Fairview Cemetery at FountainFairview Cemetery at Fountain
Cut-off Date: 15 September 1997
Number of Burials: 1,076
Volunteers: Marjorie Kline and Joan Uhrich, Bob
Greaves, Barbara Crawford, Diana DeHaven-Lang, Pauline Drobny,
Clara Duer, Gordon Gray, Angela Hahn, Ardelle Koperski, Lesta
Kneebone, Milton D. and Mary Lou Lake, Bev Millett, Jane and
Ernie Newman, J Richards, Ralph Roscoe, Linda Vixie, Kay Winter
Special Thanks: Ernie Whitford, Parks
Supervisor, City of Fountain
Fairview Cemetery is located on the west side of the city of Fountain at 757 South Santa Fe Avenue. To reach the cemetery, leave Interstate 25 at Exit 128 and proceed east approximately one-quarter mile. Turn south at the traffic signal, and the cemetery is a short distance on the west side of the road in a light-industrial area. According to GPS-derived geolocation (accurate to within 10 meters), the cemetery's coordinates are 38°40'19.3"N and 104°42'23.6"W. The city of Fountain maintains both the records and grounds of the cemetery. Cemetery records are located at the City Clerk's office, 106 Main Street, Fountain, CO 80817; telephone: (719) 382-8521. The hours of the cemetery are dawn to dusk.
Fairview Cemetery is located in a low-lying area, one-quarter mile west of Fountain Creek. The cemetery offers a view of Cheyenne Mountain and Pikes Peak to the northwest and the trees of Fountain Valley to the east. The grounds are well maintained and contain many mature trees. The cemetery contains several monuments and many historic headstones that date to the late nineteenth century. By 1997, more than one thousand burials had taken place. For the purposes of this index, the cemetery layout consists of blocks numbered 1 through 35. The map provides adequate detail to find the general location of the gravesites.
"Under beautiful tombstones lie three of the pioneers who came to the Fountain Valley and established the Town of Fountain. They are Tom Owens, Amos and Mary T. Terrell, and Barbara Lock, wife of Mathias Lock," wrote H. Kay Brander Larson in her book Valley of the Fountain, a history of Fountain Valley. She describes Owens and Terrell's founding of Fountain in 1859 and states that the Locks were the third settler family in the area. The graves of other pioneers and early settlers are also found throughout the cemetery. While the area was apparently used as an early burial ground as evidenced by many old, unidentified interments, Fairview Cemetery was likely established as an official cemetery in the early 1870s and operated by Mr. M.J. Imes. Mr. Imes's wife, Mary, was buried in one of the first marked graves here following her death in 1871. The Imes family eventually turned over the ownership and operation of the cemetery to the city of Fountain.
Historically, the grave of Henry Hutchins is but a small memorial to a tragic event that shook the entire community of Fountain on May 14, 1888. Hutchins, a railroad engineer, and three others were killed when a set of runaway railcars collided with a train at the Fountain railway station. A carload of naphtha ignited and subsequently caused the massive explosion of 17,000 pounds of gunpowder in an adjacent railcar. The blast rocked the entire valley and caused extensive damage to and destruction of many structures in the area.