Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
MARTIN E. ROWLEY

Contributed by Karen Mitchell.

Martin E. Rowley is the manager of the Metropole Hotel of Denver and well qualified by native ability and acquired business sagacity for the duties which devolve upon him in this connection. He was born in Underhill, Vermont. January 27, 1876, and is a son of the late Lawrence Rowley, who was likewise a native of the Green Mountain state and was of Irish lineage. The family, however, has been represented on this side of the water through several generations, early settlement having been made in Vermont. Lawrence Rowley became a railroad engineer and carpenter. He followed those pursuits in the east for some time and in 1881 removed westward to Colorado, taking up his abode in Pueblo. At a later period he left that city to become a resident of Denver in 1886 and here he continued to the time of his death. He married Emma Flannery, who was also born in the Green Mountain state and was a daughter of Martin Flannery, one of the early settlers there, making his home at Underhill until his death, which occurred in 1913, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years He was of Irish lineage. His daughter, Mrs. Rowley, was reared and educated in Underhill, Vermont, and there became the wife of Lawrence Rowley, accompanying her husband and their family to Denver, where she still makes her home. She has become the mother of four children, two sons and two daughters, of whom three are yet living. Martin E. Rowley, the eldest of the household, was educated in the public schools of Pueblo and of Denver to the age of fourteen years, when his textbooks were put aside and he started out to provide for his own livelihood. He was first employed as a messenger in the St. James Hotel in 1890 and continued there for two years, thus taking the initial step which has brought him to his present position. His next employment was at the Windsor Hotel in Denver, where he acted as elevator boy until 1894. He then became connected with the Brown Palace Hotel, beginning in the elevator service, and later he was called to the office and continued to act in a clerical capacity there until 1901, when he resigned his position to become night clerk of the Metropole Hotel. Subsequently he was advanced to the position of day clerk and so continued until 1903, when he became associated with the Shirley Hotel as clerk and assistant manager. Afterward he was made manager of that hostelry and continued with the Shirley until 1910, when he returned to the Metropole and assumed the duties of general manager. This position he has since continuously filled and his capability is recognized by all who know aught of this attractive hotel. On the 20th of April, 1904, in Denver, Mr. Rowley was united in marriage to Miss Anna M. O'Brien, a native of Denver and a daughter of the late John E. and Kate (Rock) O'Brien. She is a representative of an old and prominent family of Denver, known here since 1870 and coming originally from Illinois. Mrs. O'Brien was born in Illinois and is still living in Denver. Mr. O'Brien, however, was a native of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Rowley have been born two children: John Edward, whose birth occurred in Denver, December 24. 1906; and Mabel Anna, born in Denver, March 19, 1909. In his political views Mr. Rowley has always, been a democrat where national questions and issues are involved, but casts an independent ballot at local elections. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus and to the Catholic church. He is a member of the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and of the Optimists Club. His genuine worth is recognized by all who know him and his genial manner, unfailing courtesy and other marked traits of character have made him popular among all with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact. Men who are familiar with his business career attest his excellent executive ability as well as his spirit of marked enterprise and progressiveness—a spirit that has brought him up from a humble position in the business world to his present place of responsibility. History Of Colorado Illustrated Volume II Chicago The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1918

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