Eugenie Putz Underhill Houses

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Eugenie Putz Underhill (Charpiot)'s story starts in France in 1834. She and her brothers came over to the US and first settled in Chicago, Illinois where her father, Pierre Charpiot, started the first french hotel on LaSalle Street. Considered the the 'Third women to cross into the Rockies", she arrived by wagon train in 1859 to Denver, she and her Brothers are known as one of the first pioneer families of Colorado.

"Madame Putz" forged her own success as a twice widowed woman in a wild west town and created a wildly successful french millinery and masquerade costume shop on Lawrence street for 11 years. She is known to have supplied Denver's richest ladies with their fine wardrobes. Masquerade balls were all the rage in the 1860’s-1880’s and she traveled took her costumes around Colorado to various cities setting up Mascarade balls in the towns. Her taste and refinement were notable, and she supplied the costumes for the Tabor Opera house's First performance on Opening night. With money from her successful businesses, she invested heavily in real estate, gained a fortune, built a school in Westminster Colorado, eventually settled down at 70 years old and built four houses at 402,408,412 and 418 of S Lincoln/Dakota- affectionately called the Triplets of Lincoln Street. With no children of her own, she doted on her niece and nephews, setting them up for successful lives by providing them houses of their own. In the early days, they all lived next door to each other before at the Charpiot Apartments, and later in the triplets of Lincoln Street for many years. Meanwhile, her other famous brothers, Jacques, Frederick George, Henry and Louis Charpiot also took Denver by storm. Taking after their hotelier father, and created the infamous Charpiot Hotel in downtown Denver, Delmonico's of the West, and many other fine French restaurants like "The Capitol" in Denver and Central City over the years. The restaurant and hotel served famous and notables who came to the new west and brought French sophistication to the rough town. The brothers figured out a way to bring oysters from New Orleans and serve them here. They all invested heavily in mines, although never found the jackpot. In the 1860's Jacque's supplied some of the first wagon trains from Iowa and gained a fortune supplying adventurous families with a way to reach the new Colorado territory. He was part of the Hayden Survey Expedition of 1875 and he believes he was one of the first to rediscover the native cave dwelling ruins in Southern Colorado. Their Nephew, George J was founder of the Charpiot Safe Company. In Eugenie's later years, she offered classes on how to successfully run a business empire in Denver. The adventurous, and unapologeticly successful Eugenie died at the age of 90 in 1919.
It seems everyone in the Charpiot family found some notoriety in Business or reputation. But whatever happened to all of those glorious costumes?
Image Source: The Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

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