Businessman, author. He was a real estate developer that was the first to expand the eastside of Denver. His parents were Baron Lothar von Richthofen & his wife Hulda. He was a distant cousin to the World War I flying ace, Manfred "the Red Baron" von Richthofen. He served in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. He arrived in Colorado from Germany in 1877. In 1881, he started the Downtown Denver Real Estate Company, and was also a founding member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce. He wrote "Cattle-Raising on the Plains of North America" (NY: 1885). His book proclaimed that the Colorado front-range area was "the largest and richest grass and pasture region in the world, and it will probably soon become the most important beef-producing country of the globe." His book attracted many men with money from around the world to this area. He himself failed in the cattle industry, his book however sold well, and he built Richthofen Castle. In 1883, he began construction of his castle, designed after the von Richthofen Castle in Germany. It was constructed primarily of rhyolite, and the estate was contained within an acre of walled gardens. He completed the 21-room residence in 1887. It was the show home for his new suburban town Montclair. In 1885, he founded Montclair, Colorado, and promoted it as the "Beautiful Suburban Town of Denver." In 1898, he built Molkerei (milkhouse), a tuberculosis sanitarium. Tuberculosis victims were promised a cure by drinking the fresh milk, lying in the sun, and inhaling the barnyard effluvium through grates in the milk house floor. Within a few years, the Molkerei was converted to an insane asylum and then as the Montclair community center.
Businessman, author. He was a real estate developer that was the first to expand the eastside of Denver. His parents were Baron Lothar von Richthofen & his wife Hulda. He was a distant cousin to the World War I flying ace, Manfred "the Red Baron" von Richthofen. He served in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. He arrived in Colorado from Germany in 1877. In 1881, he started the Downtown Denver Real Estate Company, and was also a founding member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce. He wrote "Cattle-Raising on the Plains of North America" (NY: 1885). His book proclaimed that the Colorado front-range area was "the largest and richest grass and pasture region in the world, and it will probably soon become the most important beef-producing country of the globe." His book attracted many men with money from around the world to this area. He himself failed in the cattle industry, his book however sold well, and he built Richthofen Castle. In 1883, he began construction of his castle, designed after the von Richthofen Castle in Germany. It was constructed primarily of rhyolite, and the estate was contained within an acre of walled gardens. He completed the 21-room residence in 1887. It was the show home for his new suburban town Montclair. In 1885, he founded Montclair, Colorado, and promoted it as the "Beautiful Suburban Town of Denver." In 1898, he built Molkerei (milkhouse), a tuberculosis sanitarium. Tuberculosis victims were promised a cure by drinking the fresh milk, lying in the sun, and inhaling the barnyard effluvium through grates in the milk house floor. Within a few years, the Molkerei was converted to an insane asylum and then as the Montclair community center.
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