Henry Schnoor

Henry Schnoor

Henry Schnoor came from Kiowa County and purchased the land known as Green Mountain Ranch in 1897. He had brought a herd of cattle with him. This property had been homesteaded about 1881 by Fred Hertel who sold it to Henry Schnoor. The name came from the Green Mountain that was opposite the ranch, just across Trail Ridge Road.

Henry Schnoor was a neighbor of the Harbisons who homesteaded in the valley in the late 1800’s. They had two daughters. Henry worked often with Mr. Harbison and his son Rob sharing equipment and horses. In anticipation of his marriage to Kitty Harbison, Henry built a cabin in 1898. The cabin was designed with a bay window on the south end of the log cabin to accommodate the geraniums which Kitty raised. As the marriage date approached, Kitty realized her sister Annie could not operate the ranch alone and she jilted Henry.

Henry married, but his wife disliked the area and refused to remain in the isolated Colorado valley. She deserted her husband, leaving him with two small children. At first Henry sent the children to an orphanage in Denver, but the smallest needed personal care so they were taken in by the Haribisons in 1910. At this time Beatrice Schnoor was two and Mary (Mammie) was one. Rob Harbison recalled that little Mary was so weak she was unable to raise her head and had never walked when the girls were taken in by the Harbisons. He remembers his mother bringing her home and carrying her into the cabin from the wagon on a pillow.

Mr. Schnoor regularly came to the ranch to see the children and when he remarried in 1913 to Carrie Stowell Schuster (Mrs. Ezra Kauffman’s sister), he wanted his children back. Beatrice was willing to go but Mary wanted to remain in the only home she knew so was raised by the Harbisons. Mrs. Schnoor was County Superintendent of schools for many years.

 

 

Henry Schnoor sold the Green Mountain ranch September 6, 1906 and moved into Grand Lake where he took up carpenter work and built a great deal in the Grand Lake area. In 1906 Henry built the O. J. Garber House for Maurice de Hemptinne. Like all new buildings then, it was the scene of a big dance and housewarming. Henry built the Brownhurst Cottages and many other homes in the area. He was the chief builder and master craftsman for building the Trinity Church in the Pines which was dedicated on August 30, 1942 after five long years of labor.

Henry Schnoor died in 1943.