First Governor, First Lady: John and Eliza Routt of Colorado

by Joyce B. Lohse

A dual biography of Colorado's last territorial governor and first state governor, John L. Routt and his wife, Eliza. In addition to being elected governor twice and serving as mayor of Denver, Routt's business acumen earned him the titles Bonanza King and Cattle King. Eliza's contribution to the new state included years of service as the first woman appointed to the state Board of Agriculture. She had the distinction of being the first woman registered to vote in Colorado. Their story is the exciting story of the early days of Colorado statehood. Richly illustrated with historic photographs, many in print for the first time. Foreword by former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm.

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Colorado author Joyce B. Lohse combines a degree in journalism with genealogy research skills and a passion for western history to create award-winning biographies for all ages. Her seven biographies have won two silver WILLA awards, five Colorado Independent Publishers’ EVVY awards, and a Colorado Authors’ League Top Hand award. She has also written many articles, and her program essays are included in several Pikes Peak Library District history symposia publications.

Subjects for Joyce Lohse’s biographies include Colorado’s Baby Doe Tabor, General William Palmer, Unsinkable “Molly” Brown, Educator Emily Griffith, Dr. Justina Ford, and Colorado’s Original Governor and First Lady, John and Eliza Routt. In 2008, Joyce accepted induction into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame’s for Eliza Routt. During the past decade, she has presented over 200 programs to Colorado Front Range groups. In her free time, Joyce lurks in cemeteries and archives, researching stories about Colorado pioneers.

"I combine journalism, genealogy and history to write biographies. My goal is to preserve and share true stories about pioneers and history of the American West through books, articles, and presentations."
-- Joyce B. Lohse

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a great deal of Colorado history that I did not know before reading this book. Lohse obviously did a great deal of research but I often felt that it could have been related in a smoother story format. It seemed that each chapter was a very separate entity, often confusing the timeline.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographies of John Routt and Eliza Pickrell Routt, the first governor and first lady of Colorado. Routt was appointed when Colorado was still a territory. After it became a state in 1876, he was elected to two nonconsecutive terms as governor, plus a term in between as mayor of Denver. Both Routts were supportive of the women’s suffrage movement. Because of this, Eliza Routt became the first female registered voter in Colorado after the legislature voted in 1893 to give women voting rights. At her urging, the board of the Colorado State Agricultural College (now Colorado State University) hired its first female faculty member. Admittedly, this was in the School of Domestic Economy, but hey, it was a start. The book was written by a descendant of a distant cousin of Eliza Routt. Nice historical photos, with follow-up about what happened to various buildings mentioned in the book. I learned a lot about the early days of Colorado’s statehood.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1

Anyone who's lived in the U.S. all of his/her life knows who the first President was. But how many people know the name of the first man (not a female back in those days) to govern their state? I sure didn't.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who lives in Colorado. Most surprising detail (and fairly unimportant): Routt was only 5'2" tall!

Eliza is a minor character in this book, meriting one chapter to herself, but that chapter doesn't fit smoothly with the rest of the book.

2025: 3.8

I read this exactly one year ago ... but I didn't remember much about Routt, so I read it again. This time I focused on the big ideas and scanned over the details. Example of details: Many of Eliza R's relatives are named and mentioned. That would be important to Lohse because of her family history, but not to me.

Appreciated: photos, endnotes, bibliography