Queen met William Jackson Palmer while she and her father
were on a train going to see the West and General Palmer was on a business trip. Palmer
was attracted to this young lady who was well- educated and sang opera. They were married November 8, 1870 in Flushing, New York where the
Mellen family lived at
the time. The married couple spent their honeymoon in Europe. Upon their return,
General Palmer returned to Colorado Springs where he had purchased 10,000 acres of land
close to the Garden of the Gods. Most of the first 2,000 acres was purchased at
a price of $1.25 an acre. This land would later become the site of their home.
They named their home
Glen Eyrie because of a pair of eagles who had nested in the rock formations high in
the glen.
Queen Palmer, at age twenty-one, opened the first public
school in Colorado Springs in November, 1871. School was held in a three room house
she rented on Cascade Avenue. It was owned by the town's publicist
W.E. Pabor.
The school was later moved to the second floor of the newspaper office on the
northeast corner of Tejon Street and Colorado Avenue where the newspaper editor's
wife, Mrs. Liller, took over as teacher.In 1871, Queen and William Palmer
moved onto the northern end of the 9,312 acres he purchased for $.80 per
acre. Since Palmer's dream castle,
Glen Eyrie, had not been built yet, they moved into the hayloft
above the stable. Glen Eyrie was built in 1872, just in time for the
birth of their first daughter. The Palmer's had three children.
Elsie was born in 1872, Dorothy was born in 1880 and Marjory was born in 1881.
Glen Eyrie was quite advanced for its time. It had four elevators, steam
generators for electricity, telephones, washers/dryers, a dairy, a large
stable, and refrigeration equipment capable of producing a ton of ice
daily.
Queen Palmer had a heart attack during the summer of 1880. She was only thirty years
old. She could not live in Colorado's thin air. She moved to Newport, Rhode
Island and then to New York. After two winters of illness she and her daughters
moved to England. General Palmer visited her and the girls in England once or twice
a year.
Queen Palmer died in England on December 27, 1894. She was forty-four years old.
Queen and General William Palmer had been married for twenty-four years.
After Queen died, Palmer moved his children back to Colorado and began
remodeling
Glen Eyrie.
In 1906 Palmer was thrown from his horse while riding in
Garden of the Gods
and was paralyzed from the neck down. Palmer was confined to his bed, near
comatose, for over a year. In 1907 his energy level increased and he
began to use a wheelchair. He also purchased a steam powered car and
went on driving trips throughout the region. In the fall of 1908 he went
on a trip to Europe to attend his daughter Marjory's wedding in England.
After an accident on the return voyage where his head hit a brass rail,
his health deteriorated rapidly. On March 13, 1909 General William Jackson
Palmer died at Glen Eyrie at the age of 72 with his daughters at his side.
His body was cremated and buried at Evergreen
Cemetery. His gravestone was chosen by Palmer himself on a trip over
Ute Pass. In 1910 Queen Palmer's ashes were disinterred from England
and were placed by Palmer's under a smaller Ute Pass stone.
