This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Nestled between Indian Peaks Elementary and Sunset Middle School in southern Longmont sits Affolter Park. Longmont locals have their pick of 49 different green, open spaces to visit but how did this one, in particular, come by it's name?
Developed in 1978, Affolter Park covers 5.5 acres and includes basketball courts, football fields, tennis courts and, more recently, a playground designed by 50 students from Indian Peaks Elementary. According to the City of Longmont website, Affolter Park is named after Frederick Affolter (1832-1895), a Swiss immigrant who settled in the St. Vrain Valley in 1862, and started a farm, but why name a park after him? His memorial may give us more clues to this historic resident of Longmont.
Frederick Affolter was born in Switzerland in 1832 but his father, a stone mason, died when he was still a child. He was raised by his uncle who owned a large hotel and a distillery, but also lots of farm land. When he turned twenty Affolter and his brother decided to chase the American dream and set sale on a voyage of six weeks across the Atlantic. Once they arrived the two men traveled across the land to Ohio and found employment as farmers. They spent a year there but then according to his memorial Affolter "suffered so greatly with chills and fever, that the brothers decided to go elsewhere." They then bounced between Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas working on farms in all three until the lure of gold fever called to the brothers.
"Having acquired something of the Pike's Peak' excitement our subject and his brother started across the plains in 1861, with the usual accompaniments of wagons drawn by yokes of oxen, etc. After numerous adventures and hardships they reached Denver at the end of six weeks, and a few days later continued their journey towards the mountains. They met numbers of dissatisfied men, and, acting upon their advice, turned back, also."
After a disappointing trip, the brothers tried gulch mining in Left Hand Canon but had little success there either and fell back on cutting hay to make their living. In the winter of 1862 Affolter again crossed the plains to Missouri but this time he returned the following spring with milk cows and cattle. He then pre-empted a claim of eighty acres near Longmont and set about building himself his own farm. Four years later, after hard work establishing his farm, Affolter decided to embark on a trip back to Switzerland in order to learn the process of making Swiss cheese, for which he was convinced that he could find a market for in Colorado. He reached as far as Ohio where he stayed with family but they convinced him not to take on the long voyage and taught him the skills he needed instead.
On the way back to Longmont he stayed with some more family. This visit led to him meeting Miss Elizabeth Ruch, a native of Switzerland, who, as both her parents were dead, had come to Illinois with some friends in the spring of 1869. The two married March 21, 1870, and returned to the Longmont farm together and both worked hard to make it thrive. Within a few years, it had grown to over 200 acres. The couple had 10 children, with two passing away at a young age. The final section of Affolter's memorial gives us a clue as to why this adventurous and hardworking man was loved by the Longmont community enough to immortalize his name.
"Mr. Affolter was a quiet, unassuming man, fond of his family and caring little for public life, but in 1893 the People's party made him their nominee for county commissioner, and, though he was defeated by a small majority, his popularity as a neighbor and a citizen was abundantly proven. The whole community mourned his loss when death took him from their midst, June 17, 1895."
So if you decided to take a visit to Affolter park you will be visiting a little bit of Longmont named in honor of this popular historic resident who helped shape the city into what it is today.
