Historical Society acquires Stroehle home

Lynn Volkens

04/24/2008 - It’s not always good news when the person at the other end of the line is an attorney. In March of 2007, however, the attorney who called Gilpin County Historical Society had great news. The Historical Society had been left a historical home on Black Hawk’s Chase Street by Billie Jean (Stroehle) Smith and her husband, Marvin. The Stroehle name is a Black Hawk legacy name, originating with George Stroehle who was a blacksmith and pipefitter there, operating a boiler works in his building on Main Street. The family was also known for their musical talents as part of the Black Hawk Silver Cornet Band of that time. Today’s “Stroehle Square” is named for them. Chase Street was Black Hawk’s residential area for prominent citizens. Now the historic home at 231 Chase belongs to the Historical Society. Property ownership was officially transferred with a champagne celebration at the Historical Society’s Board meeting on April 19^th.

   The acquisition was arranged by Nan Page Stevens who spent summers in Black Hawk with Billie. She is a personal representative of the Stroehle estate. Originally, the Historical Society thought to make the home a museum. However, the City of Black Hawk turned down that request. Chase Street is residential, they said, and they plan to keep it that way. But there was a compromise that met both the City’s requirements and that of Billie’s will to keep the property “historical.”

   The Historical Society is now renting the home – well, part of it. A graduate student from Iowa, interning with the Historical Society, lives in the rear portion of the seven-room home. The Historical Society has furnished the front rooms, a dining room, parlor and bedroom, with Stroehle family antiques. Those rooms are mainly left untouched, except for monthly “Teas” scheduled on the second Saturdays of the next four months at 2 pm. Acquiring the home is a coup for the Historical Society, Gilpin County and all who are interested in local history.

  The Stroehle House dates from the early years of Black Hawk, one of Colorado’s oldest towns. George Stroehle learned to make boilers in Illinois, a useful occupation in the gold-mining boomtown and one which generations of the family followed. When the last surviving member of the venerable family died in 2007, the historic house and 23 specified antiques were willed to the Gilpin County Historical Society, with the provision the house, adjacent gold mill site and antiques be “maintained as an historic property.” The house is located on Chase Street, a quiet residential street paralleling a bubbling mountain creek, and the zoning prohibits a museum. The solution is to install a caretaker/renter and keep the parlor and dining room as historical settings for the period furniture. Four teas a year will be given by the historical society; which will provide an opportunity for 88 fortunate tea-goers to step inside the historical dwelling. From the outside the Stroehle House looks small, but it contains seven rooms. Three are furnished with the pristine period furniture, including a Steinway square grand piano.

Stroehle House Teas

The house is located at 231 Chase Street in Black Hawk. Teas will be on the second Saturday of each month at 2:00 p.m.

  The Stroehle House was recently willed to the Gilpin County Historical Society and the Society is sponsoring four teas during the summer/fall so that the public may see the interior of the house, which dates to the early 1860s and is on the listing of National Historic Places. Two dozen fine antiques were also left in the bequest to the Society and can only be seen during the teas.

   The teas are complete luncheons, with sandwiches, a scone, a salad and desserts, and only 22 tickets are available per tea, so hurry to reserve your tickets!

June 14

Stroehle Family – Nan Page Stevens

July 12

Carin Lockhart - Author of “Joinings”

August 9

Deborah Faulkner - Author of Emily Griffith, a Biography

September 13

Gilpin History Presentations - By various Cemetery Crawl “Spirits” & The Legendary Ladies

  Free parking one-half block away & free shuttle to the house for those unable to walk. There is no wheelchair access.

  For tickets, send $25 to the Gilpin County Historical Society, P O Box 247, Central City, Colorado 80427. To charge tickets, call the GCHS office at 303-582-5283. For information call 303-582-5364. The tickets and parking information will be mailed to you promptly.