William A. H. Loveland
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William Austin Hamilton Loveland (May 30, 1826–1894) was a U.S. railroad entrepreneur and businessman in the late 19th century. An early resident of Golden when it was the capital of the Colorado Territory, he was one of the founders of the Colorado Central Railroad and a principal figure in the early history of Colorado. As president of the Colorado Central, he was instrumental in the expansion of the railroad network into the mining communities of Colorado. For much of the 1870s Loveland waged a fierce struggle with Union Pacific investors for control of the Colorado Central. He also served as Lt. Governor of Colorado.
[edit] Biography
His father was the Rev. Leonard Loveland. As a young man, Loveland served in the Mexican-American War. In 1859, he helped establish the town of the Golden in the Kansas Territory and went into the mercantile business there. After the formation of the Colorado Territory in 1861, he was instrumental in helping establish the territorial capital at Golden. The building that housed his mercantile business, the Loveland Block in Golden, was built in 1863 and is considered to be the oldest existing commercial brick structure in Colorado. The building served as the first Masonic Lodge in Colorado and was expanded in 1866 to accommodate the Colorado Territorial Legislature, which met there until the capital was moved to Denver in 1867.
In the 1860s, Loveland became an enthusiastic promoter of building a railroad west of Golden through the Rocky Mountains, with the idea that Golden would become a great railroad metropolis of the region. In the early 1860s he began purchasing right-of-way in the canyon west of Golden. In 1864, he helped found the Colorado, Clear Creek and Pacific Railway (later Colorado Central Railroad) with the intention of building a rail line the mining communities, and connecting it to the transcontinental railroad that was to be built to the north across present-day Wyoming. Loveland's early efforts to build a railroad were hampered by a lack of funds, as well as a fierce struggle for control of the railroad itself. In the meantime, in 1867, the territorial capital was moved to Denver, and in 1870, the rival Denver Pacific Railway completed its line between Denver and Cheyenne, cementing Denver as the future metropolis of Colorado. Loveland and his partners had to settle for connecting Golden to the Denver Pacific line. It was not until 1877 that the company was able to construct its own direct line from Golden (via Boulder and Fort Collins) to Cheyenne. After the completion of the line, the new city of Loveland, Colorado was founded in Larimer County along the route and named in his honor. Loveland Pass in the Rockies west of Golden is also named for him.
In 1870, Loveland was instrumental in persuading the Colorado Territorial Legislature to authorize funds for the establishment of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. He later served on the Board of Trustees of the School of Mines after the Episcopal Church sold it to the Territory in 1874.
In 1889, in partnership with Charles Welch, Loveland platted a new 13-block country town along Colfax Avenue west of Denver. The town, called Lakewood, would eventually grow to Colorado's fourth largest municipality by 1990.
He died in 1894 in Lakewood. Loveland's mercantile business founded in 1859 continued until 1978 as one of the longest-lived businesses in Colorado history. One of his earliest Colorado residences, the Loveland Cottage in Golden, which he purchased from a town attorney, still stands at 717 12th Street.
