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Views of Colorado by Benjamin E. Hawkins
Benjamin E. Hawkins was born in Steubenville, Ohio. In 1865, IRS tax assessment records place him as a photographer in New Castle, Pennsylvania. On November 24, 1866, he married Ellen Spaulding in Steubenville. They had three children before divorcing in the 1870s. Hawkins operated a photography studio in Steubenville in the late 1860s and early […]
A Trip to a Denver Photo Studio
In 1892 or 1893, an unidentified couple arrived at the Central Photo Parlors at the corner of 15th and Lawrence Streets in Denver. They posed for a full-length portrait, likely dressed in wedding attire, in front of a painted backdrop. In the 19th century, marriage ceremonies were typically held at the home of the bride’s […]
William R. Armington, Photographer and Painter in Brighton
William Richard Keys Armington was born in Lansing, Iowa, around 1860. By 1880, he resided in Colorado and worked as a painter, making both signs and landscape paintings. A man of many interests, Armington led the Harvey Light Guards, a military company established in Brighton in 1888. He began pursuing photography in the 1890s and […]
The beginning and the end of a short-lived Denver photographic studio in 1886
Today we have a guest post from Anders Hedman, an archivist and records manager at the Stockholm City and Municipal Archive in Sweden. If you search for old Denver pictures you might come across cabinet photos with the credit line ”Steele & Co. 448 Larimer St. Denver, Colo.” Different web sites date these pictures to […]
J. G. Hiestand, Official Photographer of the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway
Joseph Gonder Hiestand was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on August 15, 1860, to John Valentine Hiestand and Eve Ann Gonder Hiestand. His father worked as a coachmaker and later served as a clerk in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, Joseph visited the Smithsonian Institution and developed an interest in mineralogy. He trained at Philadelphia’s […]
Victor, “The City of Mines,” Goes Up in Flames in 1899
In 1891, Winfield Scott Stratton discovered the Independence Gold Mine near Victor, Colorado. That fall, surveyors staked out the area, and on July 16, 1894, Victor became an official city. By 1899, the region boasted some of Colorado’s most productive gold mines and had a population of about 18,000 residents. On August 21, 1899, at […]
Meet the Brown Family
The Brown family sat for their portrait at Clark M. Marsh‘s Greeley studio in the 1890s. Greeley had a population of around 2,400 in 1890, and only a small number of Black families lived in the town. The 1880 federal census provides information about the family. Elvira Brown was a single mother, born around […]
Fred L. Knight Photographs Life on the Plains
Frederick Lincoln Knight was born around 1861 in Albany, New York to Horace Barton Knight and Mary Hillman Knight. In the 1880s, he worked as a printer in St. Louis, Missouri. He married Calista A. Shore in Lucas, Iowa on July 1, 1882. In the 1890s, Knight continued his career as a printer in […]
Early Photo Studios in Wetmore, Colorado
The picturesque Wet Mountain Valley, 150 miles southwest of Denver, attracted thousands of miners in the mid-1870s. The first photographers arrived to the area in the 1880s. Here are a couple of views photo studios during the 1880s. The prints found in public libraries are not vintage prints, and the photographers remain unidentified. This studio […]
Happy Thanksgiving!
British immigrant Birks Cornforth (1836-1906) was one of Denver’s early settlers. In 1863, he established a wholesale and retail grocery store that operated for decades in the city. The Russell Brothers made this photograph around 1886. Warren H. Russell (b. c. 1854- 1894) and Frederick C. Russell (1859-1924) were born to Chandler Miller Russell and […]

19thcenturycoloradophotographers_d5uooh on Victor, “The City of Mines,” Goes Up in Flames in 1899February 25, 2025
Thank you for your comments, Kathy. All of the photos should now be visible. If you have a minute to…
Kathy Gibson on Victor, “The City of Mines,” Goes Up in Flames in 1899February 25, 2025
This is a great story about Victor. At some point before 1904 and the miners' war my family moved there.…
19thcenturycoloradophotographers_d5uooh on Charles E. Emery: A Fifty Year Career in PhotographyFebruary 25, 2025
Emery was very talented. I am glad you have a nice example of his work.
Kevin Griggs on Charles E. Emery: A Fifty Year Career in PhotographyFebruary 23, 2025
I have a beautiful portrait of 13 yo Frank Ashworth I am quite fond of.
Martha H Kennedy on Fred L. Knight Photographs Life on the PlainsJanuary 28, 2025
I enjoy all your blogposts that I've read. They are very well done. Thank you

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