article is from The Denver Post - 1906
Barney L. Ford was born a slave in Virginia, his freedom was established when he was sent on a business trip to Ill. by his master.
Once in Ill., he was informed that he stood on free soil and was a free man. He never returned to Dixie.
He learned the barber trade in Chicago, engaged in business in Centtral America, was a steward in the Vanderbuilt household and was in the hotel business in Virginia.
He came to Denver, Colorado in 1860 and had various enterprises. Hotel's were his specialties.
In 1867 he built the Ford House at Cheyenne and the Inter Ocean Hotel in Denver on 16th and Blake Street.
He served on the Colorado State Legislature. He passed away in 1906 as a wealthy man.
6 comments:
I am so glad that you found this fascinating article! Wasn't Mr. Barney L. Ford an accomplished and handsome gentleman?! What a life he had.
I would love to find vintage postcards for the Ford House and the Inter Ocean Hotel. I Googled them to check and your post popped up for Ford House (3rd from top of page!). But there are no postcards available right now. I saw photos of the Inter-Ocean at this site. Really fun to see!
Great post; so interesting to learn about someone important in Black American history.
Lydia, Yes I finally found the article in my scans. Ohh, I would love to see any postcards of his hotels. That is just great that this post came up for him. And yes, I agree he was a very handsome and accomplished person. I'm going to the site about the Inter-Ocean Hotel now. Thanks for the link :)
I love stories like that!!!!!
Kay, so do I! I love reading about people who started with nothing and accomplished things :)
Thanks for an interesting piece of history.
Darlene, your welcome. Sometimes I'm able to find the wonderful people of Colorado. And you are one of them :)
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