WILL F. NICHOLSON PAPERS

William Faust ("Will") Nicholson was born September 12, 1900 in Aurora, Illinois. He received a B.S. in economics from Dartmouth College in 1922. In 1924, he moved to Colorado Springs where he met his wife, Gladys Burns. In 1936, Nicholson sold stocks and bonds for Boettcher and Company in Denver. He also sold real estate and owned part of the Denver Bears baseball team, suspended during the war years, which he helped return to Denver in 1947 before selling out of the team two years later.

Nicholson served in the Air Force during World War II and the Korean War, retiring as Brigadier General.

In 1948, Nicholson was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate. In 1950 and again in 1954, he was elected to the Colorado State Senate though his term was interrupted by his recall to the Air Force during the Korean War. He was elected Mayor of Denver in 1955 after a run-off election against Bert Keating, Denver District Attorney. Nicholson served one term as mayor, ending in 1959.

As Mayor, Nicholson helped to settle the Blue River dispute, allowing Denver to use Colorado western slope water. During a drought in 1955 and 1956, he corresponded with the public, reinforcing and explaining the Board of Water Commissioners' restrictions upon irrigation and lawn watering.

As a personal friend of President Eisenhower, Nicholson helped Governor Johnson obtain federal funding for the I-70 construction of the Eisenhower tunnel through the Rocky Mountains. In Denver, Nicholson obtained bond-financing for capital improvements. He kept a careful eye on the expenditures and operations of Denver's Welfare Program convinced United Airlines to operate a hub in Denver. Also, he brought the U.S. Open Golf Tournament to the Cherry Hills Country Club.

Nicholson appointed the members of the Mayor's Commission on Human Rights (originally established by Mayor Quigg Newton in 1948). Sending buses throughout Denver for the commissioners to witness segregated housing, Nicholson encouraged fairness in the market. His administration helped pass a new housing code in Denver that eventually led to urban renewal. The Commission listened to complaints of racial discrimination in the job market and bias in the public schools. However, Nicholson felt that the school board was independently elected and, thus, in control of its own affairs.

In 1966, Nicholson returned to the State Senate but retired in 1970 after a stroke. He and his wife, Gladys Burns, had three children; Bill, Betty and Gladys. Nicholson died January 1975.