Denver-Pueblo County CO Archives Biographies.....Cordingly, Alfred 1855 - 
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Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

ALFRED CORDINGLY.

    Manufacturing interests of Colorado are prominently represented by Alfred
Cordingly, president of the Queen City Foundry Company of Denver, who through
the development of his establishment has largely contributed to the reputation
of Colorado as a young manufacturing state. The growth of the city of Denver has
been stimulated by the development of this vast industrial enterprise, which is
likely to prove the forerunner of a number of other industries which gradually
will build up the fame of Colorado as an industrial state, while as yet it is
mostly known as a mining, agricultural and sight-seeing state. Mr. Cordingly,
one of the early and honored pioneers of Denver, was the original founder of
what is now the Queen City Foundry Company, said to be, by those who know, the
largest foundry between Kansas City and San Francisco. Many years ago it had its
birth as a small and unimportant enterprise but in the course of years, through
the persistency of purpose and undoubted business ability of Mr. Cordingly, it
has attained to its present size, its vast output having made the firm
nationally known.

    Alfred Cordingly was born in Peoria, Illinois, in April, 1855, a son of
William and Sarah Cordingly, both natives of England. The father emigrated to
America in 1848 and located in Maysville, Kentucky, in that year. In 1852 he was
married and later he and his wife removed to the state of Illinois, where they
resided for a number of years. In 1887 they came to Colorado, taking up their
residence in Denver, and there in 1892 Mrs. Cordingly passed away. Mr.
Cordingly, who was born in 1823, survived her until 1901, when, in his
seventy-fourth year, he was called to his final rest, his demise also occurring
in Denver. To this union were born seven children: Frank, who resides in Denver
and is engaged in the foundry business with his brother Alfred; George, also
engaged in that line; William, Harvey and Elizabeth, all of Denver; and Mrs. Ray
Shank, also residing in this city.

    Alfred Cordingly spent his boyhood under the parental roof in Illinois and
attended public school in Peoria. Having completed his school course, he became
apprenticed to tne foundry business as a molder and after having served out his
term decided to seek the undeveloped but more promising opportunities of the
newer west and arrived in Pueblo, Colorado, after having accomplished the
overland journey. When he arrived in this state he was without funds, his
financial status making immediate employment absolutely necessary, and he
secured a position in Pueblo, but remained for only a short time. In March,
1879, he came to Denver and in May, following, went to Leadville, where he was
prospecting and also worked at his trade. In the fall of 1880 he returned to
Denver and entered the employ of the Colorado Iron Works, and for about twelve
years, or until 1891, he worked at his trade, holding good positions .-it
remunerative wages and carefully saving his earnings. Ambitious to engage in
business on his own account he established in the latter year a small foundry
across the street from his present large establishment, his first building being
forty by sixty feet. This was the beginning of the great Queen City Foundry
Company and even Mr. Cordingly probably did not foresee the future which his
business was going to have. He incorporated the enterprise in February, 1893,
being himself elected president, and he has ever since been the executive head
of the foundry, directing its affairs with foresight and ability. His thorough
knowledge of the trade, having been acquired from his apprenticeship until he
began business on his own account in 1891 and covering nearly all phases of
foundry work, enables him to understand every piece of work done in his shop and
he can therefore judge of the quality and workmanship of his products, thus
being assured that no piece of work leaves his establishment without being up to
standard. Moreover, Mr. Cordingly has great executive force and is not only
successful in the direction of his operatives but has also shown great ability
in the administration of the business affairs of the company. He follows the
highest ethics in commercial transactions and the goods turned out by the Queen
City Foundry Company come up to the highest qualifications and are always what
they are represented to be. It is therefore but natural that the business has
grown by leaps and bounds and has become a very important one. The force
employed numbers about one hundred and twenty and the establishment uses a large
acreage on Fourth and Wazee streets, with ample railroad trackage that connects
the foundry directly with main railroad lines, so that shipping facilities are
of the best and deliveries greatly accelerated.

    On June 23, 1875, in Urbana, Illinois, Mr. Cordingly was married to Miss
Sarah Roughton and of this union two children are living. Hazel A., born in
Denver, married Charles T. Kennedy, secretary of the Queen City Foundry Company,
and they have two children, Charles E. and Thomas R. George A., also a native of
Denver, is treasurer of the Queen City Foundry Company and is now serving his
country as a captain of infantry in France. He also is married and has a
daughter, Betty Cordingly. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Cordingly also lost two children,
Ida and Charlotte.

    Alfred Cordingly is a republican but his manifold duties connected with his
business have not permitted him to actively enter politics, although he is
deeply interested in the growth of Denver and is ever ready to give support to
its development. Fraternally he is prominent in the Masons, belonging to the
blue lodge and also to the temple and shrine. He is a forceful and resourceful
man who has fought life's battle successfully and is today numbered among the
prominent manufacturers of the state, having built up a business the reputation
of which extends from coast to coast. His fairness, his high ideals as to
business conduct, his strength of character and his cordiality toward his
fellowmen and his employes, whom he treats as co-workers, have been the
foundation upon which his success has been built. In the social circles of the
city the family is well known, occupying a foremost position among those members
of society who are interested in the higher things of life.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918


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