John C Horst - How It Pays To Live A Godly Life

"It is my hope that my life might have meant something to someone," is one of the closing statements in eighty-two-year-old John C. Horst's autobiography, "Real Life. Read about the Horsts. How It Pays To Live A Godly Life."
Born in Norka, Russia, in 1890, Horst begins his story with reminiscences of his early life in the village, one of the largest colonies in the Volga region with a population of about 3000. Horst remembered a "wonderful place" with many small businesses, a flour mill, blacksmith shop, tannery and three churches. "Everybody had to go to church." Those who missed services three weekends in a row would have to appear in front of the mayor with an explanation. Many young men might have chaffed at this expectation, but Horst seems to have embraced it.
Although the family enjoyed their life in Russia, there was increasing pressure from the Russian government to assimilate with the biggest fear being the threat of conscription, and a six-year term in the Russian army. When the family received glowing letters of life in Colorado from an uncle they took the opportunity to emigrate, arriving in Denver in June, 1902.
Young Horst became active in the First German Congregational Church, leading Sunday School classes, a community band and singing in the choir. While singing in the choir, Horst noticed the red-headed Katie Schlitt and they were married in 1916. Both were only 18.
With Horst working for the Burlington Railroad and Katie taking care of the couple's six children, life was good for the family. But when the Great Depression began in 1929, the Burlington cut Horst's hours to two days a week and all members of the family took on whatever odd jobs they could find. In 1931, even though his own family was struggling, Horst served on a relief committee in Denver, an experience that affected him profoundly.
Horst and a Mr. Green found an old couple living in a tin shack between the Burlington tracks and the Platte River, cold, wet and hungry. The men rushed to their own homes and brought back food, fuel and coats to the elderly couple and Horst made a promise that night that he would labor nearly 30 years to fulfill. "God, if you ever give me a few dollars, I will try to do something for the aged."
The economy gradually improved and, in 1934, the Horst family built a machine shop, Farmers Tool & Supply Corporation; in 1937, the family also acquired farmland from a bank auction. As the United States prepared for war, Farmers Tool & Supply began handling government contracts, which provided steady earnings and reason to expand.
In 1941, Horst began the fulfillment of his promise to provide for the elderly, incorporating his farm as Sunny Acres Villa and gradually building a few cottages. Horst approach church members and fellow business owners for financing his vision, but found very little support, until a Dr. Kenneth P. Berg  from Lee's Summit, Missouri, provided the necessary financial and organizational support.
Today, the Villas at Sunny Acres is one of four Christian living facilities in the metropolitan area and a testament to the faith and perseverance of John C. Horst and his commitment to leading a Godly life.

 

First German Congregational Church Community Band, with John Horst kneeling left.

Photo used with written permission from Heritage Community Bible Church

 

The board of the Villas at Sunny Acres, John C. Horst third from right, seated.

Photo used with written permission from Janet Wagner

Swedes in Globeville

Most Swedes immigrating to America arrived in the period after the Civil War and settled in the Great Lakes states and the northern Great Plains particularly in Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Unlike the eastern European newcomers, Swedes were not fleeing religious persecution but were attracted by the farmland available under the Homestead Act of 1862. Swedes were also lured to the west by the Colorado gold rush, and found jobs in mines and smelters in Black Hawk, Central City, Pueblo, Leadville, Cripple Creek, Aspen and Ouray.
When Colorado's first successful smelter, the Boston and Colorado, built a plant north of Denver in 1878, the company employed Scots, Welsh, Germans, Irish, English and a large number of Swedes. In the company town of Argo, Inca Street was referred to as Smaland Avenue because so many residents came from that region of Sweden. Swedes also found jobs in the Omaha and Grant, and Globe Smelters, railroads, brickyards, foundries and meat packing plants in Globeville.
Swedes formed numerous self-help societies like the Skandia Benevolent Order in 1876, as well as social groups like the Republican Club, the Swedish-American Silver Club, a Scandinavian-gymnastic club, music society, theatrical troupe, hospital organization, publishing company, and Swedish versions of the Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and American Foresters. There were seven Swedish-language newspapers in Colorado between 1882 and 1944 with Svenska Korrespondenten (published from 1889 to 1901) being the most widely read with branch offices in Pueblo, Leadville and Cripple Creek.
The Swedish Lutheran or the Union Swedish Church in nearby Argo provided a spiritual home within walking distance of Globeville; the Bethany Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church (at 32nd and Gilpin Street), the First Swedish Methodist Episcopal (in 1890, located at 1924 Pennsylvania), or Swedish Lutheran Church at 23rd and Court Place also held services for Swedes.
Although Swedes were never numerous enough to have a church or lodge building in Globeville, their culture added a distinctive flavor to the neighborhood.

Bethany Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church at 32nd and Gilpin Street

Swedish Lutheran Confirmation Class about 1914 

Swedish workers from the brickyards