The "City of Denver"

Welcome back Key Room fanatics!

I hope you’re all enjoying this sunny Saturday afternoon and maybe contemplating the expanse of the Baldpate Key Collection while you sip iced tea on a porch swing in the mountains. If you are, or if you need a little inspiration, I’m here to highlight another one of our fascinating keys for you.

Today I walked over to panel 10 on our left side wall where we have a large assortment of keys relating to transportation and all the planes, trains, and automobiles you can think of, and I picked one out that struck me as pretty interesting. It was donated by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 1936 and is the key to a train called the “CITY OF DENVER.” Unfortunately for all of us, John Denver never wrote a song about this train, but it’s notable for reasons of its own. “The CITY OF DENVER” made the very first 16 hour daily service voyage from Denver to Chicago on June 18, 1936 which set the record for the fastest long-distance train route in the world. Before its historic journey, the fastest train schedule between Denver and Chicago took 25 hours making the “CITY OF DENVER’s” route 9 hours faster; a revolution in efficiency that the Union Pacific advertized would “save a business day.”

And like a true champion of the rails, the “CITY OF DENVER” had both speed and stamina. It dominated the competition and ran the fastest route from Denver to Chicago for nearly 20 years. It was not until 1953 that Union Pacific Railroad Company updated its route in favor of a lighter, faster engine. That’s quite an achievement for one little train.

So how does the “CITY OF DENVER” compare to the trains of today? Well, it really isn’t too far behind. On the 16 hour route from Denver to Chicago, the “CITY OF DENVER” averaged about 65 miles per hour, and although most modern AmTrak trains are capable of higher speeds, there is a 79 mph speed limit set for most American routes. Since rail travel has been changing, however, many trains are blowing that number away. Bullet trains average about 200 mph and even that number continues to increase with new technologies.

If you come by the Key Room you’ll be able to see even more keys from American railway history and plenty of other industries as well. There’s lots to be learned and discovered.

Until next time,

Rachel

Key Room Museum Curator

Friday the 13th

On this unique day, being it is Friday the 13^th as well as there being a full moon scheduled for tonight, I figured it was detrimental that I would write on a key that has a unique history because of its owner and the origin.

Edgar Allan Poe has been and probably will be one of the most influential and famous authors from the American Romantic Movement in the first half of the 19^th century. Born in January of 1809, Poe was soon orphaned by an abandoning father and a mother who died of unknown causes by the time he was two years old. He was then taken in, but not ever officially adopted, by John and Frances Allan. Although he lived with them and was raised by them, John Allan and Poe constantly fought about debts that came from gambling and for the secondary education of Poe.

And this is where the uniqueness of the key of this particular blog comes from. We have in our possession at the Baldpate Inn, the key to the dorm room where Edgar Allan Poe resided during his first and only semester at the University of Virginia in 1826. He was only able to attend for one semester due to the money issues with his “adopted” father, but during his time, he seemed to make an impression on the University of Virginia. The Raven Society, a tribute and historical group to Poe and his writings, has preserved Poe’s dorm room at the University of Virginia, room number 13 on the West Range. In fact, the entire building has been marked as a historic site.

Now after Edgar Allan Poe left the University of Virginia, he joined the army and eventually went to West Point after the death of his “adopted” mother although he failed out and became fully convinced that he wanted to be a poet and a writer. After this confirmation he went on to publish the wide variation of short stories and novels that many have heard of through our various English and Literature classes. Some of the more famous works of Edgar Allan Poe that seem to fit with the significance of Friday the 13^th and the mysteries and superstitions that seem to accompany it are The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, and even The Black Cat.

While there are some that are still very superstitious, I hope that this post doesn’t sway anyone from going about your normal routines today. Yet, I would ask that if anyone does have any spare time today, maybe read a tale or two from Edgar Allan Poe and not only enjoy the slight chill that may crawl up your spine as you read it, but also the literary abilities and works that Poe was able to add to literature. I leave you all with a final quote from one of the happier of Poe’s writings, Eleonora, “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.”

Until next time,

Jake

Baldpate Key Room Curator

General Sherman and Seven Pines

Happy Thursday!

In today’s edition of the Key Room Blog, I’ll be bringing you a little bit of history from my great home state of New York. To tell you the truth, I was a little sad when I first came to the key room and saw that New York’s keys only occupy a meager fifth of one of our ceiling panels, but just a few minutes of inspection made me realize that our small section is still a mighty one. Today’s key for example comes from Yonkers, NY and its story alone involves beautiful mansions, a family of New York bankers, and one of the Civil War’s most famous generals.

 

 

It is labeled “The key to Gen. Sherman’s Wine Cellar ‘Seven Pines’” and its namesake is probably someone you’ve heard of before. General  William Tecumseh Sherman fought for the Union Army in the Civil War and is most famous for the military campaign of 1864 nicknamed “Sherman’s March to the Sea” during which he enacted a harsh “scorched earth” policy and burned down everything in his path from northern Georgia to Savannah. The march amassed more than $100 million in property damage and is one of the primary reasons that Gone with the Wind is so sad. After the Civil War ended and Ulysses S. Grant became President of the United States, he appointed Sherman Commanding General of the Army in 1869.

 

 

But General Sherman is not really the key’s owner as one might assume. The wine cellar at “Seven Pines” in Yonkers, NY actually belonged to New York City banker John Bond Trevor. The Trevors were a wealthy and extremely influential family that settled in the suburb of Yonkers in 1861 and are most famous for building the Glenview Mansion; a Victorian style estate that is now listed as the John Bond Trevor House and a part of the Hudson River Museum.

 

 

 “Seven Pines” was the Trevor family’s residence before they moved into the Glenview Mansion and was originally named Edgewater. Its name changed when General Sherman visited the Glenview as a guest and suggested that Edgewater be changed to Seven Pines after the battle of Seven Pines which took place in Virginia during the Civil War. In honor of him, the house’s name was changed and General Sherman was able to leave his mark on the Yonkers community.

 

 

The couple that made the donation to the Baldpate Inn, Mr. and Mrs. Howard B. MacDonald, add a bonus layer of historical significance to the Seven Pines key. They also hailed from Yonkers, NY and Mrs. Howard B. MacDonald held local musical acclaim under the name Georgia Graves. Though we do not know the exact year that this key was donated, this newspaper article from 1939 puts the MacDonalds into historical context and tells us a little bit about the contralto Georgia Graves and her musical career.

 

 

This key which is wrapped up in a long history of famous names and places is just one of the many gems that can be found hanging from the key room ceiling here at the Baldpate. If you’re in the area, just swing by and I’ll help you find your own state’s claim to fame.

Hope to see you all soon,

Rachel

Key Room Museum Curator











Elementary, My Dear Watson

"Elementary, My Dear Watson"

Although the phrase is never actually found together in the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it has become the chatchphrase attributed to Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional resident of 221-B Baker Street, which is the topic of the today’s blog from the Baldpate Inn Key Room.  

Sherlock Holmes is definitely one the most prominent fictional characters in literature, or at least he is in my mind. The uniqueness of his character is seemingly unparalleled, with his astute logical reasoning, ability to adopt a variety of disguises, and his forensic skills to help with his consulting detective service. Not only were his abilities unique, he was also considered a “bohemian” by his counterpart, Dr. Watson. Having an extreme expectation for personal hygiene, he then complimented it with his rather disdain for tidiness or any sort of organization. To add to the uniqueness of Mr. Holmes, he also was considered to be rather arrogant and enjoyed baffling the police inspectors with the deductions he was able to make that they were unable to see.

In the four novels and fifty-six short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that give us the basis for Sherlock Holmes, he is able to help the police inspectors solve many crimes and also interact with some uncommon villains as well including Professor James Moriarty, Charles Augustus Magnussen, and Dr. Robert Frankland.

221-B Baker Street became the setting and residence for this rare setting and characters, and while it was considered to be rather ordinary, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson made this place into a bustling, crime-solving center where people could bring their issues and mysteries, and if unique or adventurous Sherlock Holmes would take their case. Yet at the time Doyle wrote the Sherlock stories, Baker Street did not actually have address numbers into the 200s and it is believed that Doyle created 221-B to avoid using an actual person’s residence.

While being a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes’ residential address is an actual place and we are blessed to have the key to 221-B Baker Street, donated to us by Dr. Watson’s Neglected Patients, a scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars. This key may seem as one that is rather ordinary of the time period, but to those that enjoy literature and even the more recent visual adaptations like Robert Downing Jr. as Sherlock Holmes in two films, or Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC TV series, it is more about the legacy of the character Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created.  

Already we as the three curators have been able to give you a brief background to almost a half dozen keys here in our collection. I would personally like to invite all of you in the Estes Park area at some point this summer to come and see the many other thousands of keys we have here in our collection. We hope to continue to inform and enlighten our readers through this blog the rest of the summer.

For now I am off,

Jacob

Key Room Museum Curator

Clarence Darrow Key

Hello, everybody!

Today, I'm going to talk a little about one of my favorite keys in our collection here at the Baldpate. The key that was donated by Clarence Darrow in 1923 has the honor of being considered the "First key to Baldpate." It is possible that other keys were donated before Darrow made his donation, but Darrow's key will always be considered the first. Our key collection began after World War I when the original owners, the Maces, could no longer afford to give each of their guests individual keys to the Inn. Part of the story tells that Clarence Darrow actually made the suggestion that guests bring keys back to the Inn. It is safe to say, that if it wasn't for Darrow, I may not have this job today. 

Let me tell you a little bit about Clarence Darrow, a well-known attorney. His father was an atheist (Well, that seems like a strange way to start this, right? It's relevant, though.). "The fact that my father was a heretic always put him on the defensive," Darrow wrote. "We children thought it was only right and loyal that we should defend his cause." Darrow's way of thinking led him participate in the famous Scopes "monkey trial."

In the last decade of the 1800s, Darrow worked to defend strikers, labor leaders, and anarchists. He became a celebrity of the radical left. Darrow experienced a rough patch after taking on a case that nearly destroyed his career. He made a bit of a career change and became a criminal defense lawyer. In the 1920s, Darrow was the most famous trial lawyer in America. He longed for a public debate with William Jennings Bryan over religion and science because he disagreed with Bryan's religious views. He got his opportunity with the Scopes trial.

The trial took place after John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in a public Tennessee high school. Darrow faced a real struggle trying to convince the judge and jury that Scopes was innocent and the anti-evolution law should be overturned. On the seventh day of the trial, Darrow called Bryan to the stand as an expert on the Bible. This move led to a furious argument between the two men. Many believed that Darrow made a fool out of Bryan, but some believed it to be cruel, especially when Bryan died five days after the trial. Bryan did win the case, but Darrow made progress by publicizing scientific evidence for evolution.

As Clarence Darrow remains a significant figure in our country's history, we are honored that he is such an important part of The Baldpate's history as well!

Margie
Key Room Museum Curator

The Master Key to the Situation

Hello all you key enthusiasts!

Our doors are open once again here at the Baldpate Inn Key Room and I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring and getting to know the wide variety of keys and stories that hang on our walls. My name is Rachel and I will be one of your Key Room Curators for the 2014 season. I am a senior in college originally from Clifton Park, New York and I’m so happy I decided to leave sea level for the summer to be in a place like the Baldpate where the history is as rich as the landscape.

The great thing about a collection as big as ours is its variety. Whether it be a collection of keys or toasters, you get to see a wide range of items from the most basic and plain to the most elaborate, strange, and baffling. I love the individuality and creativity found in some of the keys we have here, so for my first Key Room blog post I’d like to highlight one key whose story is full of creativity. It is called “the master key to the situation,” and takes up about 20 inches on our left side wall.

by the looks of it, this key does not unlock any door or chest, but included on its frame are six key blades, a knob, a couple of other unknown gadgets, and a large screw. It was donated to the collection in 1930 by a man named Gus Miller of Lincoln, Nebraska and its tag tells us that it was crafted in the early 20^th century by workers in a Nebraska boys’ reformatory.

 

So what did this group of boys in Nebraska’s reformatory (much like a modern day correctional facility) working as key makers do with their free time? They used their knowledge of key making and their own imagination and humor to put together a “key” that would, in theory, fix whatever problem might come their way. The key is signed, or engraved, with the name “Engler the Locksmith” who presumably is the craftsman behind this interesting project. A project not of obligation, but of recreation.
 



Well Engler, the Baldpate Inn thanks you for your handiwork and Gus Miller for his generous donation. The "Master Key" is certainly a key unlike any other and one of my personal favorites in the key room, at least so far. If you come visit us here at the Baldpate Key Room, I would be happy to show you this fascinating key in person and the thousands of others worth sharing, so plan a visit! You’ll be sure to find a favorite key of your own and plenty of other key history to peak your interest.

Until next time,

Rachel

Key Room Museum Curator

Good Afternoon,

On this lovely Sunday afternoon I would like to present my first post on this blog as one of the Key Room Curators for this summer. My name is Jake and I am from Illinois. I just graduated from college with two bachelor’s degrees in History and Political Science. This summer I and my fellow curators will be bringing you a look into some of the unique keys that we have here in our collection.

My first key I would like to present as my portion of this blog is the Edith Rockefeller-McCormick Key. This family of course has a long history and I would like to take a moment to give a brief background of them. As many may know the Rockefeller family was very wealthy, due to the founding of Standard Oil by Edith’s father, John Davidson Rockefeller. She was born the fifth child and the fourth daughter of John Davidson Rockefeller and a schoolteacher named Laura Spelman. There is rumor for there to have been some tension between Edith and her father due to her extravagance and her father’s desire to be frugal with the money he earned. She then married the heir to the mechanical reaper fortune, Harold Fowler McCormick at the age of 23. After this marriage, she then began to spend money even more freely in her new home of Chicago without the watchful eye of her father. While this marriage was not to last (ending in 1921), it threw Edith even more so into the public spotlight as a philanthropist and also an activist.

This particular key was given to us after her death in 1932 by Gertrude M. Moore, the manager of a women’s club that Edith Rockefeller-McCormick was a member of during her time in Chicago. Gertrude M. Moore had originally intended to send us this key directly after the death of Edith Rockefeller- McCormick but unfortunately it was misplaced for nearly fourteen years until it was sent with a letter explaining the situation on October 19^th, 1946.

This key is one of many here at the Baldpate Inn that has a very rich history and I and my fellow curators will be expanding upon many others this summer. Until next time my fellow historians, may you continue to grow in your knowledge of history as I hope to do.

Jake
Key Room Museum Curator