Wellington, Colorado - Post History
In December 1924, John Strawn Armstrong of Denver purchased vacant Lot 13, Block 6 in downtown Wellington for $500 from Willard R. Vandervert, who operated a bakery and restaurant in the adjacent building to the east. Rather than acquiring the property for his own use, John had evidently bought it to help his son, whose first name was Strawn. Born in Illinois in 1898 and a Navy veteran of World War I, around 1920 Strawn was living in his parents' Denver home and working as a traveling salesman for the International Harvester Company. Three years later, in May 1923, he purchased the Cash Store in Wellington (just the store and not the property) from local businessman and real estate agent Arthur Piatt. Located in the former First National Bank of Wellington building (5LR797) on the southeast corner of Second Street and Cleveland Avenue, Strawn renamed the business Wellington Hardware and operated there for the next two years. He settled in Wellington with his wife Marion, who he married in the spring of 1923.
Toward the end of 1924, Strawn's father purchased the vacant lot across Cleveland Avenue to the northeast, where his son would soon stake his business future. In January 1925, the Wellington Sun newspaper reported that Strawn (misspelled in some documents as "Shawn”) planned to erect a one- story 25' x 80' masonry building with a basement on the property. When completed, it would house his Wellington Hardware Store. The construction contract was awarded in March 1925 to G. E. Cannon and work began on the site later that month. With excavation completed by April 9, the forms were placed for the concrete foundation. Around that time, Dr. E. I. Raymond arranged to purchase one-half of the new building's west wall, with plans to erect an abutting brick building, possibly for his medical clinic (this does not appear to have been completed as he intended).
On 17 April 1925, Strawn submitted a building permit request to the Town of Wellington despite the fact that the project was well underway. The permit was approved the same day. Around that time, the bricklayers started to erect the walls and one month later the Armstrong Building was nearing completion. Toward the end of May, the Wellington Sun stated that local contractors George Goodding Sr. and Frank Bennett had been hired to complete the carpentry work. Finally, on 11 June 1925 the newspaper reported that the project was finished. The Wellington Hardware Store opened in its new location the following week. Strawn continued to operate the business into 1927 and in September sold the store but not the property, which was still owned by his father.
After selling the Wellington Hardware Store, Strawn and Marion moved back to Denver, where he became a salesman, probably with the Gates Rubber Company. John Strawn Armstrong died in 1931 and was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. Strawn inherited the Wellington property and leased the building to tenants into the mid-1930s. By 1940, he was employed as the service manager at an auto dealership. Strawn died in 1979 and was buried in Denver's Fort Logan National Cemetery.
The person who bought the Wellington Hardware Store in September 1927 was Otto B. Ehler, who a few weeks earlier had sold his lumberyard and building materials business. The Ehler Hardware Store remained in the Armstrong Building into the mid-1930s. In 1935, the property was occupied by Liggett's Grocery, previously known as the Home Owned Grocery. Proprietor Ed Liggett of Pierce had recently acquired the Home Owned Grocery and moved to Wellington with his wife. The Liggett Grocery operated there into 1936.
In October 1924, a group of veterans met in Wellington to discuss the idea of organizing an American Legion club for the community. However, another decade passed before the post got off the ground. This happened in January 1935, when Conrey-Cowgill Post No. 176 was established with Arthur Leonard Carlson as its first commander. A Navy veteran, during the 1930s Carlson served as Wellington's postmaster and secretary of the Wellington Commercial Club. The post was named for two young men from Larimer County who died during World War I. Both Conrey and Cowgill are listed today on the Edora Park Veterans Memorial in Fort Collins.
Charles Lester Conrey was born in Eaton, Colorado in 1892 and through the early 1900s resided on his family's farm. By 1910, the entire Conrey family had moved to Fort Collins, where Charles attended high school and was captain of the football team. He continued to live in town after graduation and was engaged in farming, probably with his father. In June 1917, Charles registered for the draft as required by law. He was still single and by then was working on the Wellington area farm of his brother Frank. He was ordered to report for service in September as a private in Battery A, 148th Field Artillery, 41st Division.
After going through extensive training, Charles was shipped out from the port of New York on 23 January 1918. Initially a depot division, the 41st was sent to the front in France that summer and participated in the Champagne-Marne defensive (July 1918), Aisne-Marne offensive (July-August 1918), St. Mihiel offensive (September 1918), and the Meuse-Argonne offensive (September- November 1918). During this last campaign, Charles was killed on 10 October 1918 by German bombardment. Buried on the battlefield, his grave was registered by the government and his parents notified of their son's death.
A new Veterans of Foreign Wars post was established in Fort Collins at a June 1921 meeting. The following month, the twenty-nine charter members voted to name their new organization Private Charles L. Conrey Post No. 41 in honor of their fallen comrade. By early August, the organization had grown to 150 members. At the beginning of October, the Fort Collins Courier reported that the body of Charles L. Conrey was on its way home for burial. Another deceased soldier was to return at the same time. This was George Donovan, who had resided north of Fort Collins
The two men would share a joint military funeral, with honors provided by the VFW post and pallbearers chosen from among fellow veterans who had served by their sides in France. After arriving at the port in Hoboken, New Jersey, the coffins were placed onto a train bound for Cheyenne and then another heading to Fort Collins. The military funeral, possibly the largest ever held in Fort Collins, took place on 20 October 1921 with a memorial service at the First Presbyterian Church. Businesses closed, a football game was halted, and hundreds came to observe the formal procession to Grandview Cemetery.
Glenn Jobe Cowgill was born in Kansas in 1892 and by 1900 was living with his family in Rocky Ford, Colorado. In 1901, they moved to Fort Collins, settling on a farm northeast of town in the Plummer District. By 1911, Glenn had enrolled in the school of agriculture at Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University). By 1914, the Cowgill family had moved north to Wellington yet Glenn remained in Fort Collins and over the following three years was employed as a farm laborer. He and his brother Henry registered for the draft in June 1917, and Glenn was called to active service in August.
On September 19, Glenn was among a contingent of thirty-eight young men from Larimer County who departed by train to Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas. He served in France as a corporal with the 113th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. Glenn's unit fought in Haute-Alsace (July-September 1918) and the Meuse-Argonne offensive (October 1918). He died on October 10 of wounds sustained in battle and was buried in the St. Mihiel American Cemetery in Thiaucourt, France.
Exactly why Conrey and Cowgill were selected to be honored by the American Legion post in Wellington seventeen years after the war ended may never be known, especially since both of the veterans' organizations named for Conrey are now defunct. However, it is an interesting correlation that they died in France on the same day during the Meuse-Argonne offensive while serving in different units. Additional research in future years may uncover more information about these men and the veterans' posts that took on their names.
In April 1936, the American Legion's Conrey-Cowgill Post No. 176 in Wellington signed an agreement to purchase the Armstrong Building from Strawn Armstrong for $1,800 with the goal of turning it into the organization's new home. Suddenly needing to vacate the space, Ed Liggett arranged to rent the former First National Bank Building (5LR9633) a few lots to the west and moved his grocery store there. After taking possession of the Armstrong Building around July 1, the American Legion remodeled the basement into a firing range. Post leaders around that time were Lee Kent, commander, and Arthur L. Carlson, adjutant. The board immediately began planning for a variety of services and events to be held in the building for members and their guests.
The first social event in the American Legion Hall, a dance organized by and for the post members, was scheduled for the evening of Friday, July 31. Starting in January 1939, the post sponsored movies every Thursday evening, charging between $.10 and $.15 to anyone wishing to attend. Dances and beer halls continued to be held into the 1940s, although in 1942 the post was ordered to halt these activities by midnight due to complaints about noise. During the January 1949 blizzard, which made national news and was one of the worst storms recorded to hit northern Colorado, the American Legion Hall was used to shelter the many victims rescued from the highway between Wellington and Cheyenne. Around 1950, the post commander was Milton Crabtree. During the early 1960s, the officers were Paul G. Weisshaar, adjutant, Craig E. Temple, commander, and Lee C. Kent, director.
After serving for almost thirty years as the American Legion Hall, in July 1965 the board of Conrey-Cowgill Post No. 176 sold the building to Wilson Leeper. Born in 1919 in Oklahoma, Wilson served in the US Army Air Force during World War II and afterwards moved to Wellington, where he married Barbara Wallen, whose family owned a local grocery store. Although the Leepers lived in Fort Collins and then Arvada over the years, they returned to Wellington in the early 1960s. Between the late 1940s and 1960s, Wilson worked as a salesman and real estate agent. During the mid-1960s, he began working to improve Wellington, securing federal funds for several projects. Due to Wilson's efforts, the town was able to pave its streets, install a new water system, and create a housing authority to assist low-income and elderly residents. The Wilson Leeper Center in Wellington, which houses the library, senior resource center, community room and town board chamber, is named in his honor.
One month after acquiring the historic Armstrong Building and former American Legion Hall, Wilson obtained a permit from the Town of Wellington for work on the building. In August 1965 he completed a remodeling project, the full extent of which is unclear. All that is known is that it was repainted, the roof was repaired, and the storefront received new plate glass. Over the following fifteen years, the building appears to have housed offices. In April 1980, Wilson sold the property to Hub and Crispin Ulrich. They completed additional remodeling in the summer of 1981 that appears to have resulted in the storefront that remains there today. Since then, the building seems to have housed a series of retail stores.
The decision to organize an American Legion Post resulted from the conclusion of these Veterans that the American Legion was the representative Veterans' organization in this country. That conclusion has been proven true as today the American Legion is the largest wartime Veterans' organization with nearly 13,000 American Legion Posts worldwide. Current national membership is over 2 million and combined with the American Legion Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion, membership in what is known as The American Legion Family, exceeds 3 million who care about America, Veterans, their families and our nation's youth.
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