Bellvue makes history

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

A 127-year-old house and a crack willow tree nearly as old made history for Bellvue on March 1 as both found a spot in record books.

The house, built by Bellvue founder Jacob Flower in 1880, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of Interior. A willow tree in the front yard, likely planted by Flowers before 1900, went on the books as a Colorado State Champion Tree of its species, Salix fragilis.

Planted along the roadway at 5200 W. County Road 52E, the champion tree has a circumference of 77.82 inches and height of 88 feet. Four crack willows, a species from Europe, are living on the property and took the top spots in the Colorado Tree Coalition's record book.

The historic home and trees are owned by Judy and Mike Jackson and have been in the Fred Tetly-Jackson family since 1927.

Flowers built his two-story house of native red stone from nearby quarries. He lived in the home until his death in 1900 at age 73. An enterprising man, Flowers also built the red sandstone store across the road. It became the town hall, community center, mercantile and post office, and since 1948 is home to the Bellvue Grange.

According to a history written by Josephine Clements, Jacob and Elizabeth Flowers came from Wyandotte, Kan., to Greeley Colony in 1873 and then to Pleasant Valley. He was appointed as the first postmaster of Bellvue in 1884. Bellvue was an incorporated town back then, but residents voted for discontinuance in 1914, Clements wrote.

Flowers' red sandstone house passed through several ownerships in the early 1900s. Clements wrote: "The Fred Tetlys left North Dakota and came to Bellvue in 1927, loved the old stone house, bought it, and scraped through the Depression mortgaging and redeeming the property time after time to finally clear it of debt."

Judy Jackson is the granddaughter of Fred and Mittie Tetly. She and her husband bought the home in 1978.

In 1990, the Cache la Poudre Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed historic markers on both the house and grange hall.

Other Bellvue sites listed on the national register are Arrowhead Lodge in Poudre Canyon and the Pleasant Valley School building on North County Road 25E.