Robert Walter Speer (December 1, 1855 – May 14, 1918) was elected mayor of Denver, Colorado three times. He served two four-year terms in office from 1904 to 1912. He died from Influenza, early on in the worldwide epidemic of that year on May 14, 1918, while halfway through a third term in office that had started in 1916.[1]
Biography
Speer was born in Mount Union, Pennsylvania, on December 1, 1855. He married Kate Thrush, his childhood sweetheart, in 1882.[2]
As an adherent of the City Beautiful movement, Speer initiated several projects that added new landmarks, updated existing facilities, and signed Speer Amendment for non-political administration, and dropped his Democrat affiliation in 1916 When elected to third term; improved the city's landscape including:
- City Auditorium, site of the 1908 Democratic National Convention
- The Civic Center
- Denver Mountain Parks
- The Denver Zoo expansion from 1906 to 1918.
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- The paving and graveling of many of the city's remaining dirt streets
- An urban forestry program that eventually distributed 110,000 free shade trees to city residents[3][4]
Speer was the first mayor of Denver to die while serving in office. Speer Boulevard in Denver is named in his honor.[5] He is buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver.
References
- ^ "History of the Office". Denver Office of the Mayor. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ Johnson, Denver's Mayor Speer, pp. 5-6.
- ^ Forestry statistics are from Noel, Mile High City, p. 100.
- ^ Other items in the list of projects are from "Some Things Denver Owes to Speer," Rocky Mountain News, 15 May 1918, p. 3.
- ^ Goodstein, Denver Streets, p. 33.
Bibliography
- Goodstein, Phil (1995). Denver Streets: Names, Numbers, Locations, Logic (2nd Revised ed.). Denver, CO: New Social Publications. ISBN 0-9622169-3-3.
- Johnson, Charles A. (1969). Denver's Mayor Speer. Denver, CO: Green Mountain Press.
- Noel, Thomas Jacob (1997). Mile High City: An Illustrated History of Denver. Denver, CO: A. B. Hirschfeld Press. ISBN 1-886483-10-8.
- "Robert W. Speer, Mayor of Denver, Is Dead: Cathedral Bells Toll as Flags are Placed at Half Mast in Memory". Rocky Mountain News. 15 May 1918. pp. 1, 3.
- Eaton, Raymond A. (15 May 1918). "Speer was Man of Great Vision; Had Many Ideas for Better City". Rocky Mountain News. p. 3.
- "Speer Always Worked For a City Beautiful; Plans Had Just Begun". Rocky Mountain News. 15 May 1918. p. 3.
- "Some Things Denver Owes to Speer". Rocky Mountain News. 15 May 1918. p. 3.
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