When he first visited Colorado, Schuyler Colfax was stepbrother to a Denverite – and near the front of the line of succession to be US President.
In 1865, the Indiana congressman was speaker of the US House of Representatives and a good person to get friendly with, as he held the federal purse strings. So renaming 15th Avenue "Colfax Avenue" in his honor was likely for some kind of favor – though today, no one seems to know just what that might have been.
Schuyler Colfax rose one step higher on the national stage – Vice President to Ulysses S Grant for a term, but then a corruption scandal took him out of the light. But Colfax Avenue goes on. The longest commercial street in America. Street signs stretch across the whole metro area and onto the plains from Golden to Strasburg – all stamped with the name of a man from Indiana who might have been president.
About Colorado Postcards
Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado.
