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 opened the Sunbeam Studio. In the early 1900s, he managed a theatrical company that performed at the Brighton Opera House. He also served as the coroner for Adams County.
W. R. Armington, photographer. [Fred Meek, Milt Hunter and boys Willie Hunter and Tom F. Vardie, camping near Estes Park], ca. 1899. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas.
Around 1908, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he painted scenery for more than a decade. in 1920, he relocated to Tacoma, Washington, where he continued his painting career. Armington passed away on January 25, 1936, at the age of 74 and is interred at Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood, Washington.
Thank you to Bill Armstrong, Museum Specialist at the Brighton City Museum for sharing his knowledge of Armstrong, Denise at the Adams County Historical Society for providing research assistance, and to a local family that gave me access to their Armstrong painting.
Today we have a guest post from Anders Hedman, an archivist and records manager at the Stockholm City and Municipal Archive.
Steele & Co., photographers. Portrait of John Wallin (b. 1858 in Sweden). Albumen cabinet card, 1886.
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 a variety of times. However, the author of this paper has come to the conclusion that the time of the studio’s operation was only less than one year – 1886. In this short essay, information from various sources put together tells the story of the rise and fall of a young photographer back in the 1880s.
The street number 448 Larimer Street is long gone, and so is the house which once housed the studio which is the focus of this paper. The district in which it was situated is still there though. The area around Larimer Square and Larimer Street today is classified as a historical area, and the street itself has gone from fancy boulevard to skid row – and then to the lively part of the town it is today. The Larimer area of today is known for its nice restaurants and for a pulsating nightlife.
Back in the 1880s the district was Denver’s main entertainment and shopping area. Thus, from a business perspective, if you got good and affordable localities there, it would be the perfect place for a photographic studio. That’s probably what the founder of Steele & Company had thought when he planned on opening up the studio there.
The first sign of Steele & Company’s activity was an advertisement in The Rocky Mountain News on January 20, 1886. There you could read the following: ”PORTRAITS – The cheapest ever offered. In India ink, water colors and crayon work a specialty; satisfaction guaranteed in all work; also tin-types and photos. Give us a call; 448 Larimer street”. The first ad is anonymous but it didn’t take long until the same ad started to appear with the signature Steele & Co.
In fact, photographic business was not new to the location. The same address housed Watson’s [photographic] Gallery in 1885. And before that Eastman’s [photographic] gallery from 1879 which took over from the Duhem brothers, who’d opened their photographic atelier as early as 1869.
But who was the photographer behind the brand Steele & Co? A look in the Denver city directory from 1886 gives it away. There we find ”Steele, William C., photographer” living with one H. W. Watson at ”r. 448 Larimer”. Watson was more than likely one of the owners of Watson & Conway Parlor at the same address, which if an ad in The Silver Standard were to be believed was ”the cosiest little parlor in the city.”
BEGINNING AND THE END
It appears that Steele’s investment had turned out good, because after a short time he was looking for an assistant. An ad was placed in The Rocky Mountain News in May 1886 which read: ”Wanted – a photograph operator and retoucher at 448 Larimer Street.”
However, the smooth start was marred by tragedy only a couple of months later, when the studio was struck by what The Rocky Mountain News called ”A Morning Blaze”. According to the article the fire department was called out when an alarm was turned in from The Alvord House, a hotel close to the gallery. The studio was already pretty much burned out when the firemen got at the flames and even though the flames soon were extinguished the losses were countless.
A man who was sleeping in the building barely managed to escape being burned to death. Steele survived but his loss was great, around $500. And he was not insured.
The article goes on to tell us that other businesses in the building at the time were the following: Mrs. Moore who ran a confectionery, and on the ground floor there was J.H. Mitchell’s saloon (having replaced Watson & Conway apparently).
Steele’s business had literally gone up in smoke. His finances were certainly in ruins and his home was gone. But Steele was as we shall see not a man that would give up easily. In the 1887 city directory of Denver we find him living at 510th street and 17th Avenue, employed by photographic firm Wells & King. In the following directories we find him still listed as photographer living at the same address, but no mention of Wells & King. Around the turn of the century the author loses trace of William C. Steele, photographer.
This article was a by-product of my research trying to date the photograph shown above with the Steele & Co. name. After having gathered some information I thought it might be a good idea to put what I found together for others to know that all photographs with the line ”Steele & Co. 448 Larimer St. Denver, Colo.” most certainly derive from the first half of 1886, and only that short period of time. And while I was at it, I thought it might be nice share some other information I found about the localities as well, as it might give the story some more life.
Thanks to Bethany Williams, Collections Access Coordinator at History Colorado for putting me in the right direction.
Online resources used: Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/ Ancestry.com for old city directories Library of Congress, loc.com, for scans of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Denver, Colorado 1887 Google Street View for a glimpse of what the district today, https://www.google.com/streetview/
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 Academy of Arts and Sciences and soon began assembling his own collection of minerals.
In the early 1880s, Hiestand settled in Manitou Springs, Colorado, a tourist town renowned for its healing mineral springs, particularly the Ute Iron Springs. Hiestand opened the Manitou Scientific Museum in the pavilion of the Ute Iron Springs to showcase his collection of rare minerals–one of the largest in the West. His museum, a 25 x 40-foot room, was elegantly furnished and lined with display cases for mineral specimens, jewelry, and curiosities. The space was adorned with pictures as well as taxidermied animals and birds. Hiestand hired four men to work at the museum. A complete range of cigars, candy, and lemonade made from the iron-rich water was available for sale.
William Henry Jackson, photographer. Ute Iron Springs Pavilion, circa 1890. Denver Public Library Special Collections, WHJ-888.Detail showing Hiestand’s photo gallery
In the spring of 1887, Hiestand leased the Ute Iron Springs, one of Manitou’s most popular tourist attractions. On March 28, 1889, Hiestand married Aline Zerelda Garrison Adams in Colorado Springs. In addition to running the springs as a concession, Hiestand opened a photographic gallery at the Iron Spring Pavilion in July 1890. He became one of the best-known businessmen in Manitou Springs by managing both companies. The gallery was under the day-to-day oversight of George E. Mellen, a photographer from Colorado Springs who was a former employee of William Henry Jackson, while photographer Lewis Imes oversaw portrait work.
Just inside the gallery, patrons entered a reception room filled with photographs from around the world.Off the reception room was the operating room with floors of oiled Georgia pine and a skylight with panes of ground glass that let in a soft, mellow light. The studio contained many backgrounds and screens for portrait work. Another room was devoted to making bromide enlargements and lantern slides.A short stairway led to the flat roof of the building where large-size work could be printed by the sun’s rays.Once developed, the prints were placed in a toning bath and then washed. A special set-up was devoted to panoramic work.
When the 8.9-mile Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway began transporting passengers up Pikes Peak via steam-powered locomotives, Hiestand became the line’s official photographer. He took group portraits of the passengers at the summit and then sped down the rails on a go-devil–a single-person vehicle that quickly descended the slope. There, he developed the negatives and printed the photographs to sell to the passengers as they disembarked from the train.
J. G. Hiestand, photographer. On Pikes Peak, alt. 14147 ft., Sept.1, 1892. Denver Public Library Special Collections, Z4962.J. G. Hiestand, photographer. Group portrait, including Mildred Mary Myers (1871-1943) top left, John S. Cravens (1871-1946) bottom left, and possibly Mr. and Mrs. S. Christy Church (top right), August 1890. Albumen silver print. Collection of the author.
Ute Iron Springs was a popular tourist destination attracting well-heeled visitors from across the United States. The families of Mildred Mary Myers and John S. Cravens came to Manitou Springs from Kansas City, Missouri in the summer of 1890, where their friendship blossomed. Miss Myers was the daughter of George S. Myers, a millionaire tobacconist. John Craven was a graduate of Yale University. They married on December 28, 1893, in Missouri.
Hiestand’s photographs were published in several souvenir booklets of Colorado Springs, and the Pikes Peak region. After nearly two decades of leasing the Ute Iron Springs, Hiestand purchased the property for $20,000. Based on his visit to the famous mineral baths in Saratoga, New York, he planned to invest $5,000 in improvements, including enlarging the pavilion and adding a hard-wood dancing floor.
In 1906, Hiestand was sued for $50,000 for breach of promise by Ida Clarke, a young woman who claimed she did not know Hiestand was married when she engaged in a romantic relationship with him. She attested that Hiestand promised to marry her. The sensational trial revealed that the young woman was under the age of consent when the couple took a prenuptial honeymoon. They had frequently registered at a Denver hotel as husband and wife. She lived at his home in Manitou for two years while Hiestand’s wife and three daughters were living in New York. The jury was unable to agree and was dismissed. Rather than go through another trial, the parties settled out of court. Miss Clarke’s settlement was disclosed as $16,000.
Hiestand died on January 1, 1916, when a gun he was cleaning discharged.The bullet passed through his right side and lodged in the wall behind him.Whether it was a suicide or an accident was never fully determined. He was buried at the Middletown Cemetery in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
Special thanks to Beverly W. Brannan, whose thoughtful feedback helped shape this piece. Dave Wendel, Digital Archives Specialist, at the Penrose Library — Regional History & Genealogy, Pikes Peak Library District provided valuable reference assistance.
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.
E. A. Yelton, photographer. No 861. “The Homeless,” Victor’s Big Fire, April 21, 1899, Denver Public Library Special Collections, x539.
On August 21, 1899, at 1:15 p.m., a fire devastated Victor’s business district, leaving hundreds of people homeless. The blaze ignited near Jenny Thompson’s dance hall. Strong winds fueled the fire, which lasted for five hours. Fire departments from surrounding communities came to help, but a lack of water in the reservoir hampered their efforts. Dynamite was used to create a fire break.
E. A Yelton, photographer. No. 875. Smoldering Ruins, Victor’s Big Fire, April 21, 1899. Denver Public Library Special Collections, x543.
Approximately 800 buildings, most of them wooden, were destroyed, including the Gold Coin mine shaft house, all the newspaper offices in the city, and two railway depots.
E. A. Yelton, photographer. No. 862″Victor on fire,” Train-load of Household Goods Saved by F. & C. C. Ry, April 21, 1899. Denver Public Library Special Collections, x-540.E. A. Yelton, photographer. Detail of household goods on train cars.
To save property, every available method of transportation, including boxcars on the Florence & Cripple Creek rail line, carriages, and express wagons, were loaded with goods and moved away from the blaze. Fortunately, the local banks stored all their money and valuables safely in vaults. Displaced people were invited to stay in the residential area, which was fairly unscathed. Less than six months later, the city was rebuilt more solidly with brick.
The photographer, Edgar A. Yelton, was born in Indiana on February 25, 1866, the first of six children of Oliver Perry (O. P.) Yelton and Anna Elizabeth Browning Yelton.O. P.was a prominent citizen of Laramie, Wyoming, where he served as a deputy United States marshal.The family moved to Missouri, Greeley, and then to Fort Collins, CO, before settling in Laramie.Edgar married Margaret “Maggie” Jane Bateman in Nebraska on January 1, 1890.
Edgar Yelton began his photographic career in Nebraska.In December 1894 he was operating in Sidney, NE.Yelton and his family moved briefly to Laramie before returning to Sidney.He rode his bicycle the approximately 150 miles between the two towns, while his wife and children took the train.He brought along his new photographic outfit.Opening in May 1895, he offered all kinds of photo work, including enlarging, copying, and transparencies.He copied old tintypes and photos, removing scratches.He also printed photos on handkerchiefs.
By 1896, Yelton was working in Cripple Creek as a photographer.He documented the town’s fire of April 29th of that year and in 1899, the fire in Victor, CO.Using flashlighting, Yelton photographed a cave on Cow Mountain.In 1897, he and Harry Dorr Webster ran a studio together as Webster and Yelton.
In 1900, Yelton opened a real estate and loan office in Cripple Creek.In 1903, he partnered with a photographer named M. A. Wisda, to document the National Guard’s presence in Cripple Creek after a miner’s strike.Yelton remained in the real estate business for the rest of his life, working in Grand Junction, CO; Santa Cruz, CA; Chester, PA; and Gloucester City, NJ. He died on October 6, 1946, in Chester, Pennsylvania, and is buried in the Chester Rural Cemetery.
Thank you to Kellen Cutsforth, Digital Image Collection Administrator for providing the scans. Research help was provided by Alex and Heather, Librarians at the Western History Department, Denver Public Library. Beverly Brannan proofread this post.
C. M. Marsh, photographer. The Brown Family, 1890s. City of Greeley Museums, Permanent Collection.
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.
1880 Federal Census, Greeley, CO
The 1880 federal census provides information about the family. Elvira Brown was a single mother, born around 1851 in Michigan. She worked as a laundress. Her eldest son, William, was born in the New Mexico Territory, and her three other children—Ernest, Bertha, and Belle— were born in Colorado. The children’s father was born in the Indian Territory. Brown lived with her widowed mother, Charity Davis, and a brother and sister. Elvira’s two eldest children, and her brother and sister, attended school.
In the 1885 Colorado census, the Brown family lived on Seventh Avenue in Greeley. All four children attended school. Elvira’s mother and siblings did not live with the family.
In 1900, Ernest Brown worked as a porter in Greeley. On August 3, 1907, Brown married Violet Wright in Las Animas, Colorado. He worked as a porter at a lodging house, where his wife was a chambermaid.
Bertha Brown married Benton Davis, a porter, on July 1, 1898, in Boulder, Colorado. By 1900, the couple lived in Leadville, Colorado, with their two-year-old daughter. Her sister Belle resided with them, working as a laundress at the Saddle Rock Restaurant. Elvira also lived in Leadville.
The family lived in Leadville through 1903, but I could not find any record of them after that date. If anyone has more information about the Brown family, please let me know.
Thank you to Miranda Todd at the Greeley Museum for providing the names of the Brown children.
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 Denver, where he was employed by the Smith-Brooks Printing Company.In 1894, he acquired land on Colorado’s Eastern plains and began taking landscape views.The following year he set up his photo tent in Akron, Colorado, south of the Republican newspaper office.His photo business kept him busy until his crops were ready to harvest.
Fred L. Knight, photographer. [Sod home at an unidentified location], 1890s, silver printing out print. History Colorado, 92.175.1.In the spring of 1898, Knight acquired a photograph car and planned a summer tour of the outlying countryside.Later that year, he purchased a camera for taking small stamp photographs, which could make 28 portraits on one sheet of film.In the spring of 1901, Knight closed his gallery for the season and traveled to nearby towns, entertaining people with the largest Edison phonograph in Eastern Colorado. Later he incorporated moving pictures into the programs. He continued his entertainment tour for several years. Knight worked as a photographer in Akron through 1909.
By 1920, Knight lived in Lakeport, California, where he worked as a newspaper printer. He died in 1942.
Thank you to Jori Johnson, Aaron Marcus, and Joy Saliu at History Colorado and Beverly Brannan for proofreading this post.
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.
Unknown maker. William “Moccasin Bill” Henry Perkins and his daughter standing in front of a photo tent in Wetmore, Custer County, Colorado, 1880. Denver Public Library, Western History, X-14093.
This studio has a fabric sign promoting the photographer’s work.
Unknown maker. View of two teams of mules and riders in front of a photo studio, Wetmore, Custer County, Colorado, 1885-1890, Denver Public Library, X-14101.
The above studio appears to the left of the white tent in the street scene below. As you can see in the detail, the cloth sign is the same in both photographs.
Wetmore, Colorado, 1880. Denver Public Library, X-14092.Detail of Wetmore street scene.
Two photographers worked in Wetmore in the mid-1880s. James C. Stoneman (b. 1858) arrived in Wetmore in 1884. Emmett Little (b.c. 1851-1907) was also in Wetmore in 1884.
Please let me know if you have information about who took these photographs.
Russell Bros., photographers. Thanksgiving display at Birks Cornforth Grocery Store, 17th and Lawrence St., circa 1886, History Colorado, 2000.129.1043.
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 Clara Howard Russell in New Jersey or New York. In 1870 the family moved to the Union Colony of Colorado (now Greeley), joining the experimental utopian farming community.
In 1882, Frederick, Warren, and Alonzo Russell worked as electroplaters and assayers in Denver. In the mid-1880s, Warren Russell earned a living as a photographer in Denver, partnering with his brother, Frederick, in 1886 as the Russell Bros.Warren spent the remainder of his career with Frank Reistle, at one of the first photoengraving businesses in Denver.On March 10, 1894, Warren died on the job when a fire broke out in Reistle’s establishment.
In the 1890s, F. C. Russell practiced carpentry, first in Denver and later in Greeley, a career he would follow for the remainder of his life.Frederick Russell died on September 30, 1924, and is buried in Greeley’s Linn Grove Cemetery.
Thank you to Jori Johnson and Aaron Marcus, History Colorado.
Smallwood & Ball were listed as photographers in the 1876 Denver City Directory. Although no views were published under their combined names, the same stereoviews were often published under both Smallwood’s and Ball’s names.
William John Smallwood was born in St. Joseph, Missouri to William Jackson Smallwood and Mary “Polly” Fox Smallwood.In 1850, his father traveled to the Lake Tahoe area of California in search of gold. He appeared in California’s 1852 census and supposedly died shortly thereafter.
William Smallwood grew up in Knox County, Missouri.In the 1870 census, he is listed as a photographic artist.By 1873, Smallwood had moved to Denver, Colorado, where he worked as a dyer.In 1876, he formed a partnership with photographer George Ball. He made photographs south and west of Denver.
William Smallwood, photographer. Balanced Rock, Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado, circa 1876. Albumen silver stereograph. History Colorado, accession number 84.192.690
A few years later, Smallwood returned to Knox County, Missouri.He married Anna Amanda Roberts on June 4, 1882.They spent their married life on a farm, raising six children to adulthood.William Smallwood died on January 7, 1912, and is buried in Knox County’s Baker Cemetery.
George E. Ball was born in Ross, Herefordshire, England, around 1848. He worked as a photographer in England before immigrating to the United States in November 1874, where he settled in the Denver area. He was the junior partner in the photographic firm of Smallwood & Ball. In 1876, he opened his own gallery in Golden, Colorado, specializing in stereoviews. He exhibited his views at Boulder’s Mineral and Agricultural Fair of 1877.
George Ball, photographer. Green Lake, Georgetown, Colorado, circa 1876. Albumen silver stereoview. History Colorado, accession number 84.192.8.
By 1878, he was a popular resident of Golden, operating a lunch stand at the railroad depot.He organized a shooting club in the city and served as its president.Ball spent four months on a survey party for the southern portion of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad.
On January 18, 1881, the desirable bachelor married Miss J. M. A. Pearlburg in Golden.In July 1882, he sold his lunch counter and moved to a ranch in Middle Park, Colorado with his wife.The couple often wintered in Golden. However, in the summer of 1886, George Ball’s life took an unexpected turn. Word from England revealed that while George had been living as a single man in the United States, he had a wife and three children in England.After George stopped writing home, his British wife assumed he had died in the United States. She took action to find him. In early 1886, an affidavit taken before a United States consul in Leeds, England, made by Elizabeth Ball, provided the details of their marriage.
The press reported that he could be arrested for bigamy or have a divorce brought against him by one or both of his wives. But, about two years later, George Ball surfaced in Alameda, California, as a photographer. He made portraits and a rare series of stereoviews with the mount “The New Series of Pacific Coast Views.”
In the fall of 1897, he left the Bay Area and headed to Sawyer’s Bay in Siskiyou County, California, where he had a placer claim. Further details about his life have not been uncovered.
Thank you to: W. G. Eloe; Krista N. Hanley; Jori Johnson and Aaron Marcus, History Colorado; and Beverly W. Brannan.
Fred Park Stevens was born on July 19, 1872, near Spinney, Park County, Colorado, to H. Hoyt Stevens and Adee Euphosene Fillebrown Steven.In 1876, the family moved to Colorado Springs.He attended the St. Louis Manual Training School at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating fourth in a class of sixty-one students. In 1892, he entered Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, majoring in mechanical engineering.To earn money for college, Fred made blueprints for students. In 1896, after graduation, he returned home to Colorado Springs and resided in the Alta Vista Hotel, managed by his father.
In 1897, Stevens took his photography skills to the next level by partnering with Wilbur E. McChristie, founder of the Nonpareil Portrait and Publishing Company, based in Ohio.McChristie, ill with tuberculosis, had relocated to Colorado Springs for his health.
Later that year, Stevens hiked up iconic Pike’s Peak (14,115 feet above sea level) and spent a week at the summit, waiting for the perfect moment to capture the sunrise in a photograph. His image from the mountaintop, an exposure of a fiftieth of a second, received immense praise and gained widespread attention. Harper’s Weekly published the picture in its December 11, 1897, issue.
F. P. Stevens, photographer. Sunrise From Pike’s Peak, 1897, hand-colored photograph. Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602
This accomplishment was followed by a companion photograph, “Sunset behind Pike’s Peak.”In less than four years, more than 60,000 copies of these two photographs have been sold, wholesale and retail, either as black and white prints or hand-colored with watercolors.
F. P. Stevens, photographer. Sunset Behind Pike’s Peak, hand-colored photograph. Courtesy, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602.
Having bought out his partner in the spring of 1898, Stevens moved into a new ground-floor studio, calling his business Stevens Fotograferie. The operator hired to oversee portraiture had previously worked at Napoleon Sarony’s prestigious gallery. Stevens’ firm specialized in Colorado views, interiors, and portraits of animals, hand-colored or black and white.They produced lantern slides, provided photocopying and enlarging services, and developed and printed photographs by amateurs.
In 1899, the Lackawana Railroad Company commissioned Stevens to photograph their route. In February 1900, he made views of Pueblo, Colorado, including a group portrait by flashlight of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen ball at the Colorado Mineral Palace.
Stevens Views. The Man that Made Colorado Famous. Booklet by Foltz & Hardy, circa 1900. Collection of the author.
In August 1900, Foltz and Hardy, Colorado Springs’ new book and stationery store, became the general agents for Steven’s sunrise and sunset photographs, selling them at 50 cents a pair.The contract called for the delivery of photographs amounting to $4,500 retail, at the rate of 5,000 photos per week if required.This large number of prints could only be offered because Stevens had invented an automatic, electric printing machine capable of printing 900 prints an hour.
In 1902, Stevens’ photographs were featured in Denver theComing City: A Collection of Forty Instantaneous Photographs of Life in Denver, published by F. S. Thayer in a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies.Later that year his work was included in a souvenir viewbook of Colorado Springs published by Critic Publishing.The booklet of twenty-four photographs included “Pike’s Peak at Sunset,” the first time this popular photograph appeared in a book.
Under advice from his physician, Stevens decided to move to a lower elevation.Stevens sold his photographic business to L. A. Hatch of Orange, New York, in December 1902.He also sold all rights to his famous Sunset and Sunrise views to the Foltz and Hardy bookstore. Stevens had married Elsie Slayback on June 19, 1901. When they left Denver in the next year, they planned to visit tourist attractions in the Eastern states before resuming his photographic business, perhaps in California.
In December 1902, Stevens began work for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, to be held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904.The Fair planned to issue photographic admission passes.To efficiently accomplish this, Stevens invented an automatic electric printing machine capable of printing 600 prints an hour. He received a patent for his invention.An average of 1,200 people were photographed daily, setting a world record. The entire process including taking the picture, developing and pasting it into the passport took approximately an hour.
In 1905, Stevens brought his printing technology to the Lewis & Clark Exposition held in Portland, Oregon.In December 1908, Stevens was appointed the official photographer of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle the following year.
Stevens moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1913 where he managed the commercial photography firm, Canadian Photo Company.
Stevens died on December 1, 1915, at the age of forty-three, in Vancouver, leaving his wife a widow.Stevens was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.
Thank you to Beverly W. Brannan for proofreading this post. Brigham Young University kindly provided scans of Stevens’ sunset and sunrise photographs.
