Anna Wolfrom
{{Short description|Early homesteader and writer}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anna Wolfrom
| image = Anna Wolfrom, Kansas City Post, July 28, 1917.png
| alt =
| caption = Image printed in 1917
| birth_name =
| birth_date = ca. 1872
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date|1950|7|12}}
| death_place = Estes Park, Colorado
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Teacher, writer, homesteader, and businesswoman
| years_active =
| known_for = Being the first successful female homesteader and businesswoman in the Estes Park area
| notable_works =
}}
Anna Wolfrom (ca. 1872–July 12, 1950) was a pioneer homesteader, teacher, writer, and businesswoman in Estes Park, Colorado. She was an alumnus of Columbia University and Oxford University. She also spent summers and studied in Paris. Her published works include Sacajawea, the Indian princess. She established five businesses in and around Estes Park and another in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the "first successful female entrepreneur in the Estes Park area." Her success inspired five women to homestead in or near Estes Park by 1917.
Early life and education
The daughter of Louis{{Cite news |date=August 15, 1899 |title=Home from Paris |url=http://archive.org/details/july1189907dulu |access-date=March 8, 2024 |work=Duluth Evening Herald |pages=6}} and Anne Wolfrom, Anna was born about 1872 in Massachusetts and was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. Both of her parents were immigrants. Her father was born in Germany, and her mother in Ireland.{{citation|title=Anna Wolfrom, 8, Kansas City | work=Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives | location=Washington, D.C.|via=ancestry}}
Her siblings included her older brother Philip (who was not alive at the time of her death), James R. Wolfrom and her half-siblings Louis Wolfrom, Clara Wolfrom, and Mary Wolfrom Murray.
Wolfrom studied at Columbia University and studied playwriting in Paris and at Oxford University in England.{{Cite news |date=November 25, 1919 |title=Anna studied play making in Paris and at Oxford |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-telegram-anna-studied-play-making/142898979/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=Press-Telegram |pages=15}} She studied at the Sorbonne for three years, including 1894 and 1897.{{efn|In 1894, she traveled to Paris with her brother, Philip, who was an artist who also studied in Paris.{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1894 |title=Miss Anna Wolfrom is in Paris |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-miss-anna-wolfrom-is/142897127/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=Kansas City Journal |page=9}} She spent the summer in Paris in 1897.{{Cite news |date=1897-07-18 |title=Miss Anna Wolfrom, who is in Europe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-star-miss-anna-wolfrom/142897468/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=The Kansas City Star |pages=14}}}} She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1907.{{Cite news |date=1921-12-20 |title=Play[w]right and Proprietress of Curio Shop is M. U. Graduate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/columbia-missourian-playwright-and-pro/142901259/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=Columbia Missourian |pages=2}}
Career
=Teacher=
Wolfrom began teaching in Kansas City, Missouri in 1890.{{Cite news |date=February 7, 1890 |title=Anna Wolfrom hired to teach in Kansas City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-anna-wolfrom-hired-t/142897855/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=Kansas City Journal |pages=8}} Between 1896 and 1904 or more, she taught at Yeager School{{citation|title=List of schools: Yeager school | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-list-of-kansas-city/142881564/ |newspaper=Kansas City Journal | date= September 11, 1896 | page=5}} Lathrop School,{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/reportofsuperint1899kans |title=Report of the superintendent of schools of the school district of Kansas City, Missouri |publisher=Kansas City Board of Education |year=1899–1900 |location=Kansas City, Missouri}} and taught French in a Kansas City school. Meanwhile, in 1900, Wolfrom taught at a school in Estes Park.{{citation|title=Anna Wolfrom, Estes Park | work=United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, National Archives and Records Administration |year= 1900 | location= Washington, D.C.| via=ancestry.com }} In 1917, Wolfrom taught at Northeast High School in Kansas City and lived in the Estes Park cabin a few months a year.
=Homesteader=
File:Anna Wolfrom's cabin, Estes Park, July 28, 1917, Kansas City Post.png]]
In December 1903, while studying at Oxford University in England, Wolfrom was visited by an acquaintance, Guy Robert LaCoste, who negotiated acquisition of land in Estes Park. Wolfrom and LaCoste then met with Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, Estes Park's largest land owner.{{Cite book |last=Melton |first=Jack R. |url=http://archive.org/details/ymcaofrockiesref0000melt |title=YMCA of the Rockies : reflections, traditions & vision |date=2006 |publisher=Estes Park, Colo. : YMCA of the Rockies |isbn=978-0-9636997-3-2 |pages=17}} Dunraven told her how to homestead land in Estes Park.{{Cite news |last=Jessen |first=Kenneth |date=March 15, 2022 |title=Women in Northern Colorado History: Anna Wolfrom was a pioneer Estes Park businesswoman |url=https://www.reporterherald.com/2022/03/14/women-in-northern-colorado-history-anna-wolfrom-was-a-pioneer-estes-park-businesswoman/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=The Loveland Reporter-Herald |language=en-US}}
{{External media|image1=[https://www.historycolorado.org/node/4614 Anna Wolfrom], History Colorado]}}
Wolfrom filed for 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act and built a cabin on Aspen Brook, near Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park. She hauled wood up to her land for the initial, small board and batten cabin. In 1913, she built a log home with a stone chimney after she received title to the land. She did most of the work herself, bringing lumber, supplies, and groceries in a wheelbarrow along a steep path from Estes Park, which was about {{convert|5|miles|km}} away.{{Cite news |date=July 28, 1917 |title=Northeast High School Teacher Erects House on Homestead Near Estes Park |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-post-northeast-high-scho/142887508/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=The Kansas City Post |pages=5}}
=Businesswomen and playwright=
Hikers passed her home when the Wind River Trail was opened along Aspen Brook. She opened a tea room called Wigwam Tea Room in 1914 for hikers to rest and get refreshments. It had a gift shop where she sold curios, Native American artifacts, and antiques. This augmented her income as a teacher and writer of plays. She was the first female homesteader and the "first successful female entrepreneur in the Estes Park area".{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=Kari |url=https://estes-park.com/things-to-do/celebrate-the-women-of-estes-park/ |title=Celebrate the Women of Estes Park! |date=2023-09-01 |language=en-US}} Her initial customers arrived on the trail after she had a road built, doing most of the work herself, people also drove to the Wigwam Tea Room. Her success inspired five women to homestead near Estes Park by 1917.
By 1921, she lived in Estes Park nine months of the year and spent the rest of the time traveling and buying merchandise for the Wigwam Tea Room. Estes Park became a popular tourist location. In 1920, more than 200 people visited her store each day.{{Cite web |title=Anna Wolfrom's Wigwam Tea Room collection |url=https://www.historycolorado.org/node/4614 |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=www.historycolorado.org}} From 1920 to 1922, she established more businesses and expanded the size of the Wigwam Tea Room. The businesses included the Indian Shop, the Beaver Point store and filling station, the Belknap Cottages, and the Louise Gift Shop in Estes Park. In 1926, she established a gift store in New Orleans. Wolfrom continued to operate the Wigwam Tea Room until the year of her death.
Personal life
She was married twice, first on January 13, 1923, to Dr. Orville H. Dove in Jackson, Missouri,{{citation | title=Anna Wolfrom married Orville Dove| work=Marriage Records. Jackson County Missouri Recorded of Deeds | url=http://www.jacksongov.org/content/3310/3356/3358/5668.aspx|accessdate= October 23, 2014 | via=ancestry.com}} becoming Anna Wolfrom Dove. They then lived in Estes Park.{{Cite news |date=February 23, 1923 |title=Town and Countryside: Miss Anna Wolfrom to be married April 1923 | via= Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection |url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ETG19230223.2.16&srpos=16&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%257ctxCO%257ctxTA-%2522Anna+Wolfrom%2522-------0------ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=The Estes Park Trail}} After Dr. Dove died, she married John T. McNamara, but the marriage was annulled. She died at her home on July 12, 1950.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-rhinelander-daily-news-obituary-for/142874752/ |title=Obituary for Anna Wolfrom | newspaper=Rhinelander Daily News | date=July 14, 1950 }} At the time of her death, she was known as Anna Wolfrom Dove{{Cite news |date=July 30, 1950 |title=Probate Scheduled - Anna Wolfrom Dove |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-collins-coloradoan-probate-schedule/142875636/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=Fort Collins Coloradoan |pages=6}} and Anna Wolfrom Dove McNamara.{{Cite news |date=August 4, 1950 |title= Legal Notice: Estate of Anna Wolfrom Dove McNamara (aka Anna Wolfrom Dove) |via=Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection |url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ETG19500804-01.2.72.1&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%257ctxCO%257ctxTA-%2522Anna+Wolfrom%2522-------0------ |access-date=2024-03-07 |location=Rhinelander, Wisconsin |work=The Estes Park Trail }} She was buried in Hudson, New York.
After her death, her Estes Park property was owned by the Coburn and Reichardt families. It was sold in 1985 to the National Park Service to build a trail to allow hikers to hike to and from Lily Lake from the Wind River Trail.
Publications
- {{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/romanceofwolfhol00wolf |title=A romance of Wolf Hollow |date=1902 |publisher=The Gorham Press |location=Boston}}
- {{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924021731728 |title=Albion and Rosamond, and The living voice, two dramas |date=1916 |publisher=Boston, Serman, French & Company}}
- {{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/humanwispssixon00wolfgoog |title=Human wisps, six one-act plays |date=1917 |publisher=Boston, Sherman, French & company}}
- {{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sacajaweaindianp00wolf |title=Sacajawea, the Indian princess : the Indian girl who piloted the Lewis and Clark expedition across the Rocky mountains : a play in three acts |date=1918 |publisher=Kansas City, Mo. : Burton Publishing Company}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
See also
- Isabella Bird § Travels in middle life, author of A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
- Esther Burnell, naturalist, wife of Enos Mills, Longs Peak Inn operator
- Sarah Milner Smith - first teacher in Larimer County, Colorado, known for her pioneering efforts
;Inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
- Clara Brown, former enslaved woman, first black settler in Colorado, entrepreneur, community leader, and philanthropist
- Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone, pioneer hotel owner and operator, financial backer for local business, and miller
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite news |date=1903-01-11 |title=Books by Kansas City Teacher |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-books-by-kansas-city/142899706/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=Kansas City Journal |pages=35}}
- {{Cite book |last=Kunze |first=Nina Jones |title=Anna Wolfrom Dove and The Wigwam Tea Room: The Remarkable Single Woman Homesteader and the History of Her Legendary Tea Room in the Rocky Mountains |date=2019 |publisher=Independent published |isbn=978-1-0708-3645-4}} - Because this is self-published, it is just for reader's information. It is not a reliable source for this article.
- {{Cite book |last=Sommer |first=Jenny |title=History of the Lodges of Estes Park & The Irrepressible Women of Estes Park & Their Lodging Establishments |date=2015 |publisher=Gail Blinde | url=https://estespark.pastperfectonline.com/library/CF98530F-4940-499C-9121-439296841534 |isbn=978-0-9984954-0-8 | via=Estes Park Museum}}
External links
- {{Cite web |title=Estes Park Museum - Anna Wolfrom |url=https://estespark.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Wolfrom%2C+Anna |website=estespark.pastperfectonline.com}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfrom, Anna}}
Category:People from Kansas City, Missouri
Category:People from Estes Park, Colorado
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford