Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: RITTER, Halsted L. (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 312, 314



HALSTED L. RITTER.

	Concentrating his time and efforts upon the practice of law with 
good results, having attained a most creditable position at the Denver 
bar, in connection with a profession where advancement depends entirely 
upon individual merit and worth, Halsted L. Ritter is spoken of in 
terms of high regard by colleagues and contemporaries in the profession 
and by the general public as well. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, 
he was born on the 14th of July, 1868 .a son of Eli F. and Narcissa 
(Lockwood) Ritter, the former a native of Indiana, while the latter was 
born in Kentucky. The Lockwood family, however, removed from Kentucky 
to Indiana, the father of Mrs. Ritter freeing his slaves on his 
plantation and then making his way northward. Eli F. Ritter was a well 
known attorney of Indianapolis and at the time of the Civil war put 
aside all business and personal considerations to espouse the Union 
cause, becoming captain of Company K of the Seventy-ninth Indiana 
Infantry, with which he served throughout the entire period of 
hostilities between the north and the south. In two different 
engagements he was wounded. He always stood for reform, for progress 
and improvement in the public life of community, commonwealth and 
country and in 1885 was chairman of the national prohibition party. He 
died in Indianapolis in 1914, at the age of seventy-seven years, and 
thus was closed a life of great usefulness, but his memory remains a 
blessed benediction to those who knew him. His wife died in the same 
year at the age of seventy two. They were the parents of seven 
children. His son, Halsted L. Ritter, still has in his possession the 
father's sword which he carried throughout the Civil war.

	The eldest of the family. Halsted L. Ritter, pursued his 
education in the schools of Indianapolis and in De Pauw University of 
Indiana, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Philosophy 
degree as a member of the class of 1891. He also received from that 
institution the Master of Arts degree in 1893. Pursuing the study of 
law, he won the LL. B. degree in 1892 and at once began practice in 
connection with his father. He continued with his father for three 
years, from 1892 until 1895. On the 8th of January of the latter year 
he arrived in Denver and since that time has built up a large practice 
in this city, ranking with the leading attorneys at the Denver bar. He 
served as deputy prosecuting attorney of Denver from June until 
December, 1897, and was assistant city attorney from 1900 until 1903. 
In January, 1908, he was made state railway commissioner and occupied 
that position for a year. His high standing among his professional 
brethren is indicated in the fact that in 1909 he was chosen by them to 
serve as president of the Denver Bar Association. He belongs to the 
Denver City and County Bar Association, the Colorado State Bar 
Association and the American Bar Association.

	On the 14th of July, 1897, Mr. Ritter was married to Miss Grace 
L. May, of Indianapolis, Indiana, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alva C. 
May, of that city. They have two children: Elinor May, who was born in 
Denver in 1900 and is now attending Wellesley College near Boston, 
Massachusetts; and Thurston, who was born in Denver, March 26, 1902, 
and is attending the Manual Training high school of Denver.

	Mr. Ritter is a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa, 
college fraternities. He is well known in Masonic circles, having 
attained the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite. He is a member of 
the Interlachen Golf Club and is president of the Social Service Bureau 
of Denver and a trustee of the Denver Federation of Charity and 
Philanthropy. His religious faith is indicated in the fact that he is a 
member of the First Congregational church and he does everything in his 
power to promote moral progress and development in the city. In 
politics he is an independent republican. He is chairman of the 
lawyers' bureau of the Civic and Commercial Association and there is no 
phase of civic welfare which does not elicit his attention and 
cooperation. He stands for all that is best for the individual and for 
the community at large and his efforts in behalf of public progress and 
improvement have been far-reaching and resultant.