COLORADO BUSINESS HALL OF FAME
  • Laureates By Name
  • Laureates by Year
    • 2025
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  • Laureates By Name
  • Laureates by Year
    • 2025
  • Supporters
  • Junior Achievement
  • PBS Specials
  • Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  • Nomination Form

William N. Byers

Originally from Ohio, William N. Byers moved with his parents to Omaha, NE, as the city was laid out in 1854. There he became the first deputy surveyor in the Nebraska Territory, in which capacity he created the first official map of Omaha. Soon afterward, he became a member of the first city council and a member of the first session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature, convened on January 16, 1855, in Omaha.

In 1859, Byers moved to Denver to take advantage of recent gold strikes in the area. Taking the printing presses of the defunct Bellevue Gazette by oxcart, he and J. H. Kellom were the authors of a handbook to the gold fields published that year. The Rocky Mountain News was the first newspaper printed in Colorado; it continued publication until 2009.

​Upon moving to Denver, he built and lived in several mansions, including the Byers-Evans House. The Byers-Evans House is now a museum located next to the Denver Art Museum in downtown Denver. Around 1889, Byers and his wife relocated outside of the city of Denver into the community known as "South Denver," which was organized as a "dry" community. After the Byers vacated their mansion and farm, the house was demolished, and the property was used for Byers Junior High School, dedicated to the Denver Public Schools in 1921.

As a former territorial surveyor, it is not surprising that Byers was an accomplished outdoorsman. While living in Denver, he spent considerable time in the mountains. In 1863, the artist Albert Bierstadt asked him to serve as a guide, and he led Bierstadt on an expedition from Idaho Springs, CO, to the summit of the mountain Bierstadt later known as Mount Evans. Bierstadt's masterpiece, Storm in the Rocky Mountains, was based on that trip.

The Colorado Business Hall of Fame is co-presented by
Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain Inc. and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Videos produced by Becky Holden of Biography Media, [email protected]