Milestones Icon: Adolph J. Zang

Broomfield’s central location between Denver and Boulder caught the eye of several major developers over time, who eventually made it into the “bedroom community” of today.

But what Adolph J. Zang, the son of Bavarian-born brewery magnate Philip Zang, envisioned when he and two others purchased the 4,000 acres of land from Union Pacific Railroad in 1885 was a cozy place for his Elmwood Stock Farm. Zang became sole owner in 1895.

The land encompassed much of Broomfield, including the old railroad depot where the iconic grain elevators now stand in Original Broomfield. At the time, the area was known as Zang’s Spur and stretched out to include what is now Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County.

Approximately 11 households accounted for Broomfield’s entire population, and the town was named after the local crop, broom corn, which was used, as the name suggests, as the bristles of brooms. Today, Broomfield’s population is in excess of 54,000, and its industry has diversified to include pharmaceuticals, high-tech companies and mannequins.

The train tracks of the Union Pacific continue to run through Original Broomfield, and were long the center of commerce. It was also where the Old Depot was located before it became a Broomfield history museum several blocks north of the tracks, just west of U.S. Highway 287.

After a failed attempt to transition to ice cream and malt after prohibition, a series of fires destroyed the Zang Brewery Co.’s breweries and warehouses. Zang and his family lived in the Vogel house in Broomfield when he transitioned into mining, agriculture, real estate and other ventures. But the family’s primary residence became the Adolph J. Zang Mansion in Denver.

At the ranch, Zang pruned orchards and bred Percherons and other pure-bred horses. The most prized among them was the world famous stallion, Champagne. Zang was one of five people at the time to own a telephone.

In 1892, Zang quitclaimed the acre of land to the school district that became the one-room, white-framed Broomfield elementary school that operated until 1921. Through the years, Zang continued to sell off parcels of the Broomfield land to businesses and homeowners.

Zang died shortly after returning home from a visit to the Vindicator Mine, where he caught an illness, and died Sept. 28, 1916, leaving the estate to his wife, Minnie Vogt Zang, and five children, Philip A., Adolph F., Louise, Minnie and Gertrude.

His contributions extended far beyond Broomfield. Zang helped develop the Lakeside Amusement Park, and donated the land to the city of Denver where the Coliseum was built.

on Facebook on LinkedIn