Robbery of the Vogel Mercantile

The headline from the April 2nd, 1920 edition of the Denver Post screamed "Clever Yeggs Crack Safe, Make Big Globeville Haul." A subhead continues, "Store Robbed of $1,000 and Merchandise."

"Blowing the safe with nitroglycerin, yeggmen obtained $1,000 in currency from the Vogel Mercantile store, 201 East Forty-fifth Avenue in Globeville, on Thursday night. They proceeded to carry away shoes, overalls and other merchandise valued at between $500 and $1,000. Also included in the loot were a Liberty bond valued at $50 and silver in the amount of $40 or $50.

The cleverness displayed by the robbers, who made a getaway without being observed or leaving any clew, leaves the police to believe the men were expert safe-crackers. Just enough nitroglycerin was used to blow the safe and still not make a report loud enough to be heard by persons near." 

The crime occurred late on a Thursday night without waking any of the neighbors, even though the safe was blown apart and the front window demolished. Men heading to work at the nearby stockyards on Friday morning alerted one of the proprietors, Henry Vogel, who began tallying up the losses.

Vogel concluded. "The robbers must have been familiar with our business and knew we cashed many checks from the stockyards on payday, which was yesterday. I am thankful that I took a bunch of endorsed checks home with me, or the loot would have been much larger." Patrolmen Anderson and Thomas from the stockyards station pronounced the job as one of the cleverest they had ever seen. 

 

Globeville was like a small town and a robbery like this was big news. In this immigrant neighborhood, people didn't trust banks, choosing to use taverns, grocers or ethnic fraternals for their financial services. Owners of taverns, and mercantile stores and officers of fraternal societies were a part of the community, who knew their neighbors and attended the same churches.They allowed residents to carry a tab and settle up at the end of the month (many workers were paid monthly). Likewise citizens could rely on these institutions to keep their money for them, cash checks, and grant loans. The mercantile would have lots of cash on hand, making it a tempting target for thieves.

According to grandson James Vogel, his grandfather Henry J. Vogel, bought the mercantile from the Globe Smelter in 1919. After the robbery and due to the health of his wife, the Vogels moved to Longmont later that year. Today the building is used as a residence.

Photo of the smelter store about 1913

Habitat for Humanity

It's not often that Globeville is in the spotlight, but the neighborhood was featured prominently on local TV stations, the Denver Post, and social media each day from October 6 -11. The excitement was in response to the building of 11 townhomes and the refurbishing of 15 older homes in Globeville through Habitat for Humanity. Politicians, Denver city council representatives, as well as members of the Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets, and country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, contributed their time to the effort. Of course, the most recognized volunteers were former President and First Lady Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter who have been donating their time to Habitat for Humanity since 1984.
People working together is nothing new in Globeville. In fact, neighborliness and cooperation are defining characteristics of the neighborhood.
The area was originally settled by immigrants from Eastern Europe, people who would have faced each other in battle had they remained in the Old Country. Not only did people leave those centuries-old ethnic grudges behind, they cooperated with others from different backgrounds, cultures and religions to establish and govern their new town. Neighbors also came together to slaughter pigs and make sausage, to build houses, barns, outbuildings and fences with lumber from boxcars, purchased by those who worked for the railroads. Immigrants supported each other through fraternal associations, which provided a financial safety net for families in times of sickness, injury or death. Regardless of their differences, citizens of Globeville attended each others church festivals, a tradition that is continued the third weekend each July with the Orthodox Food Festival and Old Globeville Days.
The Habitat for Humanity event was a great success and an example of the amazing things that can happen when people work together toward a common goal. The new and refurbished homes will improve the lives of residents for a long time, and the citizens of Globeville will continue to do what they have been doing for 125 years - helping each other.
Orthodox Food Festival
Habitat for Humanity Globeville
Photos Denver Post

The Madrid family received a new roof

Lots of restoration for the Moyers home

A porch is being added to the Trevino home

Shorty Maynard, Circus Clown, 1882 - 1950

He was born to strict Catholic parents in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1882 and, at thirteen years of age, was expected to work in a shoe factory for 10 cents a day. At that point, Rudolf E. Pigeon did what most young people only dream of doing: he ran away and joined the circus.
Pigeon began performing with the Menard troupe of acrobats, traveling the East Coast with the Hagenbeck Wallace Circus. In 1906, he moved out West and joined the Sells-Floto Circus, owned by Frederick Bonfils and Harry H. Tammen, co-owners of the Denver Post. Known professionally as Shorty Maynard, Pigeon developed routines that drew on his acrobatic ability and love of animals. The mule hurdle had him riding atop the animal’s head, then hanging on to its tail to be dragged around the sawdust ring several times. Pigeon created an audience favorite with Bill, the Trained Goose, and the duo performed tricks for a dozen seasons.
During the off-season, performers found other jobs and pursued other interests. For Pigeon, that interest was Ada Morgan, and they were married on December 28, 1912. By the time Pigeon joined the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Baily Circus in 1916, he and Ada had started a family.
After years of circus life and travel, an exhausted Pigeon retired in 1920. He operated John’s Pool Hall in Sterling, which became a casualty of the farm recession after World War I. Pigeon then moved his family to Globeville and sought out his old friend Harry Tammen, who arranged a a job for him with Swift and Company. He worked there for more than twenty years.
Daughter Carol Christensen recalls, “I remember my dad walking across that bridge at 46th Avenue every morning at 5 am to go to work in the packinghouse. He didn’t make much money, but we always paid our bills on time.”
Pigeon lived quietly with his wife Ada, daughters Florence and Carol, and son Charles in  Globeville, where he died on August 14, 1950 of heart failure.
The man who had “dedicated his life to making people laugh” would be pleased to know that he is still entertaining crowds. His gravestone, Block 13, Lot 9, at Denver's Riverside Cemetery is engraved with his image as a clown, and is a popular destination on tours.

Photo courtesy of Carol Christensen 

Photo ® Mary Lou Egan

Saturday, February 25, 1950

Photos used with written permission from Janet Wagner

Both the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News featured the story, KOA radio carried the broadcast live and a score of airplanes flew overhead. An estimated 100,000 people gathered near the site while an additional 250,000 watched from rooftops and ridges all over the city. The occasion was the demolition of the Grant Smelter smokestack, a 350-foot remnant of Denver's glory days of mining and smelting.

The giant chimney was built in 1892, part of the expansion of Denver's largest smelter, the Omaha and Grant. The stack was the tallest structure in the region and a symbol of the city's largest industry.

A year after the completion of the chimney, the nation experienced a depression that hit mining and smelting hard. Changes in technology, the depletion of rich ores and the long, violent labor strike of 1903 resulted in the closing of the smelter, leaving the massive plant and stack.

The smelter was dismantled until only the enormous smokestack remained, and it became a playground for neighborhood children who rode their bikes in and out and dared each other to climb the steep walls. Issues of safety and economics eventually dictated the that the stack would be demolished.

Saturday, February 25, 1950, was the day selected for the demolition. Denver Mayor Quigg Newton, politicians and newspapermen made speeches eulogizing the structure as most of Denver's population waited. There was delay after delay until 5:00 pm when five blasts, each two seconds apart, exploded in the base of the 7000-ton tower. Incredibly, nothing happened. When three more blasts were detonated, a million bricks crashed to earth and a blinding cloud of dust enveloped officials and spectators. It took more dynamite on the following day to finish the job. Denver had shed a piece of its industrial past and, in 1952, constructed the Denver Coliseum on the spot. 

Photos of the stack courtesy of Janet Wagner