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Harvesting Historical Riches The Muegge House: Echoes of Bennett's Past
After the Kansas Pacific completed Colorado's first railroad connection in 1870, train whistles pierced the High Plains air, heralding a bright future for pioneer ranchers and farmers. Homesteaders that took advantage of free 640-acre government sections or railroad land established townships along the tracks. These towns, many of which thrive today, became commercial, shipping, and social centers. Bennett was founded in 1877 on the KP line about twenty-five miles east of Denver. Legend tells us that the settlement was originally named Kiowa, for nearby Kiowa Creek. On May 21, 1878 the creek flooded, drowning two sisters who shared the maiden name of Bennett, and washing out a railroad bridge. The disaster worsened when an eastbound 25-car KP train spilled off the broken tracks and crashed into the roiling waters. Engine No. 51 sunk into the quicksand and was never seen again. Later, townsfolk renamed the town in honor of the Bennett sisters. Although photographic evidence shows that the town's post office was named Bennett long before the flood and although Denver newspapers reported that KP agents found and exhumed the missing engine three months later, the fact remains that Bennett's past was continually shaped by water. Or the lack of it. In 1913 Garrett Harris built a farmhouse on his section just south of Bennett. Like many of his neighbors, he cultivated dryland wheat, corn, and other non-irrigated crops. His family's home, a simple front-gable wood-frame box with a wrap-around porch and subtle Victorian embellishments, typifies vernacular High Plains architecture of its period. In 1948 Charles Muegge purchased the Harris property and used the home as a bunkhouse for hired hands that worked the land. Over time, the home suffered weather damage from a leaky roof and windows. Aware that this symbol of the region's agricultural heritage, now known as the Muegge House, could be lost through inaction, the Town of Bennett and the Bennett Historical Society approached various individuals and organizations for help. Dent Hand, a Muegge relative and the most recent owner, donated the property to the town. The High Five Plains Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting and preserving the I-70 corridor towns of Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, and Deer Trail, chipped in enough money to make emergency repairs. In 1997 the State Historical Fund supported a structural assessment that identified ways to restore, interpret, and re-use the Muegge House. In the following three years the town and several nonprofit groups-including the Bennett Historical Society, the I-70 Corridor Chamber of Commerce, and the High Five Plains Foundation-repaired the roof, fixed interior walls and electrical systems, removed vinyl siding, restored the original lap siding, and added a wheelchair ramp. Benefiting from over $55,000 in SHF grants, the project may help Bennett preserve its rural aesthetic before large-scale commercial and residential growth occurs. Its prominent location on Highway 79 just north of I-70 ensures that drivers will see its plain whitewashed walls and welcoming porch before they enter town. As Aurora expands eastward and as businesses build across the plains east of Denver International Airport, Bennett will become an attractive place to live for commuters. With careful zoning, annexation, and an eye-or perhaps an ear-on the past, civic leaders know they can preserve Bennett's character despite these pressures. BY BEN FOGELBERG, Editor, Colorado History
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"Clarity."
Mary Ellen Dressler, President of the Bennett Historical Society,
stressed the word, repeating it so that I would understand. "The
air around Bennett is so clear that sound travels better out here."
It's true. On a recent visit to the Muegge House, the town's first
locally designated historic building, I heard nothing besides my
own footsteps as I walked over unbroken prairie sod to photograph
the home's restored exterior. Then, about five minutes after 12:00
p.m., I heard a low-pitched howl coming from the water tower on
the opposite side of town. The wailing horn, an emergency signal
that is tested every day at high noon (or slightly after), was designed
to warn residents of a tornado, flood, or other disaster. But it
also reminds people of their town's past.