Chronology

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Approximate Chronological History of Estemere

(after Pitts, 1997)

24-Jun-2007

1872	Dr. William Finley Thompson begins dental practice in London, England.
1876-1879	Dr. Thompson has dental office in San Francisco.
1882	Dr. Thompson visits Colorodo Springs.
1883	Dr. Thompson and Arthur Visick platted and planned Loch Katrine, later renamed Palmer Lake.
1889	[The Rockland Hotel is built.]
1887-1890	Construction of Estemere by Dr. William Finley Thompson & Ada Mary Finley. Architect unknown. Dr. Thompson was a dentist in Denver. Daughters: Estelle, Lucille, Jessie. (Pitts believe that Estemere was named after Estelle with the addition of 'mere,' meaning 'lake' in Scottish. Some early writings spelled it Estamere.) Construction cost $75,000; furnishings cost $50,000 ($2.8 million CPI adjusted to 2006!].
1888-89	Dr. Thompson was mayor of Palmer Lake. Also served as Postmaster.
~1890	Dr. Thompson vanished, bankrupt. Wife and daughters left town; his sister, Clarisa Berry and his mother moved into the carpenter's house (on Highland). Dr. Thompson is rumored to have died in Mexico a few years later.
1894	E. Chapin Gard wrote "Palmer Lake, Gem of the Rockies" booklet.
1894	E.H. Rollins & Sons Investment Co. of Denver takes over Estemere.
1895	Eben Smith (one of founders of First National Bank of Denver) buys Estemere. He adds the Northeast wing. [This was probably just the east bedroom, as Thompson supposedly used the two small rooms off the billiard room for his on-site dental practice.]
early 1900's	Plumbing added.
1906	Eben Smith dies.
26 Dec 1909	Emma Smith (wife of Eben) dies. Mrs. Charles T. Carnahan, daughter of Eben, takes over.
Early 1920s	Ray Niswanger & Associates take over Estemere's management.
1923[1926?]-1930	McPherson College of Kansas, Rocky Mountain Summer School, conducted by H. H. Nininger. Carriage house called "Pioneer Hall," cottage called "Twin Pine Lodge."
1928	Electricity comes to Palmer Lake. [We found lead tubing and black pipe in the floors and ceiling during restoration, indicating that the first lights were acetylene, then replaced with natural gas. The house was wired several times over the next 72 years. The 1930 annual of the Rocky Mountain Summer School mentions the "warm glow of the gas lights."]
Early 1930s	Camp for under-privileged girls, sponsored by Gamma Phi Beta Sorority.
1935	Estemere purchased by Oliver M. Adams, Rodney Palmer, and Clarence Irving Vessey, Manager of "Estemere Lodge," affiliated with the YMCA; tennis court, miniature golf; croquet court. [Daughters of Clarence Vessey visited Estemere Summer of 1999; see below.]
1937	Weaving School "El Conejo Blanco."
1940s	2^nd story balconies removed.
~1942	Baptist Youth Camp held at Estemere. Mason Brown attended.
1944-1950	W.C. Blietz buys Estemere. Tillie McCarty rented the East Wing during part of the Blietz' ownership. [Pitts had the name wrong--H.C. Bleitz.]
1950	Helen Dees owns Estemere from the 1940s to the late 1950s. [Pitts said that the Dees bought Estemere after WWII. According to Don Bleitz (15 August 2002), his dad traded Estemere to the Dees in exchange for a public swimming pool in Florence, CO in 1950.]
1949 or 1950	Carriage House reduced by 50 percent to build 4-plex by the B&E restaurant adjacent to Palmer Lake.
1958	[Date on toilet in East Wing Master Bathroom (found when the old bathroom was demolished in 2004).]
1960	Leon Snyder buys Estemere.
1963-1964	Billiard Room fresco painted by Deane Delgado, who resides at Estemere with his wife and son. Deane was hired by Snyder to repair and restore Estemere. [See notes below.]
1964	Don Leonard, a lawyer from Nebraska, his wife, and her parents Bryce & Helen Follmer reside at Estemere to begin restoration after the flood. Leonard replaces balconies and lions; new electric chandeliers in Dining & Billiard Room from Sioux City, Iowa.
16 June 1965	Waterspout flood. Kitchen demolished. Legs on Dining Room table still show depth of mud.
Jan 1966	[Two inch thick rockwool insulation bats were installed in the East Wing Master Bedroom walls (discovered during re-insulation of the room in 2004). The drywall in the bathroom was dated 1966, also.]
03 Sept 1967	[Date on newspaper 'insulation' found in walls of old bathroom in East Wing when bathroom was demolished to construct new bathroom with walk-in closets and laundry room.]
Late 1970s	Waterfall & rock wall added behind Manor House; Gazebo behind Manor House added. "Power House"/Chicken Coop converted into Chapel [the plywood used in the bell-tower appears to be dated January 1974]. [I attached a rope to the bell in August 2002 so that the bell may finally be rang.]
1986	Joan Leonard dies.
1987	Jim Peterson, CEO & President of Bojangles Restaurants, buys Estemere. (Jim's daughter is married to one of Follmer's grandsons who is a Leonard).
1990s	Loft in the Carriage House is converted into living space by Dan Fraley, Estemere's caretaker.
1991	Entire main house (except East Wing) recarpeted (originally very worn French carpets); front cement walkway redone.
1993	Don Leonard dies. His mother-in-law, Helen Follmer, lived in the Caretaker's Cottage until 1996.
1996	Helen Follmer moves to nursing home in Denver. Furniture auctioned by Don Leonard's family. [Helen died 31 July 2003. Remaining furniture is pre-Leonard/1965?]
02Jan98	Kim and Roger Ward purchase Estemere from Jim Peterson to use as their personal residence. Major restoration begins summer 1998. New, larger kitchen, conservatory, and three-car garage/carriage house expansion begins in 1999.
March 1998	A 15 foot section of the rock wall in from of Estemere unexpectedly collapses due to heavier than normal spring rains, tree roots, and decaying mortar. Other sections are discovered to be bowed outward. The entire rock wall, including the three-foot tall wall in from of the main house, are repointed at great expense.
1998	Rewiring of the buildings begins. Second floor bedrooms have only one electrical outlet--in the light switch by the doors. Some rooms have no electricity.
Early 1999	The shed behind the kitchen is moved to across from the cottage to allow expansion of the kitchen and improve the view from the kitchen window.
June 1999	The old kitchen is totally removed. Construction begins on the expanded kitchen and the Conservatory.
17 Aug 2002	Walking tour of Palmer Lake hosted by the Palmer Lake Historical Society. Over 250 people tour Estemere.
April-August 2002	The Tower is totally restored and the roof is re-roofed. The Observatory is re-roofed with zinc shingles.
08 May 2003	Chuck Pyle performs a fundraiser for the Palmer Lake Volunteer Fire Department in the Carriage House.
17 May 2003	Estemere is toured by approximately 120 women from the Tri-Lakes Women’s Club.
10 July 2003	The stained glass ceiling for the Conservatory is completed. Design by Kim Ward; glass by Judy Wisdom.
23 Aug 2003	The Palmer Lake Historical Society uses Estemere as a fundraiser; about 300 people tour.
Summer 2004	The driveways are paved with PaveStone, as well as around the upper fountain, back patio, and east garden. About 250 people tour Estemere for the Historical Society tour.
July 2005	Over 600 people tour Estemere—hosted by the Palmer Lake Historical Society.
June 2006	An authentic wool runner is placed on the main-stair steps. The Observatory ceiling is finally finished and the floor is covered with wool carpet. Wool carpet runner placed on main stairway.
29 July 2006	The Palmer Lake Historical Society uses Estemere as a fundraiser; about 400 people tour.

Note: Items in [ ] are not from Pitts--added by Ward. All entries after 1997 added by Ward.

Items:

Service bells in all rooms are no longer functional.

Cloisonné chandelier (original?) in Observatory; now missing.

Miniature artificial lake; where was it?

Tunnel from basement to stable?

Wooden fireplace mantels added over time; tiles are original.

Used at various times as:

a residence for handicapped kids

a summer school

an overflow dorm for Methodist Conference at Pinecrest

rental apartments

Per Dan Dees of Lakin, Kansas 316-355-7050 on 07 July 1999 (son of Wanda Dees (316-355-7737), whose father lived in Estemere in the 1950s): A huge painting of the "End of the Trail" hung in Estemere when the Dees first bought Estemere. Wanda's brothers were Andy, Harry, and Ronnie Krueger. "Granny died in '93, Grandad in '95. Dan said there is a book, "Palmer Lake Memorial," that has info on Estemere.

Per Jared Roten, 08 July 1999 719-481-2653 (came over with another man to look at the old kitchen cabinets we were giving away): Grace Best had photos of the Estemere flood (died ~1997); worked at the library and wrote books. See the principal @ Grace Best Elementary school for information. Jared remembers an organ with pipes on the walls. He also thinks the original floor plans are in the Palmer Lake library!

30 Aug 1999: Steve at Palmer Lake Water System said that there was a large bell in the oval garden about 25 years ago that the kids would ring at Halloween. He said the Leonard's boys would "camp-out" in the loft over the garage. He said "Palmer Lake A Historical Narrative" book by Marion Savage Sabin has photos of the 1965 Estemere flood.

Dwayne (Bonnie's husband; Bonnie works for the Water District; they live just behind the Little Log Church) said he has photos of the entire inside of Estemere circa 1970. He took them for insurance purposes—he was an insurance broker who insured Estemere for the Leonards after the flood. He said Mrs. Leonard was an antique dealer. Bonnie told Kim that Jim Peterson paid for a commercial sewer tap (~$7500) in 1990.

On 04 September 1999 Winnie Metzler and Vera Andrews drove up with Cassell Barrett, Winnie's friend. Winnie and Vera are daughters of Clarence Vessey, who owned Estemere in 1935. Winnie lives in Colorado Springs and Vera was visiting her from North Carolina. We walked around Estemere and I jotted down some notes:

1. They lived here from 1935 to 1944 (Clarence rented Estemere to the "El Conejo Blanco Weaving School" in 1937).

2. There was a large painting on the west wall of the Parlor of Indians on horses. There was a bullet hole in a lower corner of the painting. Winnie thinks the Colorado Springs National Bank took the painting as partial payment of money owed them.

3. The round poker table currently at Estemere was not the original game table at Estemere. The one they remember was heavy mahogany and the top flipped over to make it look like a normal table.

4. Their grandparents, Frank and Lucy Vessey, lived for a while in the Cottage. They cooked on a wood stove in the Cottage.

5. The Carriage House had a cement floor. In the back of the west side was a stage for performances. The east side was used for classrooms for summer school and was used to house paper boys from Omaha who stayed at the Lodge in 1936. (Winnie's uncle, Olive Adams, a minister, worked with the paper boys and rewarded them with a weekend at Estemere, including side trips to Pikes Peak and other local attractions.)

6. The current Chapel was used for electricity generating and tool storage.

7. The Store House had a large walk-in refrigerator, not an ice house! The cook's husband would deliver meat to the refrigerator.

8. There was red carpet in the Parlor and the Dining Room that matched the wallpaper in those rooms.

9. There was linoleum between the Dining Room and the Kitchen.

10. The Sitting Room they called the "Little Dining Room."

11. There were only two balconies on the second floor, one on the front and one on the West.

12. The front, West Bedroom was called the Rose Room, the second was the Carnation Room, and the third was the Blue Room.

13. The bathroom wall on the West was not there; one passed through the bathroom to access the stairs to the third floor.

14. The Observatory was Winnie's (and possibly Vera's) bedroom.

15. The stained glass in the Sewing Room and in the Observatory is as they remember it, but they couldn't remember if the one window in the Observatory that currently has colorless glass was that way then.

16. The Observatory ceiling was painted all blue with gold, five-pointed stars; not just the top half as it is now. The story was that the Thompsons had a painter from Italy paint the ceiling. (Why, since a solid blue background with a bunch of stars isn't so complicated to paint?)

17. The Vesseys lived at Estemere only in the summertime. I think they lived in Colorado Springs the rest of the time.

18. They remembered the player piano in the Music Room. The piano rolls were stored in the narrow closets on each side of the fireplace in the Billiard Room.

19. The Billiard table is different than the one there now.

20. The East Wing bathroom was there but they don't remember its appearance.

21. They were told that Dr. Thompson had a dental practice at Estemere. The entrance was in the "Card Room" and the examination room was where my office is. (Remember, the East Wing Bedroom wasn't there until later.)

22. There was no bathroom west of the Kitchen. They can't remember for sure, but they recall that there was only one room west of the Kitchen.

23. They recall that the wall between the Kitchen and the Dining Room was open.

24. The cook cooked on a wood stove in the Kitchen.

25. They don't think there was a well; they had running water in the house.

26. Clarence had a golf course about the grounds for use by guests. He sunk tin cans in the ground for the cups. The greens weren't very smooth.

WINNIE METZLER
625 W. CHEYENNE ROAD
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80906
719-633-2701

VERA ANDREWS
570 DEERFIELD ROAD
MT. GILEUD, NC
910-439-5516

CASSEL BARRETT
2627 SPRING GROVE TERRACE
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80906
719-527-0410

January 2000: When the old bathroom wall on the second floor was demolished, a 15 inch square piece of drywall was inside the wall. It was dated January 26, 1966. This same date was on some of the drywall between the old kitchen and the butler's pantry.