ROLLER, William W., b 1841; 1905 Bio, Chaffee County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/chaffee/bios/rollerww.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 6, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- William W. Roller William M. [sic] Roller, one of the leading real-estate men of Salida, and who has been one of the most active and judicious promoters of the city's welfare, sticking to it and believing in its future through all changes and setbacks in its progress, is a native of Erie county, New York, born on November 1, 1841. He passed his boyhood and began his education in his native county, living there until after the beginning of the Civil war. In September, 1861, in response to a call from President Lincoln for volunteers to defend the Union, he enlisted in the Sixty-fourth New York Infantry, in which he served until his discharge at the end of his term in October, 1864, going in as a private and rising by meritorious service and gallantry to the rank of captain. He also received a commission as lieutenant-colonel, but quit the army before he rendered any service under it. His regiment was a part of Hancock's fighting Second Corps in the Army of the Potomac, and was almost continually in active service, participating in many of the great engagements of the war. After leaving the service he returned to his New York home, and there he taught school two years, then passed two at Dartmouth College as a student, intending to enter the medical profession. But in 1868 he determined to come west, and in the fall of that year took up his residence at Ottawa, Kansas, where he was engaged in the furniture trade ten years. Selling out in Kansas in 1878, he came to this state and located at Colorado Springs, where he again carried on a furniture business, continuing it there three years. In 1880 he disposed of his business at Colorado Springs and became a resident of Salida, which was then a new town, just laid out by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. It contained only a few houses, and its future was necessarily a matter of uncertainty. But Mr. Roller had faith in it and at once opened a furniture establishment and soon found his business assuming large proportions., and the town growing rapidly, although many persons believed that Poncha Springs, six miles west, would be the city of this region. In the fall of 1881 Mr. Roller sold his furniture business and turned his attention to dealing in real estate, having the first business of the kind in the place after the railroad company. That organization laid out that portion of the town between the railroad tracks and Haskell's addition. The latter was plotted by the Salida Land Company, which was organized by Mr. Roller and his partner in business, N.R. Twitchell, and of which they for years had the active management. The addition named now comprises the principal residence and much of the business section of the city, and has proved of great advantage in the spread of its dimensions. The first name of the place was South Arkansas, and was given to it by former Governor A.C. Hunt, who was connected with the railroad company and did its plotting here. But two years after he gave it this name the promising bantling was re-baptized and re-called Salida. The company organized by Mr. Roller has done an extensive business here and contributed largely to making the city what it is. That company planted the trees which so plentifully adorn it, erecting many of the most imposing buildings and provided for every necessity of the growing municipality as occasion required. It also advertised the place widely throughout the surrounding country and offered inducements for new settlers to make it their home. Mr. Roller has been from the beginning the active and inspiration of this company and he is almost wholly entitled to the credit for the great volume of its operations and the benefits it has conferred on the town. In 1884 he with others organized the Edison Electric Light Company of Salida, of which he has been ever since the vice-president. And in 1888 the Salida Opera House Association was formed with him as one of the principal stockholders and the secretary. The opera house is one of the finest buildings in the city. Mr. Roller is its manager. In every way he has been prominently and efficiently connected with the growth and development of the city from its birth. He is president of the board of trade, and was one of the founders of the Fairview Cemetery Association. He is also extensively interested in mining in this section, and owns valuable mining properties in addition to the large amount of real estate he possesses in the city. Although a stanch Republican in politics, he is not an active partisan. Fraternally, he is a thirty-second-degree Freemason, with an earnest enthusiasm for the good of the order, serving one year as grand high priest of the state, and also belongs to the order of Elks and the Grand Army of the Republic. On September 24, 1884, he was married to Miss Nellie H. Arnold. They have four children. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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