Denver, Colorado 1901 History

William R. Owen
Columbus, Wisconsin
Leadville, Colorado

Page 860

William R. Owen, General Manager of the Denver Dry Goods Company, was born in the town of Columbus, Wisconsin, January 3, 1852.   Having attended the public school at Columbus until he was thirteen, he then set out to make his way in the business word, and was engaged as a clerk in stores at Racine, Portage and Fox Lake, Wisconsin, until 1875.  In that year he came to Denver and entered the establishment of Daniels & Fisher where he remained three years, when he went to Leadville and began business on his own account, having been one of the pioneer merchants in the great carbonate camp, and also becoming a member of the Board of Aldermen in the first city government of Leadville.  After five years of successful business there he sold his store to Daniels, Fisher & Co., and returning to Denver, again engaged in merchandising here for a short time.  He then became connected with the M.J. McNamara Dry Goods Company and with which he continued until its business passed to Dennis Sheedy and Charles R. Kountze in the summer of 1893; becoming General Manager under the new ownership. In May, 1894, he joined in the organization and capitalization of the Denver Dry Goods Company that was practically the successor of the McNamara Company.  Since then Mr. Owen has been the General Manager of the Denver Company’s great establishment of Sixteenth and California streets.