Marie Guiraud

Born in Gard departement in France, Marie Antoinette Chabreat married Adolphe Guiraud in 1848 and set sail for New Orleans, Louisiana, one year later.

After living in Ohio and Kansas, the Guirauds settled in Colorado Territory, where they homesteaded land for their farm and ranch at the beginning of the 1860s.

After the Colorado Midland Railway established a station at Garo, the town grew to include stores, businesses, a church, a school, and an opera house.

[2] The couple each began a business in Leavenworth, Kansas, but Guiraud had to shut down her coffee shop due to ill health.

[4] While Adolphe was in Colorado Territory, Guiraud stayed behind in Kansas where she raised three sons and in 1861 she gave birth to a daughter.

[9] After their son, Henry Eugene, died accidentally at the age of ten, the family moved to Denver, and the couple ran a meat market for a year.

Guiraud established that her family had used the water since they settled the land, and due to the "right of prior approbation", she won the case after several years at court.

She hired civil engineer Fred Morse to plat the town of Garo, after her husband, using the English pronunciation of their surname.

She acquired, sold, and leased land, and the town grew after the Colorado Midland Railway established a station at Garo.

[12] At its height, the town had a school, mercantile, church, hotel, saloons, sawmill, livery, blacksmith, and an opera house.