DID YOU KNOW
The Governor’s Mansion was once a Valentine’s gift
The Governor’s Mansion, or the Cheesman-Boettcher Mansion, at 400 E. Eighth Ave. was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Currently, the mansion needs an estimated $5 million worth of repairs.
Early Denver developer, businessman and railroad promoter Walter S. Cheesman began work on the Colonial Revival house in 1904, but never saw its completion. He died in 1907.
After his death, Cheesman’s wife, Alice, and his daughter, Gladys, continued with the plans, completing the house in 1908. That same year, Gladys married John Evans, the grandson of the Colorado Territory’s second governor. The couple lived in the mansion for many years, with Alice Cheesman, until they built their own house.
When Alice Cheesman died in 1923, the house was sold to Claude Boettcher, son of the founder of the Great Western Sugar Co. In 1924, Boettcher gave the deed to his wife, Edna, as a Valentine’s present.
Art and furniture to decorate the mansion was collected from around the world by the Boettchers. Many of the pieces remain part of the mansion’s collection.
Claude Boettcher died in 1957. Edna Boettcher died the next year, leaving the house to the family foundation, with the stipulation that the mansion be given to the state for the governor’s residence.
Several state agencies turned down the gift and after two years, the foundation began plans to sell it at auction.
Gov. Stephen McNichols stepped in near the end of 1959 and accepted the mansion on behalf of the state.
Sources: Colorado State Archives; Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (www.coloradohistory-oahp.org/programareas/register/1503/cty/dv.htm)
