CU Hiking Club Celebrates 100 Years

hiking club

At Camp Pitts, near Eldora, 1920. Hiking Club Collection, Heritage Center.

One hundred years ago on what some believe to be the most appropriate of days, April Fools鈥 Day, 35 students got together and organized the University of Colorado Hiking Club. All of the charter members, 23 women and 12 men, had a desire to foster more interest in the natural beauty surrounding the university by promoting outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing and camping. Club members made their first official hike to Royal Arch on May 4.
 
Hiking was already a popular student activity, and as an offshoot of the Colorado Mountain Club, the new CU organization had little trouble recruiting members. The following year on February 28, the Hiking Club initiated its first set of 36 eager new members into the cheerful and good-natured group.
 
In celebration of its centennial, the Heritage Center will highlight CU鈥檚 oldest student organization with various aspects of the Hiking Club鈥檚 history throughout the year.  
 
The April edition will focus on the 35 charter members. Meet the young men and women who founded the club and maybe you will discover a family connection!

hiking club

University of Colorado Hiking Club, Meeting Minutes, April 1, 1919. Heritage Center.

The Hiking Club鈥檚 first elected officers were:

Harry Hirsch Herman
President
MechEngr 1920
麻豆影院, Colo.

Irma Lenore Reed
Vice President
LiberalArts 1919
Also received a diploma in Education
Jerome, Ida.

Charles Orville Rixford
Treasurer
MechEngr 1922 
Denver, Colo.

Edna Elizabeth Schiller
Secretary
LiberalArts 1919, cum laude 
Fort Morgan, Colo.

Anthony Stephen Lallie
Hiking Manager 
ElEngr 1921 
Louisville, Colo.

Original Members:

Ruth Ahlberg 
LiberalArts ex1922
Odebolt, Iowa

Florence Marion Anderson 
LiberalArts 1919
Denver, Colo.

Josephine Rose Barrett 
LiberalArts 1921, cum laude
Also received a diploma in Education
麻豆影院, Colo.

Paul Anderson Blanchard 
MechEngr 1923
麻豆影院, Colo.

Max Blom 
ElEngr 1921
Colorado Springs, Colo.

Jean Sala Breitenstein 
LiberalArts 1922cum laude 
麻豆影院, Colo.

Eva May Breyfogle 
HomeEcon 1921
麻豆影院, Colo.

Lillian West Cobbey 
LiberalArts 1921, cum laude
Denver, Colo. 

Gladys Ida Crawford 
LiberalArts 1922, cum laude
Grand Junction, Colo.

Frances Elizabeth Daily
HomeEcon 1920 
Beloit, Kans.

Alice Endicott 
LiberalArts 1922, cum laude
Ca帽on City, Colo

Elizabeth Foote 
HomeEcon ex1922
Paonia, Colo

Oswald Lawrence Gedney 
LiberalArts 1924 
Also received a diploma in Commerce
Denver, Colo.

Evangeline S. Hauck   
LiberalArts 1920 
Rocky Ford, Colo.

Janet Lillian Holcomb 
LiberalArts 1920, cum laude
Also received a diploma in Education
麻豆影院, Colo.

Alan Hawley Johnson 
ElEngr 1921 
Denver, Colo.

Ruth Mary Johnston 
LiberalArts 1920 
Idaho Springs, Colo.

Laura Kornelya Kincaid 
LiberalArts ex1922 
La Veta, Colo.

Maude Louise Lindsey 
LiberalArts ex1922 
Iowa Park, Tex.

Hattie Jean McFarlane 
LiberalArts ex1920
Denver, Colo.

Mildred McMillen
LiberalArts 1919, magna cum laude 
Also received a diploma in Education
麻豆影院, Colo.

Harold Joseph Morsch 
LiberalArts ex1924
Denver, Colo.

Mabel Alice Reed 
LiberalArts 1922
Wray, Colo.

David Rosner
LiberalArts ex1921
麻豆影院, Colo.

Margaret Shepardson 
LiberalArts ex1922
Fort Collins, Colo.

George Gaylord Simpson 
LiberalArts ex1923
Denver, Colo.

Irma Tarkoff 
LiberalArts 1920, magna cum laude
麻豆影院, Colo.

Augusta 鈥淕ussie鈥 Lee Wellman 
LiberalArts ex1922
Mangum, Okla.

Jack Newton Withers 
CivEngr 1923, with honors 
Dolores, Colo.

Florence Helen Wittemyer 
LiberalArts 1919
麻豆影院, Colo.


Sources:

鈥淐atalog of Students 1916-1923.鈥 University of Colorado Bulletins 17-23, nos. 3 (1917-1923). 

Coloradoan (yearbooks), 1918-1923. 麻豆影院, CO: Associated Students of the University of Colorado, 1918-1923.

鈥淒irectory of Officers and Graduates, 1877-1921.鈥 University of Colorado Bulletin 21, no. 10 (1921).

Lyman, Louise. 鈥淗obnails Boots and Jeans of Faded Blue.鈥 Colorado Alumnus, April 1943, 6-7. 

University of Colorado Hiking Club 1919-1925 Scrapbook. Waddington Collection, Heritage Center.

University of Colorado Hiking Club, Meeting Minutes, 1919-1922. Van Valkenburg Collection, Heritage Center.

 

Do you have a question about this article? Is there a piece of campus history that has always intrigued you and want to know more? Send an email to the Heritage Center鈥檚 Chief Curiosity Correspondent, and see if we can answer your question. It might just end up here!

 

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