Adolphe Gérard

Adolphe Gérard (1844–1900) was a French chef, restaurant and hotel owner in Colorado, US. Gérard was born in

Alençon Alençon (, , ; ) is a commune in Normandy, France, and the capital of the Orne department. It is situated between Paris and Rennes (about west of Paris) and a little over north of Le Mans. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alen� ...

, France, in 1844. At age 15, he enrolled in a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

in the commune of

Sées Sées () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. It is classed as a Petite Cité de Caractère. Geography The commune is spread over an area of with a maximum altitude of and minimum of It lies on the river Orne fr ...

. At age 20, Gérard moved to Paris, where he was apprenticed as a chef in a hotel. He then moved to London, where he worked with a newspaper on its reviews and translations (Gérard was fluent in English, German and Latin). At age 22, Gérard moved to New York City, where he again worked for a newspaper. In 1868, he enlisted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

at Fort Hamilton, New York, and was assigned to Fort D. A. Russell near

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Wyoming, most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is the county seat of Laramie County, Wyoming, Laramie County, with 65,132 reside ...

. In April 1869, he deserted and moved to Denver, Colorado, assuming the name "Louis Dupuy". He started working for the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

'' as a roving reporter for the

mining camp A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historical mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendig ...

s. Gérard soon decided to become a miner himself. In 1873, while working in the Cold Stream Mine on

Mount Sherman Mount Sherman is a high mountain summit in the Mosquito Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located east by south ( bearing 103°) of the City of Leadville, Colorado, United States, on the drainage divide separat ...

Silver Plume, Colorado Silver Plume is a Colorado municipalities#Statutory town, Statutory Town located in Clear Creek County, Colorado, Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Silver Plume is a former silver mining camp along Clear Creek (Colorado), Clear Creek ...

, he was badly injured in a delayed

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

explosion in the Kennedy Tunnel. Gérard took the brunt of the blast and saved the life of a fellow miner. Gérard broke a rib and

clavicle The clavicle, collarbone, or keybone is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately long that serves as a strut between the scapula, shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on each side of the body. The clavic ...

, and injured his left eye. Because he could not return to mining, the people of

Georgetown, Colorado Georgetown is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Territorial charter municipality, territorial charter municipality that is the county seat of Clear Creek County, Colorado, Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. The town population was ...

, raised enough money for him to rent the former Delmonico Bakery. He was able to purchase the property within a few years and created a successful restaurant and hotel that he called Hotel de Paris. By the early 1890s, the original building had tripled in size. It contained numerous rooms, a formal dining room, a sizeable kitchen and an apartment for Gérard. The Hotel de Paris had

indoor plumbing Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Building ...

with a washbasin in each room, as well as electric lighting which replaced

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

in 1893. Dinners were served on Haviland & Co. china from

Limoges, France Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated on the first western foothills of the Mas ...

, with elegant linens and imported glassware. The menu included steaks from cattle raised on Louis' ranch Troublesome Creek, delicacies such as

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of Seawater, salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in Marine (ocean), marine or Brackish water, brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly Calcification, calcified, a ...

and

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

in olive oil imported from France. Gérard was an avid reader of literature and philosophy. His library contained a full set of ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''. On October 7, 1900, Gérard died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at age 56. He left the hotel to his housekeeper Sophie Gally, who died only four months later. In 1904, the Hotel de Paris was purchased by James H. and Sarah Burkholder. Their daughter, Hazel Burkholder McAdams, owned the hotel until 1954, when the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Colorado acquired it and turned it into a museum. Gérard is buried with Sophie Gally. They share a grave marker inscribed with the words "''Deux Bons Amis''" ("Two good friends"). In 1985, Gérard was fictionalized by

Louis L'Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known West ...

in his novel ''The Proving Trail''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gérard, Adolphe 1844 births 1900 deaths French chefs French male journalists