Louise Bethel Sneed blew into Denver in 1893 bound and determined to climb the social ladder up to the top rung. And climb she did. Within two years she had married Crawford Hill, one of the Queen City's best-known eligible bachelors. His most attractive quality? He came with all the social trappings to boost her up the ladder.
Hill's father was Nathaniel P. Hill, the smelter magnate (Boston and Colorado Smelting Company), a U.S. senator and the publisher of the Denver Republican newspaper.
One of the most productive years of this social scion's life occurred in 1906 when she cemented her status as the elite social queen of Denver, producing the city's first social register titled Who's Who in Denver Society. "The Smart Set"—47 names all belonging to the city's top families—were listed on the inaugural volume's first page. But the esteemed group was soon dubbed "The Sacred 36" when the Hill family—now including Nathaniel Peter, born in 1896, and Crawford, Jr., born in 1898—moved into their new 22-room mansion on the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and Sherman Street (which still stands).
Louise often held afternoon court at her palatial estate with 36 bridge players. The players filled out nine tables for the popular game, causing one society reporter to give all these card-playing, high-society types the moniker "Denver's Sacred 36." Even so, the number in her smart social set rarely stayed at 36 and changed from year to year and even month to month. In 1922 Crawford Hill died.
Louise never remarried, and continued to live in her home until the Second World War when it became increasingly difficult to get domestic help to look after the mansion. In 1942 she sold it and moved into a suite in the Brown Palace Hotel, where she became more or less a recluse. She died in 1955, and is buried next to Crawford in the Hill family plot in Block A at Fairmount Cemetery.
Hill's father was Nathaniel P. Hill, the smelter magnate (Boston and Colorado Smelting Company), a U.S. senator and the publisher of the Denver Republican newspaper.
One of the most productive years of this social scion's life occurred in 1906 when she cemented her status as the elite social queen of Denver, producing the city's first social register titled Who's Who in Denver Society. "The Smart Set"—47 names all belonging to the city's top families—were listed on the inaugural volume's first page. But the esteemed group was soon dubbed "The Sacred 36" when the Hill family—now including Nathaniel Peter, born in 1896, and Crawford, Jr., born in 1898—moved into their new 22-room mansion on the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and Sherman Street (which still stands).
Louise often held afternoon court at her palatial estate with 36 bridge players. The players filled out nine tables for the popular game, causing one society reporter to give all these card-playing, high-society types the moniker "Denver's Sacred 36." Even so, the number in her smart social set rarely stayed at 36 and changed from year to year and even month to month. In 1922 Crawford Hill died.
Louise never remarried, and continued to live in her home until the Second World War when it became increasingly difficult to get domestic help to look after the mansion. In 1942 she sold it and moved into a suite in the Brown Palace Hotel, where she became more or less a recluse. She died in 1955, and is buried next to Crawford in the Hill family plot in Block A at Fairmount Cemetery.
Louise Bethel Sneed blew into Denver in 1893 bound and determined to climb the social ladder up to the top rung. And climb she did. Within two years she had married Crawford Hill, one of the Queen City's best-known eligible bachelors. His most attractive quality? He came with all the social trappings to boost her up the ladder.
Hill's father was Nathaniel P. Hill, the smelter magnate (Boston and Colorado Smelting Company), a U.S. senator and the publisher of the Denver Republican newspaper.
One of the most productive years of this social scion's life occurred in 1906 when she cemented her status as the elite social queen of Denver, producing the city's first social register titled Who's Who in Denver Society. "The Smart Set"—47 names all belonging to the city's top families—were listed on the inaugural volume's first page. But the esteemed group was soon dubbed "The Sacred 36" when the Hill family—now including Nathaniel Peter, born in 1896, and Crawford, Jr., born in 1898—moved into their new 22-room mansion on the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and Sherman Street (which still stands).
Louise often held afternoon court at her palatial estate with 36 bridge players. The players filled out nine tables for the popular game, causing one society reporter to give all these card-playing, high-society types the moniker "Denver's Sacred 36." Even so, the number in her smart social set rarely stayed at 36 and changed from year to year and even month to month. In 1922 Crawford Hill died.
Louise never remarried, and continued to live in her home until the Second World War when it became increasingly difficult to get domestic help to look after the mansion. In 1942 she sold it and moved into a suite in the Brown Palace Hotel, where she became more or less a recluse. She died in 1955, and is buried next to Crawford in the Hill family plot in Block A at Fairmount Cemetery.
Hill's father was Nathaniel P. Hill, the smelter magnate (Boston and Colorado Smelting Company), a U.S. senator and the publisher of the Denver Republican newspaper.
One of the most productive years of this social scion's life occurred in 1906 when she cemented her status as the elite social queen of Denver, producing the city's first social register titled Who's Who in Denver Society. "The Smart Set"—47 names all belonging to the city's top families—were listed on the inaugural volume's first page. But the esteemed group was soon dubbed "The Sacred 36" when the Hill family—now including Nathaniel Peter, born in 1896, and Crawford, Jr., born in 1898—moved into their new 22-room mansion on the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and Sherman Street (which still stands).
Louise often held afternoon court at her palatial estate with 36 bridge players. The players filled out nine tables for the popular game, causing one society reporter to give all these card-playing, high-society types the moniker "Denver's Sacred 36." Even so, the number in her smart social set rarely stayed at 36 and changed from year to year and even month to month. In 1922 Crawford Hill died.
Louise never remarried, and continued to live in her home until the Second World War when it became increasingly difficult to get domestic help to look after the mansion. In 1942 she sold it and moved into a suite in the Brown Palace Hotel, where she became more or less a recluse. She died in 1955, and is buried next to Crawford in the Hill family plot in Block A at Fairmount Cemetery.
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