Robert Ansel Pierce (1880-1948)
Prominent architects in Lafayette’s past
Public gatherings banned during Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918
The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 was swift and deadly, taking residents young and old. On October 11, Lafayette Mayor B.C. Cundall declared a moratorium on public gatherings and ordered the closing of fraternal lodges, schools, churches, pool halls and theaters. Children were required to stay home, but could travel with a permit issued by the city clerk.
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Correcting the Record: Lafayette founder’s wishes honored in street name — again
From the Colorado Hometown News, Feb. 7, 2015:
For nearly five months, the Gough Avenue sign in Lafayette resident Bob Jencks’ window contradicted the name of the street running next to his house.
Jencks propped the sign up as a sentimental decoration after it was removed from the corner across from his home in September.
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Local Myths: Was town founder Mary Miller a legendary pie baker?
In a 1912 interview with the Boulder County Miner newspaper, Mary Miller said that the circus from Cheyenne came through the pre-Lafayette area in 1869, when she and Lafayette Miller operated the Miller Tavern saloon and stage stop. This was located a mile south of today’s Lafayette where the current Rock Creek Open Space is located at U.S. 287 and Dillon Road. Mary said she and her brother, James B. Foote, “made hot biscuit, opened canned vegetables and gave them lots of milk and cream,” but did not mention pie-baking.
Mary’s grandson, Frank Miller, said in a 1968 presentation at a local school that “there were several experiences at the stage station and one in particular I should tell is when the circus came through from Cheyenne one time and camped there overnight. My grandmother had an orchard, and she baked 100 pies that day and got $1 a pie and sold them as soon as they were taken from the oven.”
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The 1927 Columbine Mine Massacre: Trouble in Serene
THEY’VE torn down Serene. During 1972 and 1973 the remaining buildings were systematically torn down for salvage. Serene joined the hundreds of other Colorado ghost towns that are only memories.
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