HISTORY OF CLERK & RECORDER'S OFFICE
In the summer of 1861 William Gilpin of Missouri arrived in the Territory of Colorado as the new Territorial Governor. That September, Governor Gilpin appointed M.S. Beach, Henry S. Clark and Alfred D. Sprague as Commissioners of the new County of El Paso.
As originally laid out the county stretched from Pikes Peak on the west, east to the Platte River, a distance of some thirty miles. Running east and west through the center of the western edge of the county ran Ute Pass, from which came the Spanish name for the county, El Paso. Today El Paso County covers over 2,000 square miles, which is larger than the states of Rhode Island or Delaware. The county altitude ranges from 5,095 feet on the southern border at Black Squirrel Creek to 14,110 feet on the summit of Pikes Peak. The mean temperature is 48° F. and the average rainfall is 14.49 inches. Average snowfall equals 35 inches and the county enjoys an average of about 285 sunny days.
On November 16, 1861, the appointed Commissioners met to divide the new county into precincts and named the election judges for the upcoming election which was needed to elect the various county officers. Benjamin F. Crowell, Alfred D. Sprague and John Bley were elected County Commissioners. Scott Kelly was elected Sheriff, and George A. Bute was elected County Clerk. As noted by former County Clerk Irving Howbert in his autobiography, Memories of a Lifetime in the Pikes Peak Region, "All the county officers elected at that time were men of more than usual efficiency and business ability. Although little revenue was at their disposal, they managed the affairs of the county during the next three years without incurring any indebtedness whatever."
El Paso County grew and prospered during its formative years. In October 1869 Irving Howbert was elected County Clerk as he put it, "having been nominated by the Republicans and endorsed by the Democrats." The county at that time had an assessed valuation of only $225,000 with only about three hundred registered voters. In 1997 the county's assessed valuation was over $3,500,000,000 with over 305,000 registered electors.
During the late 1860's the County Clerk's office was a single room in the rear portion of a frame house on Colorado Avenue in Colorado City. This area is now known as Old Colorado City. According to Mr. Howbert the house was so poorly constructed that the ink froze in the bottles during the night and he had to thaw them out for use during the day. Being industrious, Mr. Howbert convinced the Commissioners to allow him to rent an adjacent log cabin that was eventually used as a Chinese laundry.
Mr. Howbert described it best, "When I moved into this log house, I was able to carry over to it all the records of the county in less than half an hour; and in its two rooms was transacted all the business of the county for the next two or three years. It was the office of the County Commissioners, the County Treasurer, the County Assessor, as well as that of the County Clerk."
According to Mr. Howbert in the spring of 1871 the citizens of the county and especially of the fledgling community of Colorado Springs set about to realize a much-needed road through Ute Pass. On June 20, 1871 an election was held to determine whether the county should issue bonds to construct the road. Despite many predictions the county would be bankrupted if the bonds were approved, the voters passed the measure and the bonds were issued for the improvement of the road up Ute Pass to the tune of $15,000. Today, El Paso County has over 2,000 miles of roads in its road system and over 230 square miles of open space.
While the population of the county numbered only in the hundreds in the 1860's, today the county is about to reach the 500,000 population mark. As the County has grown, so have the responsibilities and obligations of the County Clerk's office. Today the County Clerk's office consists of three locations in El Paso County, and employs over 100 employees to meet the needs of the citizens of the County. The office is responsible for elections, land recordings, motor vehicle registration and maintaining the records of the County Commissioners. One can only imagine what the county will look like and what needs and services will be provided during the next hundred years.
The following list chronicles the years in office of those notable individuals having served as El Paso County's Clerk & Recorder.
Robert C. "Bob" Balink 2003-
Thressa A. Sholdt 2002-2002
J. Patrick Kelly 1997-2002
Ardis W. Schmitt 1979-1996
Harriet Beals 1963-1978
Charles Ozias 1937-1962
C.R. Furrow 1925-1936
Oliver W. Ward 1923-1924
E.A. Jackson 1919-1922
Elroy C. Sheldon 1909-1918
Joseph H. Schider 1907-1908
W.H. Reed 1900-1906
W.T. Liggett 1898-1899
John W. Bates 1896-1897
F.W. Howbert 1891-1895
Edwin J. Eaton 1879-1890
Irving Howbert 1869-1879
Charles C. Jones 1866-1869
Robert Finley 1865-1866
George A. Bute 1862-1865
* Photographs - courtesy of Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum