The Batterson Barn: Then and Now

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1 The Batterson Barn: Then and Now The Batterson Barn, along what is now the Red Feather Lakes Road, has been a familiar landmark in the Livermore area for more than 100 years. The following account is based on Linda Adams s contribution The Batterson Barn and the Family Who Built It in the second edition of Among These Hills and on material she wrote for the website and newsletter of the Red Feather Historical Society. Solomon Batterson (left) and his wife Mary (right) both were born in Hume, New York, but did not meet until some 20 years later in Iowa where they were married on Christmas Day in In 1870, Solomon, Mary, and their 3 children packed up and became part of the Westward migration to California. However, they found the area of the Cache la Poudre River valley so appealing that they settled in Greeley rather than continue on to California and remained there until 1873 when they found a place to homestead in the Livermore area. The Battersons homesteaded 160 acres with the intent of developing a stock-raising business. Initially, Solomon, with the help of 17 yr-old Billy, made a living by hunting and selling elk, mountain sheep, and deer to customers in Fort Collins, Greeley, Denver, and Cheyenne. However, by 1878, the Battersons were milking 32 cows, selling 3400 pounds of butter (as well as milk), and putting up 75 tons of native grass hay. The family was beginning to prosper.

2 Unfortunately, as 1878 neared its end, tragedy befell the family when 10 yr-old Azubah, the youngest of the three Batterson children, died just days before Christmas. Azubah was buried on the east slope of what is now known as Mount Moriah in a sheltered spot west and within sight of the Batterson home. The headstone marking her grave is shown on the left. Over the years, the grave marker had been broken into several pieces. Residents of Glacier View Meadows repaired the stone and built a fence around the gravesite to protect it in the future (right).

3 The Battersons gradually increased their holdings from the original 160 acres to 320, then to 640, and eventually the ranch encompassed 800 acres of grazing land. Hundreds of additional acres of open rangeland were available for their use, as well. The barn, shown here in contemporary photos, was constructed in 1890 at a cost of $800, according to an issue of The Fort Collins Courier. Once the lean-tos that were originally constructed on each side of the barn were enclosed, the barn was 64 ft wide, 40 ft deep, and 25 ft high. The structure was large enough to hold several harnessed teams of horses and had chutes from the hayloft to each manger to make feeding simpler and more efficient. The Batterson Ranch served as a stage stop for a number of years, and remnants of the old stage road still can be seen in front of the barn.

4 In 1903, after 30 years on the ranch, Solomon and Mary sold the cattle and leased the ranch to their daughter Alamina and son-in-law William Tibbits. Alamina, William, and their 11 children lived on the Batterson Ranch for 5 years until acquiring their own ranch at the foot of McNey Hill. The Batterson ranch was leased by William Donovan in 1909, and was occupied for a short time in John McNey II owned the ranch from 1916 until 1926 when it was purchased by Clarence Currie. Local school children visit barn, foundation of old homesite, and Azubah Ella Batterson s grave In the late 1960 s and early 1970 s, the Currie Ranch (which encompassed what had been the Batterson property) passed through the hands of several development consortiums and eventually was subdivided into Glacier View Meadows, Green Mountain Meadows, Crystal Lakes, and several other large parcels. The Batterson Barn became part of Glacier View Meadows and is now owned by LWC member and current President Linda Adams and her husband Judd.

5 Batterson Barn Approved for listing on the National Register of Historic Places At its February 19, 2010 meeting, the Colorado Historic Preservation Review Board unanimously endorsed the nomination of the Solomon Batterson Ranch headquarters at 603 Mount Moriah Road, Livermore, CO, for placement on the National Register of Historic Places, and the nomination was approved by the National Park Service in the fall. The (old) Livermore General Store and Post Office and (former) Livermore Hotel also are listed on the National Register. According to the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, The National Register is the federal government s official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering and culture. These contribute to an understanding of the historical and cultural foundations of the nation.

6 The original nomination included just the barn and a 10-foot buffer around it. However, the CHS expanded the nomination to a 3-acre and then to a 13-acre Rural Historic Landscape, the first historical site so designated in Colorado. In addition to the barn, the site contains a remnant of the old stage road, the stacked-stone foundation of the homestead house (all that remains after fire destroyed the house in 1918), and a lilac bush and apple tree planted by the family, both of which still bloom every spring. The lilac came by covered wagon from Iowa with the Batterson family and is shown on the right. LWC members Mary Torrez Julie Burness, Linda Adams and Sandy Lagow at the Colorado History Museum for CHS meeting. The Batterson Ranch headquarters was found worthy of recognition and preservation under two criteria. First was its significance to early transportation that supported the development of economic activity including mining, logging and tourism along Elkhorn Creek and the Upper Cache la Poudre River, as well as North Park trade. The Batterson Ranch served as a swing station where horses were changed on the Manhattan Stage from and was a stop for the Zimmerman Stage from Second, it was recognized for its architecture as an excellent example of a Midwest Three Portal style barn, one of the few still standing in the area.

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