 ew Yorkers Kate Harbeck and her husband John, a wealthy stockbroker, built their sumptuous summer home at 1206 Euclid Avenue in Boulder (the present site of the Boulder History Museum). Afraid of contracting tuberculosis, they kept to themselves. Though the Harbecks made generous gifts to the city of Boulder, locals ridiculed the couple for the three expensive funerals they held for their dogs. After John's death in 1910, Kate never returned to Boulder. She refused to sell the house for years because her dogs were buried in the backyard (they were eventually reinterred in the Boulder County Humane Society's pet cemetery). Kate Harbeck was crushed by a revolving door at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1930. She left an estate of more than seven million dollars; $50,000 went to the Boulder County Humane Society, which incorporated the same year. |
