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Henry M. Teller
- Steve Plutt
- Mar 23
- 5 min read
"Colorado's Grand Old Man"
By Steve Plutt, © January 20, 2026
On behalf of the Ute Pass Historical Society, and in celebration of America’s 250th, Colorado’s 150th, and the Ute Pass Historical Society’s 50th anniversaries, we’d like to present the following account of the namesake of Teller County, the Honorable Henry Teller.
A Republican, Henry Teller was a successful Colorado businessman, lawyer, and politician. He was sworn in as the very first United States Senator from the new state of Colorado on November 15, 1876 and served until April 17, 1882, when he resigned.
He again served as a Senator with the 49th Congress, being sworn in on March 4, 1885 with that term ending on March 3, 1909. However, due to his political evolution, he served those years as a Democrat.
He also served as the 15th United States Secretary of the Interior from April 18, 1882 until March 3, 1885 under the presidency of Chester A. Arthur.
By the late 1890s, the name of Henry Teller was permanently written in the annals of Colorado and was the first nationally known politician from this state. Throughout his political career, he maintained friendships and was admired by both sides of the aisle.
On May 23, 1830, Henry was born into a large, strict Methodist family and was raised on his family’s New York farm. He was the second oldest of 8 children born to John and Charlotte Teller. It was on the farm at an early age that Henry’s determined tirelessness to any and all assignments was established. Henry was self-made, without any aid from his parents. He begin his career path by working as a schoolteacher at Rushford and Alfred Academies in New York in order to fund his studies to attain his Law degree.
After leaving his teaching job, he entered the law office of Judge Martin Grover. It was the Judge who encouraged and mentored Henry to study law. He passed the bar in 1858 in Binghamton, N.Y. and then headed west for a very short stint at general practice in Morrison, Illinois.
In April of 1861, following the footsteps of tens of thousands of argonauts during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, Teller came to Colorado in an oxen wagon and settled in Central City, where he set up a prominent law practice that his brother Willard later joined as a partner. At the time, Central City was the chief center of population and mining in Colorado.
In 1863, during what was then described as “Indian Troubles,” Henry was appointed Major-General of the Colorado Militia by Governor Evans. When the “troubles” ended two years later, he resigned the position.
In 1865, Henry drew up the charter for the Colorado Central Railroad and led that company as its most enthusiastic promoter and president of the company for five years.
When Henry came to Colorado, he became interested in politics. In 1876, when our state was admitted to the Union, he became Colorado’s first United States Senator.
That was a three-month term and, on its expiration, he was then elected for a full six year term from 1877 to 1883. However, he resigned shortly before the term ended to accept an invitation from President Chester Arthur to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of the Interior.
During that time as Secretary of the Interior, Henry Teller supported the general belief of President Arthur’s administration, which was to save Native Americans by civilizing them. They wanted to “turn Native Americans into dark-skinned versions of Caucasian Christians.” To Teller, that meant they had to abandon their cultural traditions. His creation of the “Code of Indian Offenses” was a disaster for Native cultures. This “code” ignored the First Amendment rights of Natives and criminalized their religious and cultural beliefs, even outlawing most Native American celebrations.
In 1885, at the end of Arthur’s presidency, Teller left the Interior Department and returned to the Senate as a staunch Republican. However, with his unyielding fight for silver interests, along with his anti-elitist sentiments, devotion to states' rights, and opposition to imperialism, he gained national recognition for leading a walkout at the Republican National Convention in 1896. It was then that he abandoned the GOP and organized a third political party, known as the “Silver Republican” party where he worked in unison with both Populists and Democrats. Those three parties urged him to run for and accept the presidential nomination, but he declined and instead supported William Jennings Bryan.
Henry was elected to the Senate again, this time as a Silver Republican. He remained in the Senate until 1909, when he retired and returned to his Colorado home. In all, he represented our state in the Senate for almost 30 years, finishing his political career as a Democrat.
Teller worked tirelessly on issues of public lands, Indian policy, and the monetary system—as a prominent supporter of bimetallism. He served on the major committees of Rules, Judiciary and Appropriations and was chairman of the Private Land Claims Committee and the Select Committee on the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians.
Henry was the husband to Harriet M. Bruce, they married on June 7, 1862 and were parents to three children, all born in Central City.
After a lengthy illness, Henry died on February 23, 1914 in Denver. He was regarded as one of the most prominent and influential men in not only Colorado, but in the nation. His body laid in state at the Colorado Capitol and is interred at the Fairmount Cemetery in Denver.
Henry Teller’s legacy continues to live on here, on the slopes of Pikes Peak.
But the creation of this county was very controversial, with many opposed to this idea. There was even a conspiracy to drug and kidnap two members of the Colorado House who supported the new county. There was even physical fighting at the capital amongst lawmakers.
Those against the creation were the Republican Party and Colorado Springs businessmen. Those in favor were miners and local mine owners from the Cripple Creek-Victor area. Woodland Park was against its formation; they wanted to remain with Colorado Springs in El Paso County.
Fortunately, Woodland Park was in the minority. For at 10 a.m. on March 23, 1899, with a pen made of Cripple Creek gold, Governor Charles Thomas signed into law Senate Bill 52. That made Teller County the 57th county in Colorado by combining parts of El Paso and Fremont counties. Even though he was still among the living, it was named in honor of Colorado’s “Grand Old Man,” Henry Moore Teller.
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