YourHub.com \\ Old Colorado City \\ Stories \\ Family & Friends \\ Stories

THE SHORT SAD SAGA OF JACOB SCHMIDT

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Dave Hughes on 4/23/2008

Yes, we of the Old Colorado City Historical Society knew a long time ago who Jacob Schmidt was. And that he operated a Beer Hall on Saloon Row in Colorado City between 1900 and 1913 in the brick building that still stands today at 2611 West Colorado Avenue, that he gave away at Christmas time unusual decorated wooden beer steins, three of which collector items we display in our museum, and that after Colorado City voted dry in 1913, he committed suicide.

Not much else.

But then our Web site worked its magic, and suddenly we learned the whole story of this German immigrant who came to America in 1883 to avoid being drafted into the Prussian Army to fight Europe's wars. And we learned about his hard-working wife Bertha who also came from Europe about the same time before they met, married and opened a bakery in the silver camp of Leadville, Colorado. Then we learned, just over the past few months, all about the lives of the successful family he left behind.

How did this happen? As I suspected when I set up the first Web site for our Historical Society in 1995, linked it wirelessly to the Internet, people with personal computers and a connection to the Internet were diving into genealogy - finding out the personal histories of their far-flung families. Already, before 2007 and that fateful e-mail about Jacob Schmidt reached me via our Web site, no less than eight descendents of the very earliest pioneers in Colorado City - 1859 onward - had already found us via the Internet, saw what we had and did not have about their ancestors, and sent us tons of information - photos, family histories, anecdotes and even memorabilia about those pioneers that no local Colorado Springs historian had ever dug out before from local sources. And in return they learned things about their ancestors' lives in Colorado City they did not know from us. Completing their family histories.

It has been the perfect marriage of technology, history, and the lives of pioneers.

It started when a direct descendent of Jacob and Bertha Schmidt plaintively asked in e-mail a year ago whether we had ever knew anything about a "Jake Schmidt." That they had even traveled to Colorado Springs to visit the Pioneer's museum - which had nothing to offer NOR told them about our Old Colorado City museum which specializes in Colorado City history. They went back home to Idaho, disappointed. But Catherine, a retirement age granddaughter kept trying over the Internet with Google. Using Key words such as Colorado City, gold rush, Saloons and Red Light districts, Pikes Peak, eventually got her to our Web site.

She hit pay dirt on our Web site. The minute we told her what we knew, she flooded us by e-mail with what her own research had uncovered - including letters and family conversations, scanned in old faded photographs, and the faulty memories of her mostly elderly - some in their high 80s - 'Schmidt' relatives scattered all across the country the last 100 years. But what she in turn needed to complete the story of Jacob Schmidt and his family, was accurate information about where the early Schmidt bakery might have been, Jacob's first Saloon, and where the second might have been, and where they lived. She had 100 year old addresses and fleeting references, and strange place names. We had, from old city directories, exact current addresses, business names, context, and our historical knowledge of 'our town,' saloon row - all the rest.

In brief we learned, and sometimes deduced from our recorded directories, that Jacob and Bertha came to Colorado City in 1888 with their first child. They opened a bakery at today's 2516 West Colorado Avenue and lived in the store. They worked so hard Bertha gave birth to her second child on a Christmas Eve then tended the store on Christmas morning. Meanwhile Jacob saw the money flowing across Colorado in the Saloons. He became partner in 1890 in one frame building Saloon on the south - rip roaring - side of Colorado Avenue street. Bertha, a religious woman, hated the saloon and refused to accept any of the money that came from it. She still baked. Then Jacob bought out his partner, worked doubly hard between 1900 and 1904 and made enough money to contract to build the beautiful large brick building that still stands at 2611 West Colorado Avenue - which is now a sports equipment store. Increased his family, made his 14-year-old son start to earn a living early, who worked in his father's saloon for 7 years, but never drank. Jacob was able to buy a fine home - for the westside - from 'Love and Quinby' developers on today's 3100 block of Colorado Avenue. He advertised his really quite 'upscale' Beer Hall, upstairs Gambling rooms, fine Liquors and Cigar Sales, and the 'Most Complete Delicatessen in Colorado' by use of photo advertising cards.

In short he was successful, never in trouble, and even on Colorado City's saloon row provided family food services.

Until the bottom fell out, when the many blue nosed Pikes Peak Avenue Churches of Colorado City and their ministers, and wives successfully pushed through an historic vote to make Colorado City DRY in 1913. The Schmidt family dream of financial independence was dashed. He tried to open a saloon in still wet Ramona up 24th Street, but it failed. He and his son then tried Cripple Creek gold mining, which failed. Then with his final cash he bought an apple orchard in Penrose, Colorado. But he was no farmer. And when his water supply was cut off, he shot himself with a pistol in 1914.

The rest of his family struggled on. And became over the decades successful in their own right. In fact one of the girls became, for over 24 years one of the only four female City Auditors in the nation, for Colorado Springs, and was briefly City Manager. And Bertha lived in Colorado Springs until she was in her 90s. The son went into business in Colorado and California.

In short the "rest of the story" was of a successful immigrant family in America. The drastic action by the blue-noses of the North side of Colorado Avenue came close to shattering the family. But with their Teutonic determination they prevailed. All of the older Schmidt family members are buried in Fairview Cemetery on the Westside. We will portray some of them in our next August Cemetery Crawl this fall.

While I have included photos in this Hub article, including the absolute rare and key one on Ebay (it cost us $80 at auction last week) of the just opened Saloon, the whole story written largely by Catherine is on our Web site. You should go read it, with the whole story of a Colorado City pioneering family with lots of very rare pictures.

http://history.oldcolo.com/people/briefbio/schmidt.html

Four members of the very grateful Schmidt descendents, none of whom live in Colorado now, have paid for memberships in our Society, and plan to visit us in the future. Maybe for a Schmidt Family Reunion!

So what started out in our local minds as the short, sad saga of Jacob Schmidt has become a rich family history from Colorado City which now exists in cyberspace, in our museum, and in the hearts of the Schmidt's. All made possible by our little Web site, the Internet, and a wireless connection.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

CONTRIBUTOR INFO

Dave Hughes

Colorado Springs , CO

Dave Hughes has posted 69 stories and 79 comments since joining on 3/1/2007. Dave Hughes 's average story rating is 4.89.

view profile » view other postings from Dave Hughes »