PRESS RELEASE --
Molly Brown Summer House & Events Center Presents
A Garden Party to Celebrate a New Colorado History Book --
Celebrate Colorado history at The Molly Brown Summer House Events
Center (MBSH).
The House and Gardens will be the scene of celebration on Saturday,
August 14, at a special Open House. Invitations for Saturday are not
required. Please come by between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to tour the
newly designed house gardens at 2690 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Denver
80227-3221, the corner of Yale and Wadsworth, and chat with authors
from Filter Press.
About the book, The Walls Talk: Historic House Museums of Colorado.
When Patricia Werner learned she was dying, her immediate thought was
of the book project she'd worked on for six years. She told her
doctor, "I need until the end of summer to finish it and find a
publisher!" She was granted those extra months to wrap up the
thirty-seven stories she wanted to tell. The Walls Talk: Historic
House Museums of Colorado guides the reader through the homes and into
the lives of settlers, traders, trailblazers, adventuresome
professionals, merchants, and Silver Kings. There are familiar
names—the Tabors, Molly Brown, William and Elizabeth Byers—and the not
so familiar, such as Lee Humphrey and Pearl DeVere. Humphrey commuted
from Evergreen to Denver in a Model T for thirty years in order to
live in the house he loved, which is now preserved as one of the
historic house museums. Another lesser known house open to visitors is
DeVere's "parlor house" in Cripple Creek, where she ran a very
successful business.
Beyond the intriguing family stories, The Walls Talk: House Museums of
Colorado is a tribute to the passionate commitment of museum
volunteers and to the work of community historical societies
throughout the state who preserve their local treasures, providing to
us a more complete picture of the past.
For more information and directions, please contact Filter Press at
info@FilterPressBooks.com
.
###
Press Release - 2010

Filter Press -- Doris Baker, Publisher
www.filterpressbooks.com

Centennial Author Joyce Lohse Receives Colorado Authors’
League Award
Centennial author Joyce B. Lohse received the Colorado Authors’ League
top award in Juvenile Nonfiction Books for
General William Palmer, Railroad
Pioneer. The annual C.A.L. Awards Banquet was held on
Tuesday, May 11, 2010, at Denver’s Hilton Garden Inn. Lohse’s book
is her fourth title in the popular “Now You Know Bios”series from
Filter Press, which currently offers thirteen books. She combines
extensive research and historic photographs to create biographies
appealing to history buffs of all ages.
General William Palmer connected Colorado to the rest of
the nation when he built the Denver & Rio Grande railroad line. A
Civil War hero, Palmer followed his dreams west to build railroads. He
pushed routes through the difficult terrain of the Rocky Mountains
instead of around them with his narrow-gauge “baby railroad”,
transporting people and goods for industry, mining and growth. New
towns such as Colorado Springs, which became his home, flourished
along the way. Founded and settled by Palmer with his wife, Queen, the
community thrived. They built an estate called Glen Eyrie, which still
exists. Their pioneer story of fortitude and development had a major
impact on the history of the American West.
Joyce B.
Lohse, of Centennial, Colorado, combines her background in journalism
and genealogy to write historical biographies and articles. Her work
has previously won awards from the Colorado Independent Publishers
Association, and Women Writing the West. In March 2008, Lohse accepted
induction into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame for Eliza Routt, the
subject of her book, First Governor, First Lady: John and Eliza
Routt of Colorado.
Judges Comments:
A very well written title for the targeted audience. Quite interesting and
informative, complete with archival photographs that add depth to the text.
Explores a subject of local interest that many students would gladly read
for their local history/famous Coloradoans projects!
General William
Palmer: Railroad Pioneer,
ISBN 978-0-86541-092-3, list price $8.95,
is available through booksellers or from the publisher
www.filterpressbooks.com. Distribution for resale and libraries is
through BooksWest and Baker and Taylor.
For further information and appearance schedule, go to
www.lohseworks.com.
###

General William Palmer:
Railroad Pioneer
by Joyce B. Lohse
A Now You Know
Bio
from Filter Press
"Thank you for your sterling work as an
interpreter of our history."
-- Donald McGilchrist, The Navigators, Glen Eyrie
Palmer Book Review:
Having
previously lived in Colorado Springs for thirty-two years, I
found Joyce B. Lohse’s book on William Jackson Palmer very
informative, entertaining and accurate.
Palmer was
the founder of the Springs and the author captured the many
complexities of being both a family man and business man in
this volume. The book itself is compact enough to take along
in a purse or backpack when visiting the city and seeing
Palmer’s many still-visible legacies there.
I
especially like how the author has accurately described
Palmer’s wife, Queen, as having health problems after moving
over a mile high in altitude to Colorado. Queen initially
worked right along side her husband in this frontier land,
lived and entertained in a tent. taught school, etc. She has
often been portrayed in the past as a high society woman who
could not tolerate the incivilities of the new west. Lohse
gives a definite reason for Mrs. Palmer not being able to
stay in Colorado – a heart attack at the young age of 30.
The
information on Palmer’s railroad-building was also very
interesting and brings out his perseverance with these
enormous projects. He was also a great philanthropist - I
was surprised to learn that he donated much of his money in
person to individuals who had helped him in the past. This
is the fourth book I’ve read of Joyce Lohse’s and recommend
this and the other’s in the “Now You Know Bio” series.
-- Christie Wright, History Writer and Researcher
Books published by
Filter Press (888)
570-2663
"Now You Know Bios" are also available
from
the publisher
http://www.filterpressbooks.com

Colorado Women’s
Hall of Fame
Inducts Eliza Routt
Joyce Lohse Honors
Eliza In The Hall
On March 11, 2008, Eliza Pickrell Routt was inducted into the
Colorado
Women's Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony took place at the Seawell Ballroom in the
Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Author
Joyce B. Lohse, Mrs. Routts first ancestral cousin and Centennial biographer,
nominated her for the honor, and
spoke to the audience of more than 750 people attending the induction
ceremony when she accepted the induction on her behalf.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joyces Speech:
I would like to share some history with you
About 130 years ago, 14th Street
in Denver was known as Governors Row. It was home of Colorado pioneers
and Bonanza Kings. Miles of sidewalks
made of diamond shaped marble slabs lined the street. Paved with a mixture
of course sand and gravel, the street required steady sprinkling by horse
drawn water trucks, to keep the surface compact and to settle the dust.
During mild weather, about 1 ½ hours before
sundown, carriage and buggy driving began, and kept up until darkness put
a stop to it. The corner of 14th and Welton was a center of
activity. This was the location of the first governors mansion, a
Victorian home with a carefully tended yard and flower gardens, the
residence of Governor John Routt and his wife, Eliza.
When John Routt sold his successful silver
mine in Leadville in 1880, he turned the profits over to his sensible
wife, Eliza. The couple splurged when they bought their home for $30,000,
and a buggy with a pair of matching bay horses for $3,000, no doubt the
hit of the evening buggy parade on 14th Street. After that,
Eliza frugally managed their finances for the rest of their lives.
The Victorian Era in
the late 1800s was a period during which style and conduct were
particularly restrained and conservative. A proper lady appeared in the
newspaper only when she was born, she was married, or when she died. Eliza
Routt, a proper Victorian lady, was quite busy while she was NOT
making headlines.