Tag: Glenwood Springs

Fred L. Garrison’s Long Career in Rifle, Colorado

Fred L. Garrison was born on April 9, 1867 in Ohio.  He became interested in photography in his twenties.  By 1891, he subscribed to The St. Louis and Canadian Photographer while living in Edon, Ohio.  The following year, he worked in New Iberia, Louisiana, photographing outdoor views, such as sugars mills, churches and private residences.  Garrison met photographer, James C. Handley, in Louisiana and they would work together both in that state and later in Colorado.

Advertisement
Fred L. Garrison. Advertisement for Stamp Photos., circa 1898.  Courtesy Rifle Heritage Center.

In 1897, Garrison rode the Denver & Rio Grande railroad to the end of the line in Red Cliff, Colorado.  He traveled by stage to Carbondale and joined the D. & R. G. surveying party.  The following year Garrison opened a photo studio in Rifle, Colorado and later that year expanded his operations to Glenwood Springs.  He went on to set up his tent gallery across from the court house in Meeker, Colorado in 1899 and 1900.

While the studio was known for years as the Garrison Bros., Fred’s brother Orson, was only active between 1900 and 1902.  

Garrison won a prize, offered by Leslie’s Weekly, for his photograph of a railway collision at Rifle.  The photo was published in the December 25, 1902, issue of the magazine. 

Fred traveled to patron’s homes, making views of stores, home interiors, livestock, ditches and farms.  He also visited  communities, like Hayden, Collbran and Steamboat Springs, that were too small to support a photographer, making his services available to those who might not travel to Rifle.  

Hayden, CO

In the 1910s he added novelty photo buttons to his inventory and also made a specialty of developing negatives and finishing prints for amateurs.  Garrison provided many of the photographs used in the April 7, 1916 issue of The Rifle Telegram, a 28 page commemorative issue profiling local businessmen, educators, religious institutions and fraternal and social organizations. 

Believed to be a confirmed bachelor, Garrison surprised the local community when he married Ola Sarah Anfenson on October 30, 1915 in Glenwood Springs.  Prior to her marriage, Ola operated a photo studio in Debeque, Colorado.  She worked in the Rifle studio alongside her husband, continuing the business into the 1940s.  

Both the The Rifle Heritage Center and Museum (Rifle, CO) and History Colorado (Denver, CO) house Garrison’s original glass plate negatives, mainly unidentified studio portraits.

Thanks to Cecil and Betty Waldron, volunteers at the Rifle Heritage Center for sharing their knowledge of the Garrison family.  Keegan Martin, Digital Imaging Assistant, History Colorado, provided the scan of Hayden, Colorado.  Jori Johnson, Collections Access Coordinator, Stephen H. Hart Research Center at History Colorado, provided assistance with ordering the scan.  The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research provided travel funds for this research.

Thank you to Elisabeth Parker, former assistant chief, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., for  proof-reading this post.

A. W. Dennis in Canon City and Glenwood Springs

History lovers, help me solve a mystery!  This blog post has been simmering for months because I was fascinated by one photo–the charming group portrait in front of the log cabin.  If you look closely, there is a sign above the door that reads “Willa Catha Hotel.”  I immediately thought of the author, Willa Cather, but she was a young girl living in Nebraska when this photo was taken.  Share your thoughts!

Augustus W. Dennis was born on December 29, 1858 to Selah G. Dennis and Bethiah Thorndike Dennis in Rockland, Maine.  The youngest of six boys, he attended school in Hallowell, Maine.  In 1869, Selah, now a widower, moved his family to Melrose, Massachusetts, a short ten miles north of Boston.  The following year, twelve-year old Augustus was severely injured when he was thrown from a wagon.  Unable to find adequate medical care in Massachusetts, Dennis traveled to London’s famous St. Thomas Hospital.   Dennis spent five years in London recovering from his injury.  He returned to the U. S. in 1876, settling in Austin, Minnesota.  

In Austin, Dennis learned photography from a Mr. Peck.  They worked together as Peck & Dennis until January 1879, when Dennis took sole proprietorship of the gallery.  In November 1879 he sold the Austin gallery and briefly relocated to Faribault, Minnesota.  He left for Colorado in a covered wagon in April 1880.

Dennis arrived in Canon City, Colorado where he took possession of E. G. Morrison’s photo gallery on Main Street, and sold Morrison’s stereos of Colorado scenery.  He also maintained the city’s free reading room.  The library contained more than 150 books and seventy-five newspaper titles.  For ten cents a week, patrons could take books home to read.  

Canon City
A. W. Dennis, photographer. Canon City, Main Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets, showing the Dennis studio and Free Reading Room, 1880.  Albumen silver print. Courtesy of Roger Genser – The Prints & The Pauper, Santa Monica, CA.

In March 1881, Canon City photographer J. A. Boston retired and sold his instruments, negatives and stock to Dennis.  Due to an increase in business, Dennis hired several assistants, including Thomas J. Colpas, from Kansas City, to work in his gallery.  In June 1881, Dennis set up a temporary studio at Colorado’s first state penitentiary to document convicts, recording their likenesses in the event of their escape.  Dennis also made a series of photographs of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.  In addition to photographs, Dennis sold rattan furniture and pianos in the gallery.

In February 1883, Dennis added a partner, William E. Few.  They operated as Dennis & Few through 1885.  Few would later work with Dennis in Glenwood Springs, where Dennis relocated around 1886. His first Glenwood studio consisted of a tent north of the river.  Later he moved to permanent quarters on Blake Avenue.  Dennis used the dry instantaneous process to photograph local scenery.   In November 1892, Dennis traveled to Mexico on official business to photograph government documents related to the Mexican land grant of 1838. He lived in Glenwood Springs through the early 1900s, serving as the city’s mayor in 1892.

A. W. Dennis, photographer. Chas. & Henry Hubbard Stage Between Yellow Dog and Glenwood, 1880s, Courtesy Glenwood Historical Society, Carleton Hubbard Collection.
A. W. Dennis, photographer. The Glenwood Historical Society caption identifies this as the First House in Glenwood Springs, N. E. end of Town.  The Denver Public Library also owns a copy of this image with the caption First Hotel, Glenwood Springs, patrons and employees stand outside Fred Barlow’s Grand Springs Hotel, 1880s.  Courtesy Glenwood Historical Society, Carleton Hubbard Collection.

Dennis photographed the development of Glenwood’s hot springs, now the world’s largest hot springs pool.  Located along the Colorado River in Glenwood’s downtown area, the hot springs began operation in July 1888.

Glenwood Springs
Glenwood Hot Springs, 1888, Courtesy Glenwood Historical Society, Carleton Hubbard Collection
The Hot Springs after expansion, 1892, Courtesy Glenwood Historical Society, Carleton Hubbard Collection

While Dennis announced in November 1902 that he and his wife were moving to California for his wife’s health, it seems that they relocated to Pueblo, Colorado, naming his business the Rembrandt Studio.  In December 1904, Dennis advertised the sale of his Pueblo studio due to his wife’s illness.  They removed to Long Beach, California where Mrs. Dennis passed away in August 1905.

Dennis returned to Glenwood Springs in 1906, becoming a cattle rancher.  He died on July 24, 1927, Glenwood Springs.  He was  buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Canon City, next to his wife.

Thank you to Carolyn Cipperly, Archivist, Glenwood Springs Historical Society, for research help and Beverly W. Brannan for proof reading this post.  Roger Genser confirmed the attribution of Dennis’ Canon city street scene.  The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research provided funds for the scans from the Glenwood Historical Society.