Tag: F. E. Baker

Photographers Active in Greeley, Colorado in the 1890s

This post identifies studio photographers active in Greeley in the 1890s. See my earlier posts for photographers working in the 1870s, early 1880s,  and late 1880s.  Did I miss any photographers?  Can you provide any additional biographical details?

1890
Harry G. Townend (1862-1928) was born in Ohio to British immigrants Henry Townend and Christiana Garthwaite Townend.  By 1870, the Townend family lived in western Massachusetts.   In 1884, H. G. Townend began his professional career as a Fitchburg (MA) National bank teller.  Townend resigned from the bank in 1889 and moved to Greeley, Colorado to improve his health.  A mount credited to Townend features a portrait of Greeley high school class of 1890, one of his only extant photographs.  Townend and his wife, Susan Amelia Upton Townend, returned to Massachusetts in June 1890.  He resumed his banking career, ultimately becoming a bank president.  Townend died on December 24, 1928, after a long illness.  His remains rest in Fitchburg’s Forest Hill Cemetery.

Classroom
H. G. Townend, photographer. High school class, 1890, City of Greeley Museums, Permanent Collection, AI-2440.

Frank Knapp (1862-1894) Born in in Tompkins County, New York, Knapp learned photography in Ithaca, New York with William Frear.  After a brief time working in a New York City gallery, Knapp took a position at  J. W. Taylor’s studio in Rochester.  In 1889, he opened his own business at 138 East Main Street.  His business struggled and Knapp pursued a photography position with John C. H. Grabill in South Dakota.

Grabill advanced travel expenses to Knapp, but he never arrived.  Instead, Knapp spent a couple of months working for M. E. Chase in Greeley.  When it became known that Knapp had failed to show up at the Grabill studio, Grabill received a flurry of letters from Knapp’s former employers describing his poor work habits.   M. E. Chase reported that Knapp was the first person he had ever fired, claiming that Knapp took every opportunity to avoid working.

Knapp walked more than 300 miles from Greeley to  Deadwood, South Dakota, supposedly to honor his commitment to Grabill.  However, after working for a week,  Knapp requested an advance on his salary.  After receiving $15.00, he announced to his co-workers his intention to quit. When Knapp failed to show up for work on Monday,  Grabill had him arrested for obtaining money under false pretenses.

A few months later, Knapp found employment with  O. D. Kirkland in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  In 1892, he was working in Denver for H. S. Bellsmith.

On March 15, 1894, Frank Knapp passed away at the age of 31 in Riverside, California due to tuberculosis.  He was buried at Riverside’s Evergreen Cemetery.

Portrait of Lewis E. Imes. The Lansing Journal, April 10, 1907, page 1

Lewis E. Imes (1860-1932) learned photography in Chicago from Edward F. Hartley in 1880.  He worked as a photographer in several western towns, including with William Henry Jackson, in Denver, Colorado.  In May 1890, Imes (The Greeley Sun reported his name as Ives) managed Morton E. Chase’s Greeley gallery while Chase was away on a business trip.  In the 1890s, as a salesman for the American Aristotype Paper Company, he traveled to every state in the nation.  Imes settled in Lansing, Michigan in 1899, continuing to work in the photography field for three decades.                                                                                                                                                 

Erik Borklund, photographer. Unidentified man. https://tinyurl.com/ywajjc46

1891
Erik Borklund was born in Sweden where he learned photography.  In 1891 and 1892, he worked in Greeley, Colorado at B. F. Marsh’s former location.  He may have moved to Chicago in 1892.  

Sadie E. Potter is listed as a photographer in the 1891 Denver City Directory, one year before working for William Henry Jackson as a clerk.  In February and March of 1891, she rented Benjamin F. Marsh’s Greeley studio offering cabinet photographs for sale.

Daisy Clark (1874-1960) worked for three weeks in M. E. Chase’s gallery.

Frank  E. Baker was Greeley’s most prominent photographer in the 1890s.  

Circa 1893-1900
Ammon Noah Weikert was born in Pennsylvania on December 29, 1857, to Noah P. Weikert and Matilda Beck Weikert.  The 1880 census lists him as a farmer in Morton, Iowa.  In the 1880s, he worked as a photographer in College Springs, Iowa.  In 1887, he relocated to Indianola, Nebraska.  Around 1891, Weikert settled in Greely, Colorado.  He was employed in the F. E. Baker studio for many years and was also associated with the Opera House. Around 1910, he moved to Los Angeles, finding employment as an electrician.  Ammon N. Weikert died at his Inglewood, Califonia home on January 11, 1932.

1897-1898
Greeley Art Studio  H. S. Lipshitz and his wife ran a photo-enlarging business under the name Greeley Art Studio.

1898
Harry Arthur Orendorf (1877-1901) was born in Oakland Center, Wisconsin.  He grew up in Hebron, Nebraska.  Orendorf worked for Morton E. Chase in Greeley during the summer of 1898.  He died on April 3, 1901 of typhoid pneumonia. At the time of his death, he was employed as a clerk in Pueblo, Colorado.   Orendorf was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Pueblo.  

1899
Mathias Forsdahl was born in Scandinavia around 1848.   By 1875 Forsdahl worked as an upholsterer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Around 1886, he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, selling second-hand goods and continuing to work in the upholstering trade.  In 1888, Forsdahl was listed in the Colorado Springs city directory as a photographer.  He relocated to Greeley, Colorado by 1895, first as a second-hand goods dealer, then between 1899 and 1900, as a photographer.  Forsdahl died on August 30, 1904 after a short illness.  He was buried at Greeley’s Linn Grove Cemetery.  

Thank you to Beverly Brannan for proofreading this post. Miranda Todd at the Greeley Museum provided research assistance.

Frank E. Baker, Horticulturist, Photographer, and Real Estate Developer

Frank E. Baker was born in Wisconsin in September 1849 to Garrett H. Baker and Elmina Clapp.  His mother retained her maiden name.  Active as social reformers, the family joined the Wisconsin Phalanx commune in Fond du Lac County in the late 1840s.  Based on the ideas of French philosopher Charles Fourier, the members lived together in longhouses and ate communal meals.  They raised potatoes, buckwheat, turnips, and winter wheat.  The community grew to nearly 200 people before dissolving in the early 1850s.

In 1858, the Garrett Baker family settled in Cobden, Illinois, and established a profitable fruit farm.  They supported the Underground Railroad, aiding southern slaves to relocate to free states in the North, despite opposition from many Southern sympathizers in their community.  Frank’s sister Kate taught wood carving at Hampton Institute, established in 1868 to provide skills to Black people after the Civil War. 

Frank E. Baker claimed to have worked on Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden’s 1871 expedition, but I have not been able to confirm this. He married Harriet Davis on September 1, 1872, at her sister’s home, the Kilbourn ranch, near Loveland, Colorado.  They spent their first winter in Greeley, Colorado before making a home outside Champaign, Illinois.  The Bakers pursued horticulture, growing apples, grapes, plums, and other fruits.  In 1877, Mrs. Baker exhibited canned and preserved fruits at the county fair.  Frank Baker exhibited apples and wine grapes at the Illinois State Fair a few years later.  In 1883, as a commission agent, he shipped nearly 1,000 bushels of apples to Chicago and Eastern markets.           

Girl sidesaddle
F. E. Baker, photographer. Eleanor Estes James riding sidesaddle on her favorite horse Patsey. Courtesy Estes Park Museum, 1985.063.055a.

The Bakers often summered in Estes Park, Colorado with Mrs. Baker’s family and Baker often opened a temporary photo studio in the mountains.  He regularly hiked, even summiting the highest peak in the area— Long’s Peak, with an elevation of 14,259 feet.  When he returned home, Frank Baker presented magic lantern slide shows of Rocky Mountain scenery at local schools, perhaps from his photographs.  

Baker photo
F. E. Baker, photographer. The Entre Nous Club, POP print. W. G. Elle Collection.

By 1891, the Bakers made Greeley, Colorado their permanent home.  In addition to his Greeley studio, he opened a branch gallery in Loveland.  The following year, Baker, working under Greeley photographer Morton E. Chase, ran a gallery in Fort Morgan, Colorado, visiting several times a year to make portraits.

In March 1893, Baker bought out M. E. Chase.  He secured a contract to photograph students graduating from the State Normal School in Greeley, (now the University of Northern Colorado), after administrators compared Baker’s work to several Denver studios and believed he could deliver better work at a cheaper price.

In April 1897, Baker traveled to Chicago to acquire supplies for his gallery.  He purchased new backgrounds for the studio and brought back a full line of amateur cameras.

In 1902, Baker sold his business to the Stewart Brothers and began a career in real estate. Frank E. Baker passed away on November 10, 1939 and was laid to rest in Loveland, Colorado’s Lakeside Cemetery. Surprisingly, no obituary was published in the local newspapers.

Thank you to collector W. G. Eloe and Jessica Michak, Curator of Collections, Estes Park Museum for providing digital images.  Miranda Todd at the Greeley Museum provided research assistance.  Beverly Brannan kindly proofread this blog post.  

Fort Morgan Photographers

Fort Morgan, the county seat of Morgan County, is known as “The Capital of the Plains.”  Originally a stop along the Overland Trail, Abner S. Baker platted the town on May 1, 1884,   In the late 1800s, the city’s population never reached 700.  Traveling photographers or photographers who juggled more than one profession to make ends meet, served the needs of the community.  Profiles for  19th century photographers active in Fort Morgan  are below.  Do you know of any I missed?

Two children
F. E. Baker, photographer. Unidentified children, photographic print on cabinet card mount, 1890s. Courtesy, Fort Morgan Museum.

Frank E. Baker (1849-1939), a photographer from Greeley, Colorado opened branch galleries in Fort Morgan and Loveland in the early 1890s.  A biographical sketch of Baker will appear in a later post about Greeley.

Baker’s tender cabinet card portrait of two well-dressed children suggests that the child on the left may have been a difficult subject to photograph.  The child holds a doll and a partially eaten apple, while holding onto a hand from a hidden family member trying to comfort the young child.

Boy S. Bohn was born in Germany in December 1861.  Trained as a photographer in his native country, Bohn departed Hamburg, Germany on the Patria and arrived in New York City on December 26, 1895.  He may have worked in St. Louis, Missouri, before joining photographer F. W. Webster in Des Moines, Iowa in 1899. In April 1900, Jacob O. Brown employed Bohn in his studio.  By June 1900, Bohn resided in Medicine Creek, Nebraska, continuing to work in the photographic field.  His life after 1900 is undocumented.  

Horse & wagon
J. O. Brown, photographer. 211 Main Street, Fort Morgan. Photo Courtesy, Fort Morgan Museum.

Jacob O. Brown was born on January 12, 1871 north of Syracuse in Parish, New York to Isaac and Isabelle Brown.  By 1880, the family was living in St. Paul, Nebraska.  

In 1886, J. O. Brown operated a bicycle repair shop in Fort Morgan, Colorado.  After his marriage to Lettie M. Worrell in 1897, Brown opened a barber shop.   The first mention of Brown’s photographic work appeared in the February 4, 1898 issue of The Fort Morgan Times, an occupation he often practiced in addition to the tonsorial art.  Later that year he purchased a 6-1/2 x 8-1/2” camera, wanting to photograph animals and outdoor scenes, in addition to portraits.  He also made stamp photographs.  Stamp photographs were made by copying an image onto multiple stamp-sized  perforated and gummed photo paper.  Each image measuring only 3/4 x 1.”

Curry Hotel
J. O. Brown, photographer. Curry Hotel Under Construction, 1900. Courtesy, Fort Morgan Museum.

In November 1899, Brown acquired a new photo tent.  He held a contest to name the new studio, selecting “The Elite Gallery” as the winning entry.   In the spring of 1900, he hired German-born photographer Boy Bohn to work in his gallery for a short time.  Brown expanded his barber shop in 1902 and also opened an ice cream factory.  Brown left Colorado for the West Coast.   By 1914 he had settled in Tacoma, Washington, continuing to work as a photographer and barber.  By 1920 he resided in Salem, Oregon.  He died on July 1,1934 and his remains rest in Idlewilde Cemetery, Hood River, Oregon. 

Crescent Gallery–See T. H. Madden

Elite Gallery–See J. O. Brown

Rough Riders
Evans, photographer. Rough Riders, Brush, Colorado, 1890s. Courtesy, Fort Morgan Museum.

J. E. Evans was active as a photographer in Fort Morgan and vicinity in 1898.

Field was an unidentified traveling photographer active in Fort Morgan in 1889.

Harrington & Son
A partnership of Josiah Henry Harrington and his son Orville C. Harrington.  As traveling photographers, they worked in Fort Morgan in 1888.

Graduation portrait
T. M. Madden, photographer. Graduation portrait of Bess L. Baker (1883-1960), 1900. Courtesy, Fort Morgan Museum

Thomas Henry Madden was born in Clay, Illinois to John Thomas Madden and Ann Maria Pfaff.  In 1869, he married Leah L. Buzick in Richland County, IL.  He worked as a day laborer and wagon maker.  

By 1884 Madden ran a photography gallery in Ashland, Nebraska.  A decade later he settled in Fort Morgan, Colorado, making outdoor views and portraits.  Concurrently, he grew crops on his farm on the south fork of the Republican River.  By the fall of 1896 Madden worked full-time as a photographer.  The following year, The Fort Morgan Times reported that Madden planned to go on the road with a well equipped, horse-drawn traveling photograph gallery.  Madden and J. Clark Silance spent three months photographing eastern Colorado.  When they returned, Madden continued on his own to work in the small towns on the eastern plains, including Brush and Sterling. Later, he took his family to Nebraska where he carried on business under the name “Crescent Gallery.”  

 In 1899, Madden’s operation was located opposite McComb’s livery stable in Fort Morgan.  He offered 25 stamp photographs for 25 cents.  

Madden ran his Fort Morgan studio until about 1908.  In 1918, two weeks after undergoing an operation, Thomas Henry Madden died on April 3, 1918.   His remains rest at Fort Morgan’s Riverside Cemetery.  

Madden & Silance, a partnership between Thomas H. Madden and J. Clark Silance, worked in Fort Morgan during 1897.

J. Clark Silance was born in Ohio in April 1867.  He grew up in Nebraska.  By 1896, Silance settled in Fort Morgan, Colorado.  Between May and August 1897, Silance traveled with T. H. Madden through eastern Colorado in Madden’s horse-drawn studio on wheels.  After leaving Madden’s employment, Silance raised livestock.  By the early 1920s, he lived in the Santa Monica area.  On September 28, 1935, Silance suffered a fatal heart attack in an orchard in California’s River Farms district.

With thanks to Brian Mack, Museum Curator, Fort Morgan Library and Museum for providing research assistance and access to the museum’s collections, and The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research for providing travel funds.