“Bob” Foote was born in Michigan in 1860 and came to Breckenridge in 1879 with $30 in his pocket and “full of a day’s work.” After 10 years of prospecting he finally made a rich strike on Farncomb Hill and bought the Denver Hotel on Main St. with the proceeds. According to the recollections of an early settler as recorded in Pioneer Voices by Cynthia Anderson, Bob was a “grand character: many a prospector was grubstaked for months and many a man lived on him when Bob knew he would never get a cent for boarding. In the span of a life, you do not meet many grand men like Bob Foote.”

Being in the hotel business did not keep Bob out of mining and he made another strike on Mineral Hill near town. He later developed the Wellington property and was so fortunate in his mining ventures as to get the name of “Lucky Bob Foote.”

He entered politics and was elected city commissioner and later mayor for two terms. He was also a school board member for 8 years and it was during that time that the brick school building was erected.

Bob married Margaret Burnheimer in 1888 in Summit County. They built the first brick home in town at 229 S. Main Street, now the offices of Breckenridge Associates Realty.

Bob died in 1923 and Margaret in 1933. Bob, Margaret and their daughter Ella are all buried at Valley Brook Cemetery.