Bergen, Thomas C.

Thomas Bergen

(1820-1888)

Thomas C. Bergen was the first white settler in the Evergreen and Bergen Park area. His first home, built in 1859, also served as a hotel for travelers to the mountain mining areas where guests, as many as 20 at a time, paid 50 cents a night and 50 cents a meal.

He became a rancher and operated a way station on the stage coach and wagon roads to the mines. He pastured and traded oxen and horses, cut and sold lumber, raised vegetables.

Pioneer of local government. In 1860, he and other residents of the area formed the (short-lived) County of Niwot, where he served as Justice of the Peace. Bergen was chosen head of the county and Bergen Park was designated as the county seat. He was a member of the first state legislature and of the People's Convention that petitioned Congress for Colorado statehood. Bergen was elected to a two-year term on the first Board of County Commissioners, and was reelected twice.

Source: Jeffco Archives 11/2008; Evergreen Our Mountain Community - Sternberg – 1987. Photo courtesy of Jefferson County Historical Society