Benjamin Franklin Stapleton (November 12, 1869 – May 23, 1950) was the mayor of Denver, Colorado, for two periods (comprising five terms), the first from 1923 to 1931 and the second from 1935 to 1947. He also served as the Democratic Colorado State Auditor from 1933 to 1935 and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Early years

Stapleton was born November 12, 1869, in Paintsville, Kentucky, son of Elizabeth Jane Newman (1851–1927) and Samuel Stapleton (1847–1911). He attended National Normal University in Lebanon, Ohio, graduating with a law degree. Early in the 1890s, Stapleton went to live in Denver, and in 1899, he was admitted to the Colorado Bar.

On June 21, 1917, Stapleton married Mabel Freeland, with whom he had 2 children, Lois Jane and Benjamin, Junior.

Political career

Stapleton's political career began in 1904 as police magistrate, where he remained until 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson appointed him postmaster. During his appointment, he oversaw the completion of the Denver Post Office building.

As chronicled by Robert Alan Goldberg in his book Hooded Empire : The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado, Stapleton was the Klan candidate for mayor of Denver in 1923 and won the election with Klan support. When Stapleton declared his candidacy for mayor in March 1923, he was Klan member number 1,128 and a close friend of the Colorado Klan Grand Dragon, John Galen Locke. Rumors of Stapleton's Klan membership circulated during the mayoral campaign. Stapleton responded by denying that he was a Klan member and condemning the Klan, "to appease his Jewish and Catholic supporters." Stapleton declared, "True Americanism needs no mask or disguise. Any attempt to stir up racial prejudices or religious intolerance is contrary to our constitution and is therefore un-American."

Denver Municipal Airport

thumb|right|210px|Denver Municipal Airport was later renamed in honor of Stapleton.

The construction of Denver Municipal Airport was begun in early 1929 and completed that same year. Its grand opening celebration took place over four days from October 17–20 – a week before the stock market crashed. It was widely viewed at the time as a huge boondoggle. Stapleton was excoriated as either corrupt or incompetent, or both, for having the taxpayers subsidize a mere plaything of the wealthy; what the Denver Post sneeringly dubbed "Stapleton's Folly", and others jokingly called "Rattlesnake Hollow". It was viewed by some as too far from civilization to be practicable. The close relationship Stapleton seemed to have with land-owning political backers who stood to benefit, conspicuous among them H. Brown Canon of Windsor Farm Dairy, were a factor in his loss in the 1931 mayoral election to George D. Begole. The airport was later renamed Stapleton International Airport on August 25, 1944, in his honor. Today, the airport no longer exists, replaced by a neighborhood, which was named Stapleton. After two previous attempts, the name of the neighborhood was changed to Central Park amid increasing political and racial pressure on August 1, 2020, due to Stapleton's adherence to white supremacy and controversial membership in the Ku Klux Klan.

In June 2020, in the period after the murder of George Floyd the Stapleton Master Community Association (MCA) voted to rename the neighborhood of Stapleton, Denver because of his links to white supremacy and the KKK. The neighborhood has since been voted to be renamed Central Park, after its largest green space. The name garnered 63% of the final vote, beating the other finalist, Skyview.

References

  • Some photographs related to Stapleton can be found at the Western History Photograph Collection of the Denver Public Library
  • Ku Klux Klan Membership Ledgers, from History Colorado, which includes Stapleton's membership record, in Book 2, page 33.