by E.A. van Abbenes
THE WIJNKOOP family themselves came from the Dutch town of Ede, but the men and women they married hailed from places like Ruinen in Drenthe, from Woerden, Reeuwijk, Broek op Langedijk. Their names were Gerrit, Kees, Evert, Hilletje, Trijntje, Marietje, Klaas, each as Dutch as windmills and wooden shoes. Evert was the one who emigrated with his wife Els and son Kees from Ede in Gelderland to America. They arrived in New York but settled upstream on the Hudson River, then Noord River, in the village of Gelderland, now Guilderland. Evert died young, 39. The only visible thing he left behind was the new spelling of his last name. That became Wynkoop.
Well, and of course also the Wynkoop House down the road, built by a descendant of his, Major Kees. He served in George Washington’s army, and the general promptly visited to overnight there. The house is normally rented out for weddings and parties, and obviously everyone wants to sleep in that bed on the second floor. But if that is not available, they’re also happy to visit the Old Dutch Church where Washington came to address the locals, near Wynkoop Place, Ten Broeck Avenue, Bruyn Avenue and Van Gaasbeck Street, named after the family of Reverend Van Gaasbeek from Leiden.
THE Wynkoop name doesn’t immediately register with very many people, but in reality, Evert, Els and Kees’s emigration had more far-reaching consequences than the family could have suspected. Ben Wynkoop in New York became a famous jeweler, and you’ll still find his silverware in Dutch Reformed churches all over America. Henk in Pennsylvania was a judge and one of the builders of America’s independence in the Continental Congress. And Joel is a movie actor with a loyal cult following among horror movie buffs.
But the truly big Wynkoop – in Colorado they all know his name. Edward Wynkoop, nickname Ned. He founded Denver. He had been county sheriff in the area already before Denver was born, but the gold rush broke out, and Ed’s Arapahoe County became one of its hot spots, hence the building of Denver. It was in the days when the town of Nederland was being built just up the road, so named as a consolation for Dutch investors in a silver mine that was looted before the Dutch could take possession of it. The townsfolk of Nederland themselves dubbed their mountain village Ned. And because Edward Wynkoop was also of Dutch origin, he was called Ned too.
STILL TODAY, more than a century and a half later, Wynkoop in Denver is a name that rings like a taps bugle. That’s because of Wynkoop Street that runs right through the city, but also because Denver’s oldest brewery is located there. Wynkoop is a household name in Colorado, founded by John Hickenlooper in 1988 as the first brewery pub in Colorado since the lifting of Prohibition. John, himself of Dutch origin, advertised on the opening day with beer for 25 cents, the last beer price prior to Prohibition. He tapped six thousand glasses that day.
He no longer owns the place. John Hickenlooper was twice elected mayor of Denver and then governor of Colorado, so he sold his beer business to his employees. Next, he promptly had a beer tap installed in the governor’s mansion, another first. He currently represents Colorado in the US Senate. Colorado’s most popular beer tapper of all time has never lost an election. Cheers.
* E.A. van Abbenes is an historian and a writer.
