GOVERNOR’S RESIDENCE PRESERVATION FUND

Denver

News: Orders are now being taken for West Portico, the 2021 collectible holiday ornament offered by the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund. It depicts Alice Cheesman driving an early Ford Model T on 8th Avenue with the stately Colonial Revival mansion in the background.

“Many do not know that this home has largely been owned by women,” said Coco Criste, executive director of the preservation fund. She went on to explain that the $35 ornament was inspired by the women who owned the historic site.

“Before the Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion became the official home to Colorado’s chief executive, it was a family dwelling,” Criste said. “And for all but one month until the state of Colorado took ownership, women owned the home – namely, Alice Cheesman and Edna Boettcher.”

Criste added: “In 1861, 23-year-old Walter Cheesman traveled more than three months by ox cart from Chicago to Denver to join his brothers in the pharmacy business. Shortly after his arrival, his brothers returned to New York, leaving the business to Walter. Walter married Elizabeth Lyster in 1869, who died giving birth a year later. The baby, a son named after his father, died when he was 2.”

Walter continued to build a personal fortune through investments in real estate and the development of the first water dam and reservoir system for Denver.

When he was 46, Walter married widow Alice Foster Sanger and their only child, Gladys Cheesman, was born two years later. Following Walter’s death, mother and daughter worked with architects Willis A. Marean and Albert J. Norton to design the current 26,000-square-foot edifice that stands today at 8th Avenue and Logan Street. The work was completed in 1908 at an estimated cost of $50,000.

Gladys Cheesman, who was married to the grandson of John Evans, Colorado’s second territorial governor, inherited the home from her mother – who was known to be an independent woman who loved to drive and was one of the first women in Colorado to hold a driver’s license.

Alice Cheesman lived in the home until her death in 1923. The home was sold to the Boettcher family, and Edna Boettcher was given the home on Valentine’s Day, 1924, by her husband, Claude.

The 2021 ornament, 13th in a series inspired by a historic event or object in the Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion, is made in the U.S. from “finest quality” brass and hand-finished in 24-karat gold. Proceeds from its sale go to the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund.

Orders can be placed by visiting here.

About the organization: The Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund is an inclusive, nonpartisan 501c3 organization dedicated to education and the preservation of the historic Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion in perpetuity for the people of Colorado to enjoy.

Website: coloradoshome.org

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