable eating in Delmonico’s in New York City as dining on wild game around a campfire. When the Wild West traveled through Europe, he hosted everyone from Thomas Edison to kings, queens and princes to meals before and after the shows. Steve Friesen has presented to the Denver Posse of Westerners several times on Buffalo Bill and other subjects. He is the author of four books, including Galloping Gourmet: Dining with Buffalo Bill, published by the University of Nebraska Press.