This column tells the stories of the people whose faces appear on “A Colorado Panorama: A People’s History,” a two-block-long tile mural on the southeast side of the Colorado Convention Center. Inspired by Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking book, “A People’s History of the United States,” the mural was created by artist Barbara Jo Revelle in 1989 to celebrate those who rarely make it into the history books, but who have nonetheless had a profound impact on the history of our state. This week we’re featuring profiles of Hazel Rhoads Gates and Pete Fotinos.
Hazel Rhoads Gates — Denver Philanthropist (1891-1972)
In 1910, Denver native Hazel Rhoads married businessman John Gates. The following year they founded Gates Rubber Company, which was destined to become the nation’s sixth-largest producer of rubber products, and the largest producer of v-belts and hoses in the world.
Initially serving as unpaid clerical help for her husband, Mrs. Gates became company director upon his death in 1961. She was famous for the Christmas parties she threw for the children of the company’s employees, and it was largely due to her influence that Gates Rubber instituted comprehensive healthcare, and tuition and career development opportunities for its workers.
Together with her husband and his brother John, she helped create the Gates Family Foundation, dedicated to “advancing excellence, innovation, and self-sufficiency in education, and promoting healthy lifestyles.” While raising the family’s seven children, Mrs. Gates found time to participate in a number of civic and cultural organizations including the Central City Opera House Association and the Denver Symphony Society.
Pete Fotinos — Restaurateur Displaced by the Convention Center (1920-1988)
When Pete Fotinos was 18, he started coming to Denver from his home in rural Nebraska to wash dishes at his brother-in-law’s restaurant, Sam’s No. 3. In 1945 he moved to Denver permanently where, for the next 23 years, he worked as a line-cook at Sam’s.
After Sam retired in 1968, Fotinos opened his own place, Pete’s Coney Island Hot Dogs at 15th and Glenarm Place in downtown Denver. What made his hot dogs famous was the chili, which took him years to perfect. His restaurant became popular with a wide variety of clientele, from bag ladies to businessmen. He ran Pete’s for eighteen years, putting his kids through college on the proceeds.
The restaurant was forced to close when the City announced that the Silver Triangle neighborhood would be razed to make way for the new Colorado Convention Center. Pete Fotinos died shortly thereafter. Neither his widow nor any of the other businesses in the neighborhood were given compensation for the forced relocation.
Week One: Barney L. Ford and Agnes Smedley
Week Two: Benjamin Barr Lindsey and Anne Bassett
Week Three: William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Clara Brown
Week Four: William “Big Bill” Haywood and Anne Evans
Week Five: Buckskin Charley and “Babe” Didrikson-Zaharias
Week Six: Antonia Brico and Chief Black Kettle
Week Seven: Casimiro Barela and Daisy Anderson
Week Eight: Chogyam Trungpa and Ellen Elliot Jack
Week Nine: Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone and Chin Lin Sou
Week Ten: Emily Griffith and Dalton Trumbo
Week Eleven: Chipeta and Wallace Werner
Week Twelve: Eve Drewelowe and Davis Waite
Week Thirteen: Dr. Carl J. Johnson and Florence Sabin
Week Fourteen: Damon Runyon and Emma Langdon
Week Fifteen: Ellison Onizuka and Golda Meir
Week Sixteen: John Lewis Dyer and Helen Hunt Jackson
Week Seventeen: Edward Berthoud and Frances Wisebart Jacobs
Week Eighteen: Hattie McDaniel and Enos Mills
Week Nineteen: Isabella Bird and Francis Schlatter
Week Twenty: Laura Gilpin and Henry O. Wagoner
Week Twenty-One: Justina Ford and George Norlin
Week Twenty-Two: George Bent and Julia Archibald Holmes
Week Twenty-Three: Herbert Bayer and Mabel Barbee Lee
Week Twenty-Four: Martha Maxwell and Chief Ignacio
Week Twenty-Five: Isom Dart and Marvel Crosson
Week Twenty-Six: Jack Dempsey and Mary Long
Week Twenty-Seven: Mary Lathrop and James Beckwourth
Week Twenty-Eight: John Otto and Mina Loy
Week Twenty-Nine: Mary Rippon and Joseph Henry Stuart
Week Thirty: Lauren Watson and Molly Brown
Week Thirty-One: Mary “Mother” Jones and Chief Little Bear
Week Thirty-Two: Chief Little Raven and Neva Romero
Week Thirty-Three: Olga Little and Louis Tikas
Week Thirty-Four: Lowell Thomas and Poker Alice Ivers
Week Thirty-Five: Mariano Medina and Dr. Portia Lubchenko McKnight
Week Thirty-Six: Tsianina Redfeather and Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez
Week Thirty-Seven: Minoru Yasui and Ruth Cave Flowers
Week Thirty-Eight: Sadie Likens and Neal Cassady
Week Thirty-Nine: Nikola Tesla and Rose Marie Tabor
Week Forty: Oliver Toussaint Jackson and Sarah Platt-Decker
Week Forty-One: Portia Mansfield and Luis Junior Martinez
Week Forty-Two: Chief Ouray and Anne Ellis
Week Forty-Three: Stan Brakhage and Shawsheen
Week Forty-Four: Mary “Grandma” Shelton and Thomas Ferril
Week Forty-Five: Silver Heels and Oliver E. Aultman
Week Forty-Six: Louella Gooding and Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith
Week Forty-Seven: Silas Soule and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bates
Week Forty-Eight: Tim Flores and Irene Elizabeth Jerome Hood
Week Forty-Nine: Marcella Lucero Trujillo and William N. Byers
Week Fifty: Virginia Neal Blue and William Henry Jackson
Week Fifty-One: George Morrison and Elizabeth Beranek
Week Fifty-Two: William “Billy” Adams and Mother Pancratia Bonfils
Week Fifty-Three: Elizabeth Byers and Frederick Douglass Jr.
Week Fifty-Four: Annie Maria Green and Ralph L. Carr
Week Fifty-Five: Josephine Roche and Gerald Webb
Week Fifty-Six: Yuriko Noda and Jim Reynolds
Week Fifty-Seven: Sunshine Cloud Smith and Michael Livoda
Week Fifty-Eight: Rabbi William Friedman and Theresa Garcia
Week Fifty-Nine: James Ryan Morris and Margaret Duncan Brown
Week Sixty: Delno Louise Polk and Lewis Price
Week Sixty-One: Susan Anderson and Otto Mears
Week Sixty-Two: Pete Grgich and Ya Na Ha Na Bah Moss
Week Sixty-Three: Svea Magee and Robert Trujillo
Week Sixty-Four: Jacob Lopez and Celedonia Rebolloso
Week Sixty-Five: Senon Martinez and Naomi Grothjan
Week Sixty-Six: Carmen Prado and Richard Falcon
Week Sixty-Seven: Chief Shavano and Josephine Speer
Week Sixty-Eight: Blanche Venettucci Pinello and Henry Wenge
Week Sixty-Nine: Dorothy Brown and Oski Taniwaki
Week Seventy: Sam Sandos and Dorothy McRae
Week Seventy-One: Rafael Perez Vargas and Chana de Gabbiteh Millstein
Week Seventy-Two: Marguerite Mayer and Juan Carson
Week Seventy-Three: George Sandoval and Dr. Edna-Jean Hershey