1145 Clarkson Street was built in 1897 for Judge Julius B. Bissell. No building permit could be located for the property, and the architect and builder are unknown. Judge Bissell was born in Connecticut in 1839 and served in the Civil War, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He practiced law in New York City following the war, moving west to Des Moines in 1869 and to Leadville in 1878. In 1890, Bissell was appointed a member of the Supreme Court Commission, serving in that capacity until the Court of Appeals was created by the legislature in 1891, when he was appointed one of its judges. Judge Bissell served on the Court of Appeals for ten years. He married Julia Vail in New York City in 1866. The couple had two children, Elizabeth and George. City directories show that the Bissells lived at 1145 Clarkson until 1902. Mrs. Bissell died in 1904, and Judge Bissell died in March of 1906. The following year, the Colorado Supreme Court memorialized him, noting, “While Judge Bissell was not a pioneer, still he came here in what may be termed the formative period of our state's history, and as a practicing lawyer and a jurist, was closely identified with its development and growth.”
The house was sold to real estate developer D. Carson Fleming in 1902 or 1903, who then sold it to Asa and Amelia Middaugh in 1904. Asa F. Middaugh was born in Pennsylvania around 1840, and was in St. Joseph, Missouri by 1860. According to his obituary, Middaugh arrived in Denver in 1860 with an ox-train. The following year, he discovered a coal vein west of Denver and hauled the first coal into the city. In 1865, Middaugh acquired 160 acres of land in West Denver, on the northeast corner of which stood the shops of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. He donated the site to the railroad when the railroad was under construction. Other parts of the Middaugh homestead became Fletcher’s addition and Middaugh’s addition. Middaugh’s addition is located at the south end of the Union Pacific railroad’s Burnham Yards. In 1875, Asa Middaugh opened a mercantile store at Del Norte, and in 1882 opened the Bank of Del Norte. By 1901, he was working in real estate in Denver. Middaugh owned 1145 Clarkson until 1923. The Middaugh family lived in the home until 1922.
