Donald Fletcher

Donald George Fletcher (September 29, 1849 - January 2, 1929) was a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

tycoon A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in the late 19th century. Fletcher was born in

Cobourg, Ontario Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...

, Canada. His family moved to Chicago, Il when he was a child. He later attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, Knox College, and Union Seminary. In 1879, at the age of 30, he moved to Colorado for health reasons, becoming wealthy in the real estate business in Denver. In 1890 he allegedly co-founded a town called Fletcher on the plains east of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

around

Colfax Avenue Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the Denver metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local ...

with partners Thomas Hayden and Charles Dickenson. When the 1893 Silver Crash came, Fletcher lost his fortune and moved to

Cripple Creek, Colorado Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States Census. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Sprin ...

, selling his shares in Fletcher to Hayden and Dickenson in October 1893, leaving Fletcher residents with bond payments for non-existent water. Without a stable source of water, the town of Fletcher nearly met its demise, and the owners petitioned Denver for annexation in vain. However, the town endured, and was renamed

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

in 1907 by a vote of the town citizens. The town site of Fletcher is now known as the "Original Aurora", the northwest corner of Colorado's third-largest city. Today a square in the heart of Original Aurora is named "Fletcher Plaza", and includes a sunken garden and tree-lined sitting area. He died in San Leandro, California. People from the Denver metropolitan area People from Aurora, Colorado People from Cobourg 1849 births 1929 deaths {{US-business-bio-stub