An 1880s Victorian Mansion in the Colorado Rockies: The Estemere Estate at Palmer Lake

by Edwards, Daniel

  A public hearing was held two weeks later to consider Mid-America’s request for a zoning change. Notes made by town officials seemed supportive: traffic problems were not anticipated, as peak traffic was estimated at 438 vehicles per hour, with only slight delays turning onto Highway 105. For comparison, if apartments were built on the site, about 75 units could be built, and residents could make 600 trips per day. Putting an administrative building and parking at the west end of the property would be a good change. The Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments prepared a 16-point check list for a suggested “Subdivision Agreement” for Estemere to help the town address all the relevant issues.

  In mid-March, the Town Council held a meeting at which opposition to the zoning change was expressed. Don Leonard, the owner of Mid-America Investment Co., spoke at the meeting and defended his proposal. He said it was a $7 million project and that 120,000 work hours and about $100,000 had already gone into restoring Estemere. Leonard was quoted as saying:

  I make my money doing development work, but the money isn’t in this. The Victorian village idea is an interesting and lovely contribution to the town, state and community, but I don’t think it’s a money-maker.”[158]

  However, Leonard believed the completed village would be profitable, since the artisans would use the buildings as sales outlets for their products.

  Residents who opposed the development feared it would “disrupt the sleepy village with hordes of tourists and bustling traffic” and destroy the unique character of Palmer Lake. There was skepticism that Leonard’s modest plans would not expand in the future in order to make money, and the development would turn into a major tourist attraction like Golden’s Heritage Square. Some believed that any commercial development of this nature should occur in the “downtown” area along Highway 105 instead of in the residential section adjoining the Estemere property.

  Leonard replied that he intended to build up the site slowly over several years, that additions would be made only if the demand was there, and he anticipated drawing 250 people a day after 10 years.[159] He hoped he could attract the National Miniature Association’s headquarters to the village. Leonard said if his plans were not approved, he would “sever” the property and sell it off in sections, although he personally hated apartments.[160] This was a shrewd remark, as Leonard knew no one in the town wanted to see dozens of apartment units spring up east of Estemere. Most of the speakers favored the project and thought that any potential problems could be dealt with, and believed it would strengthen the town’s tax base.

  The Town Council postponed its decision for two weeks to allow time for further citizen input. A petition was circulated and signed by more than 125 citizens, many of them long-time Palmer Lake residents. It stated that

  [we] have been afforded adequate information and opportunity to voice our wishes regarding the proposed rezoning of the Estemere property…. We understand that the proposed zoning provides for a combination of residential and commercial uses and we believe that the use will be beneficial to the community….

  When a special meeting of the town’s Board of Trustees (Town Council) was held on 31 March, Don Leonard again reviewed his plans, and a councilman noted that preliminary and final plans for the Victorian Village would have to be submitted to both the Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees for final approval. The Council then unanimously approved the requested zoning change.[161] Afterwards, Leonard said the first priority would be planting trees, while the construction of exhibition halls and other buildings would occur “in the years to come.” As noted, step-by-step plans for traffic configurations, building placement and height, water needs, hours of business operation, and fees the town would charge would have to be developed and then approved by town authorities.

  [162]

  Yet there is no record that any such plans or follow-up work was ever started on the Estemere property. The Victorian Village concept and the necessary zoning changes had been approved, but that was the end of the project. What happened? First, the national business climate in 1980 was unfavorable: inflation was high and commercial interest rates topped 15 percent. It was a difficult time for many small businesses to obtain loans. And, as noted above, Mid-America Investment had borrowed at least $130,000 the past five years using Estemere as collateral, and presumably had already spent some of that amount on Estemere and/or other real estate projects.

  The company was able to borrow $20,000 from a private party in Denver in June 1981, but that money may have been used to pay off existing corporate debts. In September 1983, additional Estemere property was added to the security pledged for the $52,500 loan obtained four years earlier. The final blow fell in August 1985 when both Mid-America Investment Co. and Hi-Co Development Co. (both headed by Donald Leonard) executed promissory notes of $600,000 each as part of a settlement agreement reached with the Commercial Litigation Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice. Foreclosure on Estemere was soon to follow. About this time, Joan Leonard became seriously ill, and that may have been an additional reason why the Leonards lost interest in the property.

  Since the Public Trustee of El Paso County was the party named in previous deeds of trust for loans secured by Estemere property, the Trustee issued a “notice of election and demand for sale” on 18 November 1986 at the request of Denver’s Capitol Federal Savings and Loan Association that was owed $49,975 on the loan it had made to Mid-America Investment Co. in 1979. The sale of some of that property occurred on 10 March 1987, and Capitol Federal Savings acquired the property for $55,567. Later that month, the Denver bank that held a 1975 promissory note from Mid-American Investment for $80,000 filed for the sale of Estemere because Mid-America had defaulted on its payments. Shortly after these developments, Jim Peterson, whose daughter, Grace, had married Don Leonard’s son, John, stepped forward to purchase Estemere.

  The Follmers at Estemere

  After the flood of 1964, Ed Hubbard and Bryce Follmer, who retired in 1966, did much of the clean-up work at Estemere. By 1965, Helen and Bryce Follmer moved into the cottage at the west end of the property. In 1967, they occupied the main house, staying in a room off the Kitchen. They did not use the upper floors. Bryce served on the Palmer Lake town council for three terms and was active in the Little Log Church. During much of her life, Helen was involved with the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization), one of the pioneer societies for women. Bryce Follmer died in June 1980 and was buried in Lincoln, Nebraska. After her husband died, Helen moved into the main house until Jim Peterson bought the place in 1987. Then she moved back to the cottage, where she lived until she broke her hip in a fall while “power walking” around Palmer Lake in 1995, after which she moved into a nursing home in Lakewood, Colorado.

  Helen Follmer lived on the Estemere grounds for 30 years, longer than anyone else ever connected with the property. She died on 31 July 2003 at the age of 98, shortly after visiting Kim at Estemere.

  Personalities of Estemere (1964-1986)

  Donald Eugene Leonard

  Leonard was born 17 March 1933 at Madrid, Iowa. He served in the U.S. Navy and married Joan Follmer of Topeka, Kansas, in 1954. Leonard received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska and graduated cum laude from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1960. He was admitted to the Nebraska Bar the same year and later became managing partner of the Nelson, Harding, Acklie, Leonard, and Tate law firm in Lincoln.

  Leonard worked as legal advisor to several corporations and institutions on the federally-guaranteed student loan program. Because of his involvement in getting loans for college students, he was appointed by President Nixon to chair the National Commission on the Financing of Postsecondary Education in September 1972. After holding many hearings, the Committee published its final report in December 1973. The report included alternate financing plans for all postsecondary schools including vocational schools and an analysis of financial distress in postsecondary education. Leonard also attended a White House Confe
rence on Inflation in September 1974. Don Leonard owned and was the president of the Labor Finance Industrial Bank of Denver, a firm that specialized in the federal student loan program. He also owned the bank’s parent company, MEDSA, Inc.

  He formed the Mid-America Investment Co. in 1964, and through it, became active in developing real estate projects in Nebraska and Colorado, such as The Acreage, Lincoln School of Commerce, and East Park Plaza in the Lincoln area. In 1979, Leonard and his bank’s president were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Denver in a case involving kick-backs paid by schools seeking federally insured student loan funds to the Labor Finance Industrial Bank Leonard owned. The payments may have amounted to more than $1 million. Leonard and the bank’s president were each fined $1,000 and sentenced to 60 days’ community service. Leonard later denied criminal intent in the student loan case, but conceded that some schools that received financing from his bank also purchased stock in two MEDSA corporations that were developing computer software for educational management, programming, and financing. This apparent quid-pro-quo was deemed to violate U.S. Office of Education regulations.

  The Nebraska Supreme Court suspended Leonard from law practice for one year after he had pleaded no contest and paid fines related to the federal complaint. Apparently the U.S. Department of Justice initiated further proceedings, because two of Leonard’s companies (both had been involved in the proposal to build a Victorian Village at Estemere) paid a total of $1.2 million in 1985 pursuant to a settlement agreement with the Justice Department. Joan Leonard died in 1986, and Don spent his last few years as head gardener for a Lincoln businessman. He died on 17 January 1994 at the age of 60 in Lincoln.

  Five more of the Leonard photos found in a drawer at Estemere:

  The main floor Master Bedroom fireplace.

  A number of documents relating to furnishings and construction from the Leonard era were found at Estemere and are included on the DVD, along with an interview with Helen Follmer.

  An Interview with Jody and Virgil Watkins

  Dan Edwards interviewed Jody and Virgil Watkins in August 2011. They live right across from the Little Log Church on the corner of Estemere’s long driveway. Their kids used to pal around with the Leonard kids. Virgil and Jody had a few meals at Estemere and were apparently about the only “locals” the Leonards associated with. Here are a few tidbits about the Leonards they told Dan:

  · When Don Leonard was planning his Victorian Village, he wanted to construct a miniature train that ran around the property. He tried to buy an adjoining lot to the east for his railroad line, but the owner would not sell.

  · Joan Leonard spent a lot of time and effort to restore the interior of Estemere. She received advice about what the house had looked like in earlier days from Ed Hubbard, who had lived in Palmer Lake for years, and who worked as a carpenter around the house in the 1960s. Joan had a kiln in an outbuilding and wanted to make tiles to restore the fireplaces—it is not clear that she ever did so, but she did go to Denver to look for old wallpaper patterns. Joan had a doll collection, and used one of the upstairs bedrooms to display them. She also put dolls in many of the other rooms. Many were old and valuable (porcelain, etc.). Joan hired someone to restore the stained glass windows.

  · The Watkins believed Joan intended to live at Estemere after her husband retired; that was why she spent so much effort acquiring antique furniture and making it a comfortable home. She never spoke of selling the property. Her plans were cut short by her death in 1986.

  · Jody Watkin’s mother, Mary Aschinger, a widow, came to Colorado from Iowa and wanted to live by herself but near her daughter. In 1976, she rented the “caretaker’s cottage” [the Cottage] from Helen Follmer for $90 a month. She lived there about a year. For a time in the 1980s, a man named Jeremy Jackson and his wife rented the same cottage.

  · Helen lived in a little suite off the Kitchen; it had an attached bathroom. Virgil said it was near the butler’s pantry.

  · The children’s annual party (the “Rock Stars”?) was held every Labor Day weekend.

  · The Leonards often entertained Don’s business friends.

  · In the summer of 1980, the Watkins’ young daughter, Bonnie, worked as a maid and helped cook at Estemere. She remembers one evening the Leonards entertained the wife of the governor of Nebraska.

  · Watkins’ son, Tim, and other neighborhood boys, assisted the Leonard boys in building the rock wall behind the main house.

  There are more items related to this chapter on the DVD.

  The Flood of 1965

  Several newspaper articles about the Flood of 1965 are on the DVD.

  Chapter 10

  Jim Peterson: an Absentee Owner

  (1987-1998)

  Jim Peterson Buys Estemere

  When the Estemere property went into default, the Leonard sons were in law school or had just begun their legal careers, so they were in no position to prevent foreclosure. Don Leonard’s son, John, had married Grace Peterson. The Leonards asked Grace’s father, Jim Peterson, a successful restaurateur, to purchase Estemere and hold it for them until they had the financial wherewithal to buy it back. Jim agreed, and when Estemere was put up for public sale on 09 June 1987, he bid $66,600 to acquire the property.

  Although Jim Peterson owned Estemere for 10 years, he spent very little time at the property. In the late 1980s, he was operating the What-A-Burger chain of 600 restaurants and living on a ranch near Corpus Christi, Texas. Business demands kept him on the go and away from Palmer Lake for long periods. However, Jim found time to journey to Palmer Lake every year to participate in the Pikes Peak Run and the Bolder Boulder race. He supplied these photos and descriptions:

  Here are 3 [4] photos—1 after the Boulder race and 1 in front of the porch of Estemere and one in the breakfast room. Lew and Jeane were frequent guests. He was my running buddy all over the world for 25 years. [And one of him with the bison.]

  Dan Fraley: Estemere’s Caretaker

  (1991-1998)

  Jim’s first caretaker at Estemere was George Cruise; he was replaced by Dan Fraley. Dan had moved to Palmer Lake in 1985 from Denver where he had an art gallery, because he wanted to “move to the country.” A few years later, Fraley bought the town’s “old telephone house” near Estemere. He became acquainted with his neighbor, Jim Peterson, and after Cruise retired, Dan Fraley became Estemere’s property manager in 1991.

  The Carriage House loft was renovated: a kitchen, sky-light and French doors were installed to make attractive living quarters into which Dan and his wife moved. Peterson, a board member of the South Texas Arts Council, approved Dan’s idea to restore the Carriage House and turn it into an art gallery. Dan stuccoed the walls and laid the brick-paver floor. He also designed the gallery, and a classroom, office, and shop were fixed up as well. The Estemere Art Gallery opened in late 1992. Dan was a painter and exhibited his paintings, along with those of other local artists, in the gallery.

  The gallery was used for some public events, such as fundraisers for the “Restore the [Palmer] Lake” committee. Art and figure drawing classes were held there, as well as occasional concerts, one of which featured local “Zen Cowboy” Chuck Pyle, and some one-man shows. The Palmer Lake Art Group had its 32nd annual fine arts show and sale at the “Estemere Art Gallery” in May 1997 and conducted a public tour of the house—the first in more than 30 years. Elementary school children took field trips to Estemere, so the students could make drawings of it. The gallery closed in 1998. Dan also had a real estate license and used the office in the Carriage House for that business as well. He thought holding such public events was a good way to market the property when Peterson decided to sell it. The main house hosted a few executive forum meetings and weekend corporate retreats. Dan Fraley’s tenure as Estemere’s caretaker and property manager ended on 30 June 1998.[163]

  Estemere Art Gallery.

  Garcia Wood with Dan Fraley.

  Estemere Art Gallery.

  While he owned Est
emere, Peterson used it as a home base for his annual sojourns to Colorado to participate in the Pike’s Peak Marathon—an annual race held every August—and as a vacation spot for his friends and business associates. He usually spent no more than two weekends a year in the house. Like all old houses, Estemere required constant maintenance and upkeep, an expense that probably averaged about $50,000 a year. Peterson had the two 19th century Italian style fountains restored and put wall-to-wall carpeting in the house.

  Henson’s Plans for a Bed & Breakfast at Estemere

  George Henson was a sculptor and had remodeled several buildings in Manitou Springs. Mary Henson was a florist and had operated a floral shop in Manitou Springs since 1986. Together they started the Business of Art Center in Manitou.

  The Henson’s daughter, Cindy, lived in Palmer Lake in a house above Estemere, and they got the idea to purchase Estemere, live on the property, have guided tours for the public, and hold weddings and receptions there. They would subdivide the six-acre property on which Estemere stood and sell the lots to generate money to fix up the mansion. They thought they could also earn money by establishing seven high quality bed-and-breakfast units in Estemere as well as holding weddings and receptions there. They would move into the art studio and use Fraley’s apartment.