Henry Augustus Buchtel
| Henry Augustus Buchtel | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 17th Governor of the State of Colorado | |
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In office January 8, 1907 – January 12, 1909 |
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| Lieutenant | Erastus Harper |
| Preceded by | Jesse F. McDonald |
| Succeeded by | John F. Shafroth |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 30, 1847 Akron, Ohio |
| Died | October 22, 1924 (aged 77) Denver, Colorado |
| Political party | Republican |
Henry Augustus Buchtel (September 30, 1847 – October 22, 1924) was an American minister, educator, and public official, born near Akron, Ohio. He was the seventeenth governor of Colorado.
Henry Buchtel was the son of Jonathan B. Buchtel, a physician, and Eliza Newcomer Buchtel. Within a couple of years of his birth, his parents relocated their family to Elkhart, Indiana. Henry was a younger cousin of John Richards Buchtel, the founder in 1870 of Buchtel College (later the University of Akron). In 1871, Henry's older brother, William, married Helen Barnum, a daughter of P. T. Barnum.
He graduated from Indiana Asbury (now DePauw) University in 1872 and was ordained to the Methodist Episcopal ministry. He married Mary Stevenson on February 4, 1873. The couple moved to Bulgaria where they served as missionaries from April until August 1873 when his wife's deteriorating health forced their return to the United States. Over the next twenty-six years, he served as pastor of congregations in Indiana, Colorado, New York, and New Jersey. During his years as a minister, Henry and Mary had four children: Frost Craft (1875), Emma, Henry Jr. (1896), and Mary (1898). Henry Jr. died in Denver from scarlet fever in 1901.
In 1899, Buchtel was chosen as chancellor of the University of Denver, officially assuming his duties in January 1900. At that time, the university had debts of around $175,000 and faced the possibility of foreclosure on its mortgages. The new chancellor began fundraising immediately, and managed to retire the debts by August 1903 although the university's finances remained precarious for many years afterward. Buchtel worked with William G. Evans, both a son of its founder, John Evans, and a trustee of the university, to place the institution's funding on a firmer foundation by organizing a series of fundraising campaigns and establishing an endowment for the school. Reviewing these efforts on behalf of the university, the Denver Post noted in 1924 that:
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