Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: SWANSON, Richard A. (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. 383-384



RICHARD A. SWANSON.

	At every point in his business career Richard A. Swanson has been 
actuated by a laudable ambition that has found expression in close 
application, indefatigable energy and persistency of purpose. Thus in 
his business career he has continuously and steadily advanced until he 
is now at the head of important interests conducted under the name of 
the R. A. Swanson Monumental Company, with offices in the Gas & 
Electric building of Denver. Mr. Swanson was born west of the 
Mississippi and has exemplified in his life the western spirit of 
progress which has led to the rapid and substantial development of this 
section of the country. His birth occurred at Burlington, Iowa, 
November 10, 1875. His father, A. J. Swanson, was a native of Sweden 
and came to America in 1868. He first settled at Altoona, Illinois, and 
about 1870 removed to Burlington, Iowa, where he resided throughout his 
remaining days. He was a stair builder by trade and an expert mechanic 
in his line, so that he won a substantial measure of success. He 
married Anna Catherine Malmberg, also a native of Sweden, who came to 
America about 1869 and took up her abode in Altoona, Illinois, where 
she became the wife of Mr. Swanson. Both were consistent and active 
members of the Swedish Lutheran church and Mr. Swanson served as one of 
the organizers of the church and for many years acted as treasurer and 
church trustee. At all times he guided his life according to the 
teachings of the church, so that his was an honorable and upright 
career. He was deeply interested in civic as well as religious matters 
and cooperated in all movements which he believed would prove 
beneficial to the community. He became one of the organizers of the 
Swedish Lutheran Mutual Fire Insurance Company and served as its 
secretary from the time of its formation until his death, which 
occurred January 6, 1908, when he had reached the age of sixty-six 
years. His widow still survives and is now a resident of Denver. They 
became the parents of six children, four of whom are yet living. Dr. A. 
E. Swanson was a dentist of Chicago and for a number of years was 
demonstrator at the Northwestern University but is now deceased. Regina 
is the deceased wife of the Rev. J. A. Holmen and at the time of her 
death was a resident of Mariadahl, Kansas. Richard A. is the third of 
the family. Hattie E. became the wife of the Rev. J. A. Sandell, of Des 
Moines, Iowa, who died in 1907. Robert S. is a resident of Denver, and 
Mamie, the youngest of the family, is living with her mother and 
brother, Richard, in Denver.

	Richard A. Swanson supplemented his early education, acquired in 
the public and high schools of Burlington, Iowa, by a course in the 
Elliott Business College of that city. Before completing his education 
he spent the summer months in various lines of work and at the age of 
thirteen, when he had completed the grammar school course had saved the 
sum of two hundred dollars. His first professional training was in art 
lines, he being a student under the late John O'Hara, a portrait artist 
of Burlington. It was this training and the training that he had 
received in art while in grammar school that led him to take up his 
present profession. In 1895 he entered the Chicago Art Institute, where 
he remained as a student for tour years, also attended a French Art 
School of Chicago and several sketching clubs of that city. In this way 
he thoroughly mastered pen and ink art, wash black and white and 
commercial work. His next step was in the line oŁ designing in memorial 
work, which profession he followed in Chicago for seven years, and for 
tour and a half years he had charge of such work in the Chicago offices 
of Charles More & Company, then leading monument manufacturers of 
Barre, Vermont. In 1905 he removed to Denver after disposing of his 
Chicago interests, coming to the west for the benefit of his health, 
which was soon restored in Colorado's excellent climate. He opened his 
own offices in the Gas & Electric building of Denver in November, 1910, 
specializing as an architect and builder of memorials. From that time 
he has steadily progressed and has developed one of the highest class 
monument enterprises in the west. His patronage comes to him from 
various sections of the state and vicinity. Many of his original 
conceptions are to be seen in the largest and most expensive memorials 
in the cemeteries of Denver, Colorado Springs and various sections of 
the United States. The originality of his designs, substantial 
construction and fine execution of his work has won for him important 
commissions and a national reputation in this line. Among his recent 
large productions, the most striking examples of originality and 
execution are the Frederick Wight and John McDonough monuments of 
Denver and the Ex-Governor Stanley monument of Wichita, Kansas. The 
Smails and Standley memorials of Denver are his original design and 
represent the largest mausoleums in Colorado. Among other well known 
memorials In the vicinity entrusted to him are the Judge Helm, Colonel 
Swallow, "Wilbur Raymond, J. F. Brown, Otto Sauers memorials of Denver, 
and the James F. Burns, Louis Giddings, A. G. Sharp and Prank Costello 
memorials of Colorado Springs. He possesses natural talent and the rare 
gift of particularly meeting the needs and wishes of patrons.

	Mr. Swanson was married in Denver in 1906 to Miss Eula Cooper, a 
native of Missouri and a daughter of Cecil and Catherine Cooper, the 
former a representative of an old family of Kansas City. Missouri, and 
a direct descendant of Lord Cecil Baltimore. Mrs. Swanson died November 
10, 1907, at the age of thirty two years.

	Politically Mr. Swanson follows an independent course in local 
elections but where national Issues are involved usually votes with the 
republican party. He belongs to the Denver Motor Club and also to the 
Denver Manufacturers' Association. He is an enthusiastic supporter of 
Colorado, the state which gave to him his health and in which he sees 
such wonderful possibilities owing to the splendid resources which 
nature has implanted within her borders. He heartily cooperates in all 
plans and measures for the general good and stands for all that Is 
progressive in citizenship. His business career is Indicative of what 
can be accomplished by the individual and his record indicates that 
success and an honored name may be won simultaneously. Early developing 
the powers with which nature endowed him, he finds joy and pleasure in 
the work and his artistic skill has been heightened through training 
and experience until the name of Swanson stands for that which is most 
progressive, pleasing and effective in design and construction in the 
monumental industry.