It’s something owners of old homes rarely experience, although stories abound on TV shows like “Antiques Roadshow:” Aunt Sophie’s table turns out to be from 1780. It had always ‘just been in the entryway where we tossed our car keys and the mail’. Value? $250,000. Or a young couple buys a historic home and prowls around in the attic. They find a dusty lamp. A Tiffany lamp. Value? $50,000.
Not all finds are worth tens of thousands of dollars, of course. (I once opened a wall during a kitchen remodel to find a Heidelberg beer bottle left behind by a worker in 1956 when the house was constructed. Value? Worthless. A chuckle and the acquisition of a pristine vintage beer bottle as a souvenir).
Boulder residents Ronnie and Rachel Hayes had the thrilling experience of opening up a basement wall as part of a remodel project and discovering a painting. Ronnie was ready to toss it in the dumpster. Rachel, on the other hand, thought better of that idea and posted a picture on the Facebook page “Everything Boulder.” She quickly got answers to the question, “Does anybody recognize this?”
It turns out it’s a painting by local artist C.J. Smith, affectionately known to natives as lifelong Boulder resident Cornelius “Connie” Smith.
These cowboys are only two of several individual depictions of “Montana Cowboys in Action”, painted in 1950 as a mural on the walls of the small boys’ playroom at the Montana State Training School, as it was then known. The paintings entertained the young boys there from 1950 until 1960-1962, when the decision was made to remodel the playroom. The wall was going to go.
Fortunately, Bud Gilmer, an employee at the school, had the foresight to save the two cowboys from the right side of the playroom door. It couldn’t have been easy; the paintings were done on plaster over lath. He managed by cutting the whole area out, lath and all, then took them home and installed the cowboys and their broncos on his basement wall. Years passed, the house changed hands a few times and, eventually, the paintings were covered over with paneling. Hidden away.
Until a week ago when a question and a photo popped up on Facebook, “Does anybody recognize this?”
The colors are still vibrant, and although the plaster has broken out in a few places, it can likely be repaired.
Ronnie and Rachel Hayes intend to donate the artwork to the Heritage Center in the near future for everyone to enjoy. Although it’s probably not worth tens of thousands of dollars, it is an invaluable artifact of our Western heritage. It’s Connie’s legacy to us, one of many pieces of his artwork for us to appreciate.
You’ll be seeing more in the Boulder Monitor about Connie Smith and his pioneer family. There’s more to come; his story hasn’t ended yet.
