The headline atop Page 1 of the Colorado Springs Gazette on March 14, 1909, told the sad story: “General William J. Palmer, Colorado’s Foremost Citizen, is Dead.”

“Springs Loses Founder and Chief Benefactor” the story continued, saying he had died a day earlier, at 1:15 p.m.,at his home, Glen Eyrie.

The general, an avid horse rider, had suffered for several years following an accident. In October 1906, he had been riding his beloved stallion Diablo on the road from Gateway to Garden of the Gods toward Glen Eyrie when Diablo stumbled, sending Palmer crashing to the ground, hitting his head.

In two full pages of the newspaper’s coverage of his life and final days, it was reported that specialists from Denver were brought in and diagnosed a fracture of Palmer’s cervical spine and damage to the spinal cord, but surgery was not an option because he was over 70. Some weeks later he suffered paralysis and top doctors were summoned from the East, but all that could be done was keeping him comfortable as he enjoyed guests and was driven on day trips around the city he founded, seeing the mountains he loved. The experts credited his positive outlook as he and family members sailed on a specially outfitted steamer to London in 1908.

Before returning home, his health had failed and at Glen Eyrie he was often asleep, finally going into a coma. Family reported that he never woke up and was peaceful when he died. His body was sent to Denver for cremation. His wife, Queen, had died in 1894 of heart disease and her ashes were in a special place on the fireplace mantel at Glen Eyrie. She and their three daughters had lived in England for years and Palmer traveled to see them several times a year.

As word came down about his death, there were accolades and tributes about everything Gen. Palmer had accomplished in his growing city, from his first visit in 1867 to endless treeless land to bringing the railroad to the Rocky Mountain West and founding the city in 1871. He funded schools, especially Colorado College, and donated the land for the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, helped in developing CFI Steel in Pueblo for his railroad tracks, was a founder of a tuberculosis hospital, donated the land for the city parks system, founded the first newspaper known as Out West and later becoming the Gazette, had trees planted in his semi-arid new city, founded Evergreen Cemetery and so much more.

When the general’s ashes were brought from Denver by train, an extremely large crowd awaited and hundreds made their way from the depot to Evergreen Cemetery by streetcar from the downtown post office, 75 carriages and 20 automobiles. An escort of 500 young men, most from Colorado College, went alongside the funeral carriage through the city.

The entire city paid tribute to the treasured benefactor who had quietly demanded that upon his death he should never lie in state at City Hall as proposed by city officials and movers and shakers.

There was also no large Palmer mausoleum near the entrance of the cemetery. In “Here Lies Colorado Springs,” describing historical figures buried in Evergreen and Fairview Cemeteries, the story explains that Palmer followed “Quaker simplicity” in his monument. His site and the family plot have monuments of stones from the beautiful mountains seen just beyond marking their graves, including where the urns for Palmer and his wife, Queen, are buried in places of honor.

Instead of listing all those impressive things he had created here, he has this inscription on his grave paying tribute to his earlier military past:

MEDAL OF HONOR

BRIG GEN 15 PA CAV

CIVIL WAR

A colonel, he had been a breveted Civil War Brigadier General for bravery as commander of the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry. At Red Hill, Ala., in 1865, they had defeated “a superior force of the enemy” and took 100 prisoners “without losing a man.”

In 1929, private citizens and the William Jackson Palmer Memorial Association chose the center of the intersection of Platte and Nevada Avenues downtown to permanently honor Palmer with a bronze equestrian sculpture of the general aboard a horse. Common lore was the horse might be Diablo, but that has always been discounted and it remains nameless. Appropriately, Pikes Peak and the mountains can be easily viewed on the horizon. As the city grew and heavy traffic grew in that area, drivers have complained and wanted the horse and rider moved but it is public art maintained under supervision of Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum through the city’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services department.

Palmer’s palatial home, Glen Eyrie Castle, is now a striking hotel and conference center, with tours of its majestic rooms.