Edward Seerie Jr Denver Colorado building contractor

 

Edward Seerie Jr.

EDWARD SEERIE  was born January 26, 1876 in Parish of Eassie & Nevay, Angus, Scotland, son of Edward Seerie Sr. and Margaret McLean Duff.  Edward immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1890, settling in Denver, Colorado.

Edward Seerie served as president of the Seerie Brothers Construction Company, a partnership formed with brothers Peter Seerie and John Duff Seerie.  Their contracting company with offices in the Interstate Trust Building,  built the Denver Civic Center, sugar factories, the Brown Palace Hotel, the Colorado National Bank, and projects in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana.

Mr. Seerie served as president of the Golden Fire Brick Company, director of Denver Sewer Pipe and Clay Company; director of McNeil Coal Corporation, and vice-president of Denver Marble & Tile Company.  He was active in the community having served on the Board of trustees of the Presbyterian Hospital for thirty-even years and a member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce.  Edward Seerie was member of the Moffat Tunnel Commission which studied the feasibility of locating and building a railroad line through the mountains to facilitate the transportation of goods to the West. He was a Mason 32nd Degree, Scottish & York Rites, member of the Denver Lodge 5 A. F. & A. M.

Edward Seerie married Janet Page McNeil September 27, 1916 in Denver.  Janet McNeil, born October 8, 1888, in Denver, was the daughter of John McNeil and Janet Page. They had one daughter Virginia B. Seerie, who married Robert Boyer and died in California.

John McNeil  was born March 2, 1853, in Coatdyke, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  He married Janet Allan Page December 30, 1872 in Slamannan, Stirling Scotland. The McNeil family immigrated to the United States in 1876 first settling in Collinsville, Illinois. Two years later the family relocated to Coal Creek, in Fremont County, Colorado.  Janet Allan Page was born May 25, 1855 in Scotland and died November 2, 1888 in Denver. John McNeil died December 1, 1887 at the age of 69.  The McNeil's are buried at Riverside Cemetery.

 

John McNeil secondly married Elizabeth C. Buchanan November 6, 1889 in Denver and she died June 10, 1910.  John McNeil thirdly married Nellie Taylor Buchanan November 22, 1916 in Denver.  Mr. McNeil, a mining engineer consultant, formed the McNeil Coal Company at the town of MacGregor located in Routt County, on the Moffat Railroad Line, with his four sons.  The McNeil Coal Company owned 1200 acres of coal land at Cameo, Mesa County, near Grand Junction, Colorado and the Sterling Lignite Mine in Weld County, Colorado.  John McNeil was a member of the Moffat Tunnel Commission.  Children of John McNeil and Janet Page include two sons born in Slamannan, Stirling Scotland: John McGregor McNeil, born 1873 and David Page McNeil, b. 1875. Alexander McGregor McNeil, b. 1880, Coal Creek, Fremont County, Colorado; George Washington McNeil, b. 1882, Canon City, Freemont County, Colorado and daughters Katie McNeil, b.1873 & Janet Page McNeil, b. 1888 Denver, the wife of Edward Seerie Jr.  

Edward Seerie died May 3, 1964 while Mrs. Janet Page McNeil Seerie died February 5, 1962. Janet served as President of the Sands House Association for twenty years from 1944 to 1964. Both are buried at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver.

 

Longmont Sugar Company
Completed in 1903

Located in Section 11, Township 2 North, Range 69 West
East of Longmont near the Ken Pratt Parkway extension

View from Sugar Mill Road

Great Western Sugar Company closed the plant in 1977

The buildings show significant signs of vandalism


 

Edward Seerie Jr. and partner Frank Hill, of the company "Hill & Seerie," were sub-contractors who furnished $128,500 of material and labor in the construction of the factory buildings at the Longmont Sugar Company, situated in Sect 11, Township 2N, Range 69W. The Longmont Sugar company was opened for business in late 1903, with the first load of sugar beets delivered to the plant for processing.  On March 12, 1904, Frank H. Hill and Edward Seerie Jr. filed a lien against the Longmont Sugar company for the unpaid balance of $16,081 of their contract. "Hill & Seerie" were under contract with the principal contractor The Kilby Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio.   Frank H. Hill handed a copy of the lien to Francis M. Downer, Vice-President of the The Longmont Sugar Company on the 11th day of March 1904.  

Longmont Sugar Company and The Kilby Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio satisfied and paid in full the lien amount by July 28, 1904 and the lien was released.

Longmont Sugar Company was taken over by the Great Western Sugar Company in 1905.  The factory has been closed for some years and the buildings now 100 years old.  The buildings are showing significant signs of decay. 



Water damage



Edward Seerie was president of the  Golden Fire Brick Company, located two miles north of Golden on Highway 93 and director of the Denver Sewer Pipe & Clay Company of Denver.  Bricks from the Golden Fire Brick Company were made from light-colored clay that once fired were buff-colored. Samples of these color of bricks are found in both East and South High Schools of Denver. The brick supplied for building the Longmont Sugar Company buildings probably came from the Denver Sewer Pipe and Clay Company.
 

South High School

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