Ralph Carr was the Governor of Colorado from 1939 to 1943.

Ralph Carr was born in 1887 and grew up in mining camps near Cripple Creek, Colorado. Carr grew up in a small community with people from many different countries who had come to Colorado to mine.

Photograph, Ralph Carr

History Colorado

Ralph Carr attended the University of Colorado and earned both an undergraduate degree and a law degree. He went back to the Cripple Creek area and worked as a newspaper journalist, managing the Victor Daily Record from 1912 to 1913 and editing the Trinidad Evening Picketwire from 1915 to 1917.

Ralph Carr is sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for Colorado

Photograph, Ralph Carr Taking the Oath

As a lawyer, Ralph Carr was an expert on water law. Carr worked to preserve states’ rights surrounding water law. He worked with Colorado’s neighboring states around the distribution of water in western rivers. Ralph Carr was fluent in Spanish and worked closely with the Hispanic community in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

Photograph, Ralph Carr Fishing

Carr believed in being accessible. He published his phone number and responded to mail personally. This photograph shows Carr and his state-furnished driver biking to work at the capitol to help save gas for the war effort.

Ralph Carr and Colorado Highway Patrolman riding a tandem bicycle.

Photograph, Ralph Carr on a Bike

Carr’s experience growing up in a diverse mining camp and working with different communities in Colorado led him to think a lot about what it meant to be an American and see America as a melting pot where people from all the world came to pursue freedom.


Ralph Carr, Cynthia Carr, and Robert Carr.

Photograph, Ralph Carr with Family

When Ralph Carr was elected governor in 1938, the Denver Post ran this photo with the caption, “I know this is going to be a difficult job,’ the governor-elect commented, but the now famous Carr smile was, if possible, a little broader than usual.” Carr was right, governing Colorado during World War II was a very difficult job.


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