Richard Sopris

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Richard Sopris (1813–1893) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Denver, Colorado, from 1878 to 1881. He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and worked as a carpenter, a canal builder, and a steamboat captain before moving west. In 1859 he arrived in the Colorado Territory, where he helped develop mining towns like Auraria and Central City and was among the first shareholders of Auraria. He organized the 1st Regiment of Colorado Volunteers and served as captain of Company C, fighting at Glorieta Pass and against Confederate forces in New Mexico and Arizona.

Before becoming mayor, Sopris represented Colorado in the Kansas territorial legislature and helped draft mining laws. He was elected Mayor of Denver in 1878 and served until 1881. Sopris died in Denver on April 7, 1893, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery. Mount Sopris in Colorado was named after him, after he surveyed the area in 1860. He and his wife Elizabeth Allen had ten children; their daughter Indiana Sopris Cushman became Colorado’s first white woman to teach in a school.