Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone (September 21, 1801 - December 4, 1895) was an American pioneer woman who was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
in 1988. Born in Connecticut and raised in New York, Elizabeth Hickok was married and widowed twice and had 8 children from her first marriage to Dr. Ezekiel Robbins. Most of her adulthood was spent as a pioneer, building homes and businesses with her husbands in Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota and Colorado. Both of her husbands participated in developing statehoods: Ezekiel Robbins in Illinois and Lewis Stone in Minnesota.
At about 62 years of age Elizabeth Robbins Stone and her second husband, Lewis Stone, took their wagon from Minnesota
to Denver, Colorado where they operated a hotel for a few years. They then went north to Camp Collins
, Colorado and built a house to provide the army officers' mess.
After her second husband, Lewis Stone, died, Elizabeth Stone ran the first hotel in the Fort Collins area, serving Overland Trail
travelers. Stone financed and initiated businesses to support the growth in and around the Fort Collins, Colorado
area. With her partner, Henry Clay Peterson, she had the first mill in Larimer County, Colorado
and the second mill in Colorado. The settlement's first school was started in her home by her niece, Elizabeth Keays. After the "Great Fire of Denver" in 1863, she financed the building of the first brick kiln in the region. She owned and operated several hotels.
on September 21, 1801 to David and Adah Hickok. The Hickok family moved to Watertown, New York in 1805. In the early 19th century education for girls was not generally considered important, the rationale was that as women they would be primarily responsible for household duties and raising children which would not require them to be literate. Unlike many girls at that time, Hickok learned to read and write.
was established in Watertown. Some parisioners of local churches wished to be dismissed from their church to enable them to join the Universalist church. Of Ezekiel, Pitt Morse, the first Universalist minister in the Watertown area, noted:
In June 1824 Robbins received a letter of fellowship to the Universalist church.
Elizabeth and Ezekiel had 2 children by 1828, one of whom was Washington I. Robbins, when they moved by wagon to the booming town of St. Louis, Missouri
. St. Louis, a departure point for the western frontier, was known as the "Gateway to the West". Dr. Robbins established a medical practice and Elizabeth cared for the family, which grew to include 8 children. Robert and Lucy Robbins, Ezekiel's parents, also moved to St. Louis; Robert died there in 1831 and Lucy in 1858.
Between 1838 and 1840 the Robbins family moved to Chester, Illinois
where Dr. Robbins established several public schools. Dr. Robbins represented Randolph county, Illinois from 1844 to 1846 at the Fourteenth General Assemblies and 1847 to 1848 at the Illinois constitution
convention in Springfield, Illinois
.
Their children included Washington, Lucy, Theodoria, Ellen, Walter, Dewitt, James and another child whose name is unknown. In 1850, living at home with Elizabeth and Ezekiel, were daughter Ellen and three sons: Walter, Dewitt and James, ranging from 18 to 11 years of age.
Ezekiel Robbins died on July 25, 1852 of cholera
during the epidemic raging in the midwestern United States from 1849 to 1855. At this time there were no standard practices for prevention of infectious disease, such as specialized medical training, prevention, sanitation engineering, or isolation of ill patients. In its early history, Illinois had a high incidence of infectious diseases.
Elizabeth Robbins, who still had three sons to raise, moved back to New York
for a period of time.
In 1857 Elizabeth Hickok Robbins moved to the Minnesota
prairie
and married widower Lewis Stone who immigrated from New Brunswick, Canada to Maine and then St. Anthony, Minnesota by 1850 with his previous wife, also named Elizabeth (born 1797 in Maine), and their children Jacob, Leonard, Joshua, Ezekiel, Rhodence, Lewis and Wallace.
Living with Elizabeth Robbins Stone and Lewis Stone in 1857 were Lewis' sons Ezekiel (22) and Wallace (15). In 1853 Lewis Stone and his brother George helped found the settlement of Langola, also called "Platte River", where they owned and operated the Stone Hotel and dining room. In 1856 Stone was a representative for Benton County
in the Minnesota territorial
legislature. He was sometimes called "Judge" Lewis Stone, having served as a judge of elections in Stearns County, Minnesota
in the 1858 statehood election.
According to letters written by James Fergus to his wife back in Minnesota, Lewis Stone traveled to Colorado
in the spring of 1860 and panned for gold in "Gregory Diggings" [now Central City, Colorado
]. Elizabeth Stone remained at their home on the Platte river in Langola, Minnesota, sharing responsibility for running the Stone Hotel with Lewis' brother George and sister-in-law Mahalia Stone. Living with Elizabeth were step-son Ezekiel Stone and his childen. Traveling by covered wagon
, the Stones made their way across Nebraska
and down the South Platte River
to Denver in 1862 where they purchased 12 lots. On the property was a restaurant and/or a "hotel" on land that is now part of Denver's Union Station.
Leaving the Denver property in the hands of Lewis Stone's son, the Stones moved in September, 1864 to an army post, Camp Collins
, north of Denver to manage the officer's mess. The post was built to guard the overland mail route
and to protect settlers from unfriendly Native American tribes
. The post consisted of tents and a few cabins along the Cache la Poudre River
. In 1890 the Rocky Mountain News
described the camp as "nothing more than a parade ground and flagpole with three log huts on one side for officer's quarters, and on the east and west... log barracks for the men." The Stones were given permission to build a two-story house to serve as the mess quarters and their home; Within one month they were ready to use the building as a mess hall and take in officers as boarders. For the first year, Stone was the only woman in town. Described as a "merry" woman and gracious hostess, the men at Camp Collins nicknamed her "Auntie" Stone. Her husband, Lewis Stone, died in January, 1866 and was buried in the post's cemetery.
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A widow again about 64 years of age, Elizabeth played a part in Fort Collin's
history in several ways. She was the first Euro American woman settler who created a sense of community for the soldiers at Camp Collins
and the only woman founder of the town of Fort Collins. She also created and ran several businesses.
with her son, Wilbur and moved in with her. Keays described the two-story cabin as a "very comfortable home for this country with three large rooms below and chambers for sleeping rooms." She and her young son shared a spare room with its "ingrain carpet, nice bed, window with a nice sunset view."
Beginning in June of 1866, Keays opened the settlement's first school in her aunt's home with 14 students soon after she arrived from Illinois. In September, after a school board was formed, she was employed as the sole teacher in the first public school in Fort Collins. Abandoned officers' quarters were used as a schoolhouse. Elizabeth Keays married Harris Stratton on December 30, 1866, the first wedding ceremony in Fort Collins, and remained in the Old Fort Site in the late 1860s.
Cottage House
Blake House Hotel
. It was built at the Old Fort site on the south side of the river with a 1½ mile long millrace to supply water power. "Linden Mill" began production of flour in 1869 and its third floor was used for Masonic Lodge meetings beginning in 1870. At the end of 1873 both Peterson and Stone had sold their interests in the mill.
The first mill in Colorado was operated by Andrew Douty near Boulder
, southwest of Fort Collins
; In 1867 he moved the mill to Old St. Louis, a previous settlement near Loveland
.
She contributed to all every church in town and towards the creation of the Colorado Agriculture College, now the Colorado State University
. She was a founding member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
. In 1879 she held a "good" dinner for men who met their promise not to enter a saloon for two months and in 1881 helped form the Temperance Union and was elected treasurer.
In 1885, when Stone was about 84 years of age, the Fort Collins Courier reported described her, "She walks erect, reads a great deal, and talks sensibly. She curls her hair, wears her watch and chain, and dresses up for the afternoons as if she were yet a belle. In fact, she is a belle." An advocate for women's right to vote, she cast's her first vote at age 93, one year after Colorado women were granted the right to vote.
In 1894 the Fort Collins Express identified six living children: Mr. W.I. Robins, Mr. Dewitt C. Robbins, Mr. James M. Robbins, Mrs. Lucy Fallis, Mrs. Theodoria Van Brunt and Mrs. Ellen Ray.
Stone died on December 4, 1895. Her funeral was officiated by ministers of Presbyterian
, Methodist
, Episcopalian
and Baptist churches. In her honor, all of the town's businesses were closed for two hours. As she was interred the firehouse bell range 94 times, once for each year of her life. Stone is buried at the Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins, her grave has a granite marker. When the cemetery was created in 1873 six graves from Camp Collins
post cemetery were moved to the Grandview Cemetery, one of which may have been her husband Lewis Stone who was buried at the camp.
The only remaining building associated with Camp Collins is "Auntie" Stone's cabin, now located at the Heritage Center at the Fort Collins Museum
in downtown Fort Collins. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
in 1988. In 1991 "Auntie Stone Street" in southwest Fort Collins was named in her honor, "the founding mother" of Fort Collins.
Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to history of the U.S. state of Colorado.-History:...
in 1988. Born in Connecticut and raised in New York, Elizabeth Hickok was married and widowed twice and had 8 children from her first marriage to Dr. Ezekiel Robbins. Most of her adulthood was spent as a pioneer, building homes and businesses with her husbands in Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota and Colorado. Both of her husbands participated in developing statehoods: Ezekiel Robbins in Illinois and Lewis Stone in Minnesota.
At about 62 years of age Elizabeth Robbins Stone and her second husband, Lewis Stone, took their wagon from Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to Denver, Colorado where they operated a hotel for a few years. They then went north to Camp Collins
Camp Collins
Camp Collins was a 19th century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory. The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War...
, Colorado and built a house to provide the army officers' mess.
After her second husband, Lewis Stone, died, Elizabeth Stone ran the first hotel in the Fort Collins area, serving Overland Trail
Overland Trail
The Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California and Mormon...
travelers. Stone financed and initiated businesses to support the growth in and around the Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...
area. With her partner, Henry Clay Peterson, she had the first mill in Larimer County, Colorado
Larimer County, Colorado
Larimer County is the seventh most populous and the ninth most extensive of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is located at the northern end of the Front Range, at the edge of the Colorado Eastern Plains along the border with Wyoming...
and the second mill in Colorado. The settlement's first school was started in her home by her niece, Elizabeth Keays. After the "Great Fire of Denver" in 1863, she financed the building of the first brick kiln in the region. She owned and operated several hotels.
Early life
Elizabeth Hickok was born in Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
on September 21, 1801 to David and Adah Hickok. The Hickok family moved to Watertown, New York in 1805. In the early 19th century education for girls was not generally considered important, the rationale was that as women they would be primarily responsible for household duties and raising children which would not require them to be literate. Unlike many girls at that time, Hickok learned to read and write.
Dr. Ezekiel W. Robbins
Elizabeth Hickok married her first husband, Dr. Ezekiel W. Robbins, on February 22, 1824 in Watertown, New York, born to Robert Robbins and Lucy Wright on August 20, 1802 in Verona, New York. During the early 1820s the Universalist SocietyUniversalism
Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...
was established in Watertown. Some parisioners of local churches wished to be dismissed from their church to enable them to join the Universalist church. Of Ezekiel, Pitt Morse, the first Universalist minister in the Watertown area, noted:
In June 1824 Robbins received a letter of fellowship to the Universalist church.
Elizabeth and Ezekiel had 2 children by 1828, one of whom was Washington I. Robbins, when they moved by wagon to the booming town of St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. St. Louis, a departure point for the western frontier, was known as the "Gateway to the West". Dr. Robbins established a medical practice and Elizabeth cared for the family, which grew to include 8 children. Robert and Lucy Robbins, Ezekiel's parents, also moved to St. Louis; Robert died there in 1831 and Lucy in 1858.
Between 1838 and 1840 the Robbins family moved to Chester, Illinois
Chester, Illinois
Chester is a city located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,400 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Randolph County and is located south of St. Louis, Missouri.-History:...
where Dr. Robbins established several public schools. Dr. Robbins represented Randolph county, Illinois from 1844 to 1846 at the Fourteenth General Assemblies and 1847 to 1848 at the Illinois constitution
Illinois Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions; the fourth and current version was adopted in 1970.-History:...
convention in Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
.
Their children included Washington, Lucy, Theodoria, Ellen, Walter, Dewitt, James and another child whose name is unknown. In 1850, living at home with Elizabeth and Ezekiel, were daughter Ellen and three sons: Walter, Dewitt and James, ranging from 18 to 11 years of age.
Ezekiel Robbins died on July 25, 1852 of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
during the epidemic raging in the midwestern United States from 1849 to 1855. At this time there were no standard practices for prevention of infectious disease, such as specialized medical training, prevention, sanitation engineering, or isolation of ill patients. In its early history, Illinois had a high incidence of infectious diseases.
Elizabeth Robbins, who still had three sons to raise, moved back to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for a period of time.
Lewis Stone
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
and married widower Lewis Stone who immigrated from New Brunswick, Canada to Maine and then St. Anthony, Minnesota by 1850 with his previous wife, also named Elizabeth (born 1797 in Maine), and their children Jacob, Leonard, Joshua, Ezekiel, Rhodence, Lewis and Wallace.
Living with Elizabeth Robbins Stone and Lewis Stone in 1857 were Lewis' sons Ezekiel (22) and Wallace (15). In 1853 Lewis Stone and his brother George helped found the settlement of Langola, also called "Platte River", where they owned and operated the Stone Hotel and dining room. In 1856 Stone was a representative for Benton County
Benton County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 34,226 people, 13,065 households, and 8,518 families residing in the county. The population density was 84 people per square mile . There were 13,460 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
in the Minnesota territorial
Minnesota Territory
The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Minnesota.-History:...
legislature. He was sometimes called "Judge" Lewis Stone, having served as a judge of elections in Stearns County, Minnesota
Stearns County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 133,166 people, 47,604 households, and 32,132 families residing in the county. The population density was 99 people per square mile . There were 50,291 housing units at an average density of 37 per square mile...
in the 1858 statehood election.
According to letters written by James Fergus to his wife back in Minnesota, Lewis Stone traveled to Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in the spring of 1860 and panned for gold in "Gregory Diggings" [now Central City, Colorado
Central City, Colorado
Central City is a home rule municipality in Clear Creek and Gilpin counties in the U.S. state of Colorado, and the county seat of Gilpin County. The city population was 515 in the 2000 United States Census...
]. Elizabeth Stone remained at their home on the Platte river in Langola, Minnesota, sharing responsibility for running the Stone Hotel with Lewis' brother George and sister-in-law Mahalia Stone. Living with Elizabeth were step-son Ezekiel Stone and his childen. Traveling by covered wagon
Covered wagon
The covered wagon, also known as a Prairie schooner, is an icon of the American Old West.Although covered wagons were commonly used for shorter moves within the United States, in the mid-nineteenth century thousands of Americans took them across the Great Plains to Oregon and California...
, the Stones made their way across Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
and down the South Platte River
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
to Denver in 1862 where they purchased 12 lots. On the property was a restaurant and/or a "hotel" on land that is now part of Denver's Union Station.
Leaving the Denver property in the hands of Lewis Stone's son, the Stones moved in September, 1864 to an army post, Camp Collins
Camp Collins
Camp Collins was a 19th century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory. The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War...
, north of Denver to manage the officer's mess. The post was built to guard the overland mail route
Overland Trail
The Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California and Mormon...
and to protect settlers from unfriendly Native American tribes
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. The post consisted of tents and a few cabins along the Cache la Poudre River
Cache La Poudre River
The Cache la Poudre River is in the state of Colorado in the United States.Its headwaters are in the Front Range in Larimer County, in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park. The river descends eastward in the mountains through the Roosevelt National Forest in Poudre Canyon...
. In 1890 the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
described the camp as "nothing more than a parade ground and flagpole with three log huts on one side for officer's quarters, and on the east and west... log barracks for the men." The Stones were given permission to build a two-story house to serve as the mess quarters and their home; Within one month they were ready to use the building as a mess hall and take in officers as boarders. For the first year, Stone was the only woman in town. Described as a "merry" woman and gracious hostess, the men at Camp Collins nicknamed her "Auntie" Stone. Her husband, Lewis Stone, died in January, 1866 and was buried in the post's cemetery.
Role in Fort Collins development
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...
history in several ways. She was the first Euro American woman settler who created a sense of community for the soldiers at Camp Collins
Camp Collins
Camp Collins was a 19th century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory. The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War...
and the only woman founder of the town of Fort Collins. She also created and ran several businesses.
School
Shortly after Lewis Stone died Stone heard from her niece that she was recently widowed. At Stone's encouragement, Elizabeth Keays came to ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
with her son, Wilbur and moved in with her. Keays described the two-story cabin as a "very comfortable home for this country with three large rooms below and chambers for sleeping rooms." She and her young son shared a spare room with its "ingrain carpet, nice bed, window with a nice sunset view."
Beginning in June of 1866, Keays opened the settlement's first school in her aunt's home with 14 students soon after she arrived from Illinois. In September, after a school board was formed, she was employed as the sole teacher in the first public school in Fort Collins. Abandoned officers' quarters were used as a schoolhouse. Elizabeth Keays married Harris Stratton on December 30, 1866, the first wedding ceremony in Fort Collins, and remained in the Old Fort Site in the late 1860s.
Hotels
Pioneer Hotel- The army decommissioned Camp CollinsCamp CollinsCamp Collins was a 19th century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory. The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War...
in March 1867, so the house built as an officer's mess was turned into the first hotel in Fort Collins, ColoradoFort Collins, ColoradoFort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...
by Stone, which housed and fed Overland TrailOverland TrailThe Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California and Mormon...
travelers. She also sold pies, bread, milk and butter to the soldiers.
- After their marriage, the Strattons lived at Stone's house and took in boarders for the railroad. Stone lived at the newly built mill and took in boarders there who installed the mill machinery. The same year she obtained a land patent for 160 acres, becoming the first woman landowner and taxpayer in Larimer County.
- Located in the 300 block of Jefferson Street, the two-story hotel was called "Pioneer Cabin", and used by the Pioneer organizations for meetings and dances. Stone sold the house to Marcus Coon in 1873 who moved it where it became kitchen and laundry facilities for the Agricultural Hotel. Later is was sold to Mr. and Mrs. James F. Vandewark who covered in siding, painted it white and made it their home.
Cottage House
- From bricks made at her brick making business, Stone built Cottage House, and ran a hotel out if it until 1881 when her daughter, Theodosia Van Brunt arrives from Illinois to take over its operation.
- It was a large house with two porches on Jefferson Street. It was ran by John Tingle, then Frank Campbell and his sister, Elizabeth Rich who made improvements to the building. It was a popular place to stay for students who attended Agricultural College of Colorado, later Colorado State UniversityColorado State UniversityColorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
, while they found a residence for the school year.
Blake House Hotel
- In 1873 she bought the Blake House Hotel. The same year she advertised her "National Hotel" in the "Handbook for Colorado" publication. In 1878 she renamed it "Metropolitan Hotel" and the following year it was taken over by B.S. Tedmon.
- The Blake House, located in the 200 block of Jefferson Street, was built by George G. Blake in 1870. It was a large frame building with two traditional front porches. In 1871 Harry Conly was the proprietor. The Blake House was one of the hotels which was torn down to make way for the Union Pacific RailroadUnion Pacific RailroadThe Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
.
Grist Mill
In 1867 Stone developed a partnership with Henry Clay Peterson, the town's gunsmith; She provided the financing and initial ideas and Peterson oversaw the execution of the projects. The first was creation of a three-story grist mill, the town's tallest building, to meet the needs of the new wheat farms in the region. It was first flour mill built in Larimer County, second in the state of Colorado, and powered by the water of the Cache la Poudre RiverCache La Poudre River
The Cache la Poudre River is in the state of Colorado in the United States.Its headwaters are in the Front Range in Larimer County, in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park. The river descends eastward in the mountains through the Roosevelt National Forest in Poudre Canyon...
. It was built at the Old Fort site on the south side of the river with a 1½ mile long millrace to supply water power. "Linden Mill" began production of flour in 1869 and its third floor was used for Masonic Lodge meetings beginning in 1870. At the end of 1873 both Peterson and Stone had sold their interests in the mill.
The first mill in Colorado was operated by Andrew Douty near Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
, southwest of Fort Collins
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...
; In 1867 he moved the mill to Old St. Louis, a previous settlement near Loveland
Loveland, Colorado
Loveland is a Home Rule Municipality that is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Loveland is the 14th most populous city in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau that in 2010 the...
.
Brick making
Seven years after the "Great Fire of Denver of 1863" that demolished many of Denver's downtown buildings, Stone realized that Fort Collins buildings were all wooden frame structures and built a brick kiln and founded a brick making business so that more formidable, permanent structures could be built. She and her partners operated the region's first brick kiln at the site of the Old Fort in 1870.Community and civic activities
Assisting in the delivery of Fort Collin's first baby, Agnes Mason, Stone was also the town's first mid-wife.She contributed to all every church in town and towards the creation of the Colorado Agriculture College, now the Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
. She was a founding member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." Originally organized on December 23, 1873, in...
. In 1879 she held a "good" dinner for men who met their promise not to enter a saloon for two months and in 1881 helped form the Temperance Union and was elected treasurer.
Later years
On her 81st birthday, four generations of her family attend a party held in her honor where she danced until 5 a.m. and then went home to make breakfast for everyone; She danced until she was 86 years of age.In 1885, when Stone was about 84 years of age, the Fort Collins Courier reported described her, "She walks erect, reads a great deal, and talks sensibly. She curls her hair, wears her watch and chain, and dresses up for the afternoons as if she were yet a belle. In fact, she is a belle." An advocate for women's right to vote, she cast's her first vote at age 93, one year after Colorado women were granted the right to vote.
In 1894 the Fort Collins Express identified six living children: Mr. W.I. Robins, Mr. Dewitt C. Robbins, Mr. James M. Robbins, Mrs. Lucy Fallis, Mrs. Theodoria Van Brunt and Mrs. Ellen Ray.
Stone died on December 4, 1895. Her funeral was officiated by ministers of Presbyterian
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
, Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
and Baptist churches. In her honor, all of the town's businesses were closed for two hours. As she was interred the firehouse bell range 94 times, once for each year of her life. Stone is buried at the Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins, her grave has a granite marker. When the cemetery was created in 1873 six graves from Camp Collins
Camp Collins
Camp Collins was a 19th century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory. The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War...
post cemetery were moved to the Grandview Cemetery, one of which may have been her husband Lewis Stone who was buried at the camp.
The only remaining building associated with Camp Collins is "Auntie" Stone's cabin, now located at the Heritage Center at the Fort Collins Museum
Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center
The Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center is a partnership of two educational institutions that merged in 2008 to create a combined science and cultural resource for Fort Collins and northern Colorado.-Fort Collins Museum:...
in downtown Fort Collins. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to history of the U.S. state of Colorado.-History:...
in 1988. In 1991 "Auntie Stone Street" in southwest Fort Collins was named in her honor, "the founding mother" of Fort Collins.
See also
- Clara BrownClara BrownClara Brown was a former slave from Virginia who became a community leader, philanthropist and aided settlement of former slaves during the time of Colorado's Gold Rush....
, another Colorado pioneer woman inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of FameColorado Women's Hall of FameThe Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to history of the U.S. state of Colorado.-History:...