Description

COLORADO SPRINGS FLOWER CARNIVAL FESTIVAL, 1898, original lithograph, Pueblo Litho. Co., Thomas C. and Anne Parrish, artists

Original 1898 advertising lithograph was influenced by the Thomas C. and Anne Parrish Art School for the Colorado Springs*, Colorado city-wide Flower Carnival festival.  D. V. Donaldson, Secretary of the Colorado Springs Mining Stock Association, was the driving force behind this illustrious festival.  The idea originated in as Sunflower Day, 1891 – 1892, and over the years evolved into the Colorado Springs Flower Carnival Festival where floats from all over Colorado participated in the parades.  In the 1898 Festival, there was a masquerade ball at the Broadmoor Casino (owned by County James Pourtales), a Flower Society Circus, Santa Clara Indian Day, horse-racing, and many other events.

*Thomas C. Parrish moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado Territory, in 1871.  He soon became involved with the Central Colorado Improvement Company, a land company formed by William J. Palmer and others associated with the formation of The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and the Colorado Springs Company.  Parrish had trained as a landscape and portrait painter, and had illustrated a number of early Colorado promotional pamphlets.  Although he and his second wife, Anne Lodge Willcox, had founded an art school in Colorado Springs in the early 1880s, Thomas Parrish made most of his living from mine promotion (Rosita, Hardscrabble Mining District) and stock promotion (Cripple Creek Gold Mining District).  Thomas and Anne Parrish’s daughter, Anne, became a noted author.

The Parrish Art School and Thomas Parrish’s business connections introduced him and his wife into many civic interests, such as Sunflower Day and the Colorado Springs Flower Carnival Festival.  Therefore, when it became apparent they should assist in designing the artwork for these festivals, the Parrishs’ were pleased to contribute.**

** Compare some of the artwork in this original lithograph to that Thomas Parrish’s “Colorado Springs, Illustrated,” 1889, and that he added to Ernest Whitney’s publication, “Legends of the Pike’s Peak Region,” 1892.

One of Thomas C. Parrish’s business associates, Count James Pourtales, was also involved in Colorado Springs Flower Carnival Festivals.  Parrish and Pourtales met in the early 1890s after both became involved in the Buena Vista Mine, and the Isabella Gold Mining Company, Cripple Creek Gold Mining Disrtrict, Colorado.  Both Pourtales and Parrish served as officers and directors of this prosperous mining concern.

Unfortunately, there is no extensive archive of historical materials extant from the Colorado Springs Flower Casrnival Festivals.  In fact, this original lithograph was completely unknown until it was extracted from inside a lathe-and-plaster wall during the remodeling of an old 1890s Cripple Creek, Colorado home.  It was being as insulation, which explains the occasional nail holes scattered here and there throughout its surface (not enough, though, to distract from its superb artwork and historical value).

Overall, this lithograph is very good plus condition, benefitting from some conservation work on the back of this thick-paper lithograph.  There are several repaired tears, some light staining here and there, and a few tiny patches (mostly nail-hole diameter); however, generally the colors are still vibrant, the paper still strong and pliable, and integrity vastly intact.  Exceptional for having been used as insulation for over a century!

Lithograph dimensions: 38 inches by 25 inches; thick-bond paper

PUEBLO LITHO. CO., 1898

Advertisers:

Cog Wheel Route, The Mansions, National Hotel (Cripple Creek), Colorado Midland Railroad, Colorado College & Cutler Academy, Antlers Hotel, Broadmoor Casino & Hotel, Elk Hotel, Seven Falls & South Cheyenne Canon, Spaulding Hotel, Alamo Hotel, Hotel Colorado (Glenwood Springs), Cascade Canon, Shields-Morley Grocery Co.

 

Further historical research:

ANNE LODGE WILLCOX PARRISH, 1850 – 1900

THOMAS C. PARRISH, 1837 – 1899

In 1880, Thomas C. and Anne L.W. Parrish opened an art studio at 209 North Weber Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado.  In 1888, the Parrishes, along with Frank T. Lent, established the first art school in Colorado Springs.  Both Thomas and Anne were from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; however, they both were enamored with the Pikes Peak Region and endeavored to leave their artistic impressions on the people who lived there.

Thomas C. Parrish was born in Philadelphia in 1837 and moved to Colorado Springs in 1872 for health reasons.  Not only was he a practicing artist at the time, but also an entrepreneur, promoter, and mining investor.  Parrish must have have had some business successes on his record because by 1873 he was already serving as the secretary and treasurer of the Central Colorado Improvement Company, which was associated with General William J. Palmer and William A. Bell’s Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company.  William P. Mellen, the father of Palmer’s wife, Queen, was the president of The Central Colorado Improvement Company.

In 1875, Thomas Parrish was involved with another part of General Palmer’s ever-expanding business empire: The South Pueblo Concentrating and Reduction Company.  That same year, Parrish invested in silver mining properties located in the Hardscrabble Mining District of Custer County.  He was secretary of The Virginia Mining Company and Pennsylvania Reduction Company of Rosita, Colorado.

In 1878, Thomas Parrish was elected state senator for the Colorado Legislature.  However, his service was interrupted by the death of his first wife.  In his grief, Parrish returned to Philadelphia to study at Academy of Fine Arts.  While there, he met his second wife, Anne Lodge Willcox, the daughter of a paper and cement manufacturer.  Thomas and Anne married soon married, then returned to Colorado Springs.  1880 – 1881, the Parrishes opened an art studio at 209 N. Weber Street.

Anne Lodge Willcox was already an established portrait artist and soon became noted in Colorado Springs for her portrait of the nationally famous author, Helen Hunt Jackson (CENTURY OF OUR DISHONOR, ROMONA, etc.), who had married William S. Jackson, banker and business associate of General William J. Palmer.

The same year Thomas and Anne returned to Colorado Springs, Anne’s brother, William J. Willcox also traveled to the Pikes Peak Region for the climate and help cure his tuberculosis.  While in the Region, he purchased eight hundred acres from Burt Myers, a property Willcox had developed into the Broadmoor Dairy Farm.  Several years later, William Willcox sold the Broadmoor Dairy to Count James Pourtales.  Through this important real estate transaction, Thomas Parrish met James Pourtales and from that point on, Parrish and Pourtales were excellent friends and business partners (re: LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE by Count James Pourtales, 1955).

1889: Thomas C. Parrish wrote, illustrated and published the promotional pamphlet, Colorado Springs: Its Climate, Scenery and Society, The Gazette Printing Company.  This publication is significant because it offers numerous examples of Thomas Parrish’s pen and pencil sketches and watercolor drawings, including the pamphlet’s front cover.  Pen and brush strokes, floral styles, and especially mountains appear to resemble similar images in the 1898 COLORADO SPRINGS FLOWER CARNIVAL lithograph, published by the Pueblo Litho. Company.

The year 1891 saw the beginning of the stupendous Cripple Creek Gold Mining District.  Although Count James Pourtales was financially struggling to complete his new Broadmoor Casino and Resort on the Myers/Willcox property, he and Thomas Parrish traveled horseback up to the recently formed gold district on the southwest face of Pikes Peak.  After conferring with W. S. Stratton, James Burns, Sam Strong and other prospectors in the area, Pourtales and Parrish contracted to purchase the Buena Vista Mine on Bull Hill.  The Buena Vista then proceeded through several consolidations and financial reincarnations to become the great Isabella Gold Mining Company, with Thomas C. Parrish as second vice president, and investors such as William J. Palmer, James J. Hagerman, Spencer Penrose, Charles Tutt, Sam S. Bernard, James Pourtales and other Cripple Creek luminaries.

Legends of the Pikes Peak Region by Ernest Whitney was published by The Chain & Hardy Company, of Denver, Colorado in 1892.  This publication was illustrated by Thomas C. Parrish and attracted the attention of many who were intrigued by Native American folklore, including promoter/investor, Verner Z. Reed.  Reed, while gaining wealth in mining and banking, published his own books centered on Native American folklore, illustrated by notable artists like Charles Craig and L. Maynard Dixon.  Legends offers examples of Thomas Parrish’s work for comparison with the artwork in the 1898 COLORADO SPRINGS FLOWER CARNIVAL lithograph, especially in reference to shadowed figures and plant-life.

1893: Thomas C. and Anne L.W. Parrish conceived the idea of a flower carnival in Colorado Springs, as noted by Count James Pourtales in his memoirs, LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE.  The souvenir programme published for the third annual carnival, August 22, 1895, notes Mrs. T. C. Parrish as having served on the, “Banners and Decorations” Committee while T. C. Parrish was on the “Prizes” Committee.  By this time, the Colorado Springs Flower Carnival had become a grand celebration, with extensive masses of “brilliant flowers” grown at the foot of Pikes Peak and “hundreds of vehicles of every description” in the parades.  George Rex Buckman, Donald V. Donaldson, Verner Z. Reed, James F. Burns, J. G. Shields, C. B. Seldomridge, and many other Colorado Springs luminaries had taken over this successful annual event.

When comparing Anne Parrish’s portrait of Helen Hunt Jackson and the art nouveau women “flying” over Colorado Springs in this 1898 lithograph, it appears evident that Anne was responsible for painting of these figures.  Some of the lesser figures resemble figures Thomas Parrish drew for his 1889 and 1892 publications referenced in this article.  The mountain images also appear to be those of Thomas Parrish, mostly because of their watercolor-like “feel.”  It also interesting to note that Count Pourtales supported his friends’ carnival and artwork with a Broadmoor Casino advertisement on this lithograph, and in return the Broadmoor Casino building was labeled in the background.

Conclusion from the brief aforementioned history and noted artwork is that the 1898 COLORADO SPRINGS FLOWER CARNIVAL lithograph was a product of the Parrish art studio at 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs.  How much Anne Parrish contributed compared to that of her husband, Thomas, is a matter for further study.  Possibly, the lithograph was entirely executed by Anne Parrish.  She was certainly the more respected of the two painters.  Anne’s artistic talents can be seen in the collection of her paintings at the Pioneer Museum in Colorado Springs.  Thomas’ talents are mostly seen in his extant publications.

COLORADO ARTIFACTUAL