Elwood M. Brooks Papers

Elwood M. Brooks was born in Clayton, Kansas on November 3, 1888. He was the ninth of ten children and attended rural schooling in Norton County. He took an academic and college course at Fort Hays Normal School, attending the institution until 1915 during intervals of teaching. He first worked as a teacher in 1908, teaching for one year in Norton County district before spending four years as a teacher for the Clayton public school system. In the fall of 1913, Brooks became the superintendent for Oberlin public schools. He was elected county superintendent of public instruction in 1916, taking office in May of 1917; he was reelected for a two year term in the fall of 1918.

Brooks came to Colorado in the 1940s from Kansas as a banker, later becoming the President of the Central Bank and Trust Company of Denver. It was well known that Brooks based his business on people rather than the bottom line. He was recognized as someone who gave out loans to lower and middle income families especially during the post-war boom. These decisions increasingly raised his profits. He is also acknowledged for bringing the “drive-through” bank concept to Colorado; this increased the profitability for the Central Bank and Trust Company of Denver while Brooks was president. Brooks was described as involved and busy, regularly donating to the National Society of Crippled Children, the Rose Hospital, and the University of Denver throughout his lifetime. He also developed the Brooks Tower in downtown Denver which opened in 1968.

In 1915, Brooks married Laura Gierhart, also a teacher. They had one child, Max Gierhart, who was born May 29, 1916. Brooks died on February 5, 1965 in Denver, Colorado. He is buried in Fairmount Cemetery. In 1997, he was honored with a place in the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.