Marshall Sprague

Marshall Sprague (March 14, 1909 – September 9, 1994) was an American journalist in New York, Paris, and China and writer of books about western United States history. From Ohio, he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to recuperate following a diagnosis of tuberculosis and settled there. He received the Colorado Authors League Top Hand Award for Massacre: The Tragedy At White River and A Gallery of Dudes.

Early life and career Born March 14, 1909 in Newark, Ohio, he graduated from Lawrenceville School and Princeton University (1930), both in New Jersey. He wrote Newport In The Rockies: The Life And Good Times Of Colorado Springs (1961), which Cleveland Amory, a social historian, described as "candid, graceful, diligently researched". He also wrote A Gallery of Dudes (1967) described as a book of "wonderful tales about eminent commoners and titled Europeans awash in the exhilarating landscapes of America's last frontier" by a critic. Another of his books of western history was So Vast So Beautiful a Land: Louisiana and the Purchase about the Louisiana Purchase. His memoir, Sometimes I'm Happy, was published the year following his death, with the assistance of family and friends.

Personal life Married February 1939,

Legacy In 2014, Alex Johnson in the Colorado Springs Gazette wrote of Sprague's influence:

Marshall Sprague Park in Colorado Springs is named for him. Located at 3492 W. Woodmen in the Peregrine neighborhood, it was dedicated on August 7, 1999.