Job Adams Cooper

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Job Adams Cooper
6th Governor of Colorado
In office 1889 – 1891
Lieutenant(s)	William Grover Smith
Preceded by	Alva Adams
Succeeded by	John L. Routt

Born	November 6, 1843 Greenville, Illinois
Died	January 20, 1899
Political party	Republican

Job Adams Cooper (November 6, 1843-January 20, 1899) was a U.S. Republican Party politician. He served as Governor of Colorado from 1889 to 1891.

1 Early life
2 Governor of Colorado
3 Retirement
4 External links
5 External link

[edit] Early life

Job Adams Cooper was born in Greenville, Illinois to Charles and Maria Hadley Cooper, and was one of seven children. The future Governor attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, but took a leave-of-absence to fight in the American Civil War joining the Union Army, and was stationed in Memphis, Tennessee during the Confederate raid on the city by troopers under the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Following the war, he returned to complete his studies. Upon graduation from Knox College in 1867, he returning to Greenville and was admitted to practice law in Illinois. That same year, he married Jane O. Barnes, the daughter of a prominent minister, and they had four children together. Leaving his family behind in 1872, he accompanied A. C. Phelps on a westward journey hoping to find entrepreneurial opportunities, and eventually settled in Denver, Colorado, where they started the law firm of Phelps and Cooper. In between 1872 and 1888, Cooper expanded his business interests to include insurance, banking, mining, and the cattle industry.

[edit] Governor of Colorado

In 1888, Cooper was nominated for Governor, and went on to defeat Rocky Mountain News editor Thomas MacDonald Patterson. Following his inauguration as the state's sixth Governor in January, 1889, he created thirteen new counties, including, Baca, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Montezuma, Morgan, Otero, Phillips, Prowers, Rio Blanca, Sedgewick, and Yuma. Furthermore, he opened a state orphans home in Denver and a state reformatory in Chaffee County.

[edit] Retirement

Cooper declined to seek reelection in 1890, and returned to his law practice. He later formed a construction business and built Denver's Cooper Building, which is considered an architectural gem to this day. From 1893 to 1897, he served as President of the local Chamber of Commerce. He died at the relatively young age of 55 and is buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery.