Mary Miller

Mary E. Miller (1843–1921) settled in the Territory of Colorado in 1863 with her husband, Lafayette Miller. After her husband died, she founded the town of Lafayette, Colorado, named for her husband. Miller was called the "Mother of Lafayette.

Early life Mary Elizabeth Foote, nicknamed "Molly", was born in Geneseo, New York on August 3, 1843. Her parents were John B. Foote from Massachusetts and Sarah "Sallie" Cole, who was from New York. Her father was a hotelier and a successful miner during the California Gold Rush. Both of her parents were Episcopalians and she became interested in Christian temperance as a child. She married Lafayette Miller, who preferred the nickname "Lafe," on December 24, 1862, in Quasqueton of Buchanan County, Iowa. Lafayette was born on March 18, 1840, one of eleven children born to Mary Ann Able and John Miller, a physician. He grew up in Buchanan County and graduated from Western College in Toledo, Iowa. With them, they brought the region's first threshing machine and had twelve yoke of oxen. They traveled along the Smoky Hill Trail from Missouri to the Territory of Colorado. A couple of times they came under attack by Arapaho and Cheyenne. The Colorado War began within two months of their arrival in Colorado. Together they purchased the Rock Creek House (later called the Miller Tavern) from Thomas J. Lindsey in 1865. Lindsey acquired the tavern from "Dr. Dow" and built a hotel next to Rock Creek House in 1863. They also established a cattle ranch, farm, and orchard.

Coal mining A vast coal vein was found in an area that included the Miller ranch in the mid-1870s. In January 1895, when a severe cold weather snap hit the Eastern Plains of Colorado, she secured from the Simpson Mine and shipped 175 railroad cars filled with donated coal.

Boulder County Clerk and Recorder records show that on February 3, 1888, Mary Miller filed the first plat for the original 37-acre town of Lafayette,

In 1905–06, Mary Miller helped finance and manage a new flour mill, the Lafayette-Louisville Milling & Grain Company. Her partners for the new venture included son, James P. Miller, George Bermont, W.A. Burke, William Padfield, John Lipsey, Dr. Horace R. Burns, P.M. Peltier, J.O. Van Debergh and Denver businessman E.L. Milner who was the general manager of the mill. The mill was located on a Burlington railroad spur built for the mill in the 800 block of E. Baseline Road, about 200 feet west of today's Lafayette Feed and Grain elevator. W.F. Wehman sold his grist mill to Lafayette-Louisville Milling & Grain Company in June 1905, about nine months before the new mill opened. The Milling & Grain Company flour mill produced its premium brand Silver Tip Flour and operated primarily on electricity provided by the Interurban Power Plant, one of the nation's first distributed power systems built on land that Mary Miller owned at today's Waneka Lake. Mary Miller sponsored a contest to name the premium brand flour in September 1905. The prize was 300 pounds of flour. Company ledgers show that Silver Tip Flour sold for about 12 cents per pound in 1906 and 1907. The Lafayette-Louisville Milling & Grain Company mill closed in the 1920s and burned down in 1935. It was the Mary Miller Theater and as of November 6, 2023 its name was changed to Arapaho Center. Mary Miller paid for the construction of the Congregational Church, which was established in 1890 by John and Annie Jones, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Van Deren and Laura Kimbark. Mary Miller helped other churches obtain land for their churches and established the first school. She also helped organize local clubs and organizations, like the Order of the Eastern Star.

Miller died on November 14, 1921.