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ENLARGE
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Henry “Hank” Bosco was taught pretty much from the time he could smile and say a friendly “hello” at the same time that those are the two key ingredients of a successful hospitality business.
“My dad was pretty strict about my demeanor while I was growing up,” Bosco said of his childhood spent living in the old Star Hotel, located in what's now the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub next to the Hotel Denver, which his mom and dad owned and operated.
“I was always reminded that the guests and the hotel were our bread and butter, and to always smile and be friendly to people,” said Bosco, now president and chairman of the board for the Hot Springs Lodge and Pool, of which he has been one of the owners since 1956.
That same friendly smile and hearty “hello” continues to greet people today as, at age 87, he still keeps regular office hours in the lodge building overlooking the historic hot springs pool and Spa of the Rockies.
In honor of his lifetime achievements in the hotel/hospitality business and his long record of community involvement, Bosco will be one of eight inductees into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame next month in Denver.
Joining him will be Nathan, Melvin, Jerry and Mickey Gart, founders of the Gart Bros. Sports stores; James B. Wallace, a pioneer in the oil and gas industry; Merle Chambers, a female leader in the oil and gas industry; and Frederic Hamilton, an oil-man-turned arts activist.
Bosco was born to Italian immigrant parents in Glenwood Springs in 1922. His father, Mike Bosco, was brought to Glenwood from Italy at age 10 by an uncle, who worked in the area coal mines. He also owned the 40-room Star Hotel, which he later sold to Mike.
Mike Bosco also met and married his wife in Glenwood. Hank was their only son, and he was assigned various tasks around the hotel.
“Life was pretty simple here then,” he said. “There were very few automobiles, and there were no paved streets. Growing up here, it was kind of a Huck Finn existence. We played a lot of ‘Run, Sheep, Run,' ‘Kick the Can' and cops and robbers.
“Most of the travel in those days was by rail. There was no I-70, or even Highway 6,” he said.
While the grand Hotel Colorado, located across the river near the hot springs pool, attracted dignitaries and prominent socialites, the Star and its next door neighbor the Hotel Denver catered more to traveling businessmen and middle class vacationers.
Bosco recalled that, when he was about 12, the Star did have one rather infamous guest, Chicago gangster Diamond Jack Alterie.
“He was a pretty notorious criminal,” Bosco said. “Well, he got into a little shooting scrape after a night of gambling in one of the local pool halls. He always wore a pistol on each hip, and he followed this guy back to the hotel and up to his room, and shot him through the door.”
The man survived the shooting itself, but later died of an infection related to the wounds, he said.
His father purchased the adjacent 60-room Hotel Denver in 1938 and connected the two hotels, and Hank continued working at various duties at the Hotel Denver.
After graduating high school in 1940, Bosco enrolled at the University of Colorado and also enlisted in the Army Reserves. Near the end of his junior year, he was called to active duty, serving near the end of WW II. He received several promotions and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
After his return home, he graduated from the Lewis Hotel Management School in Washington, D.C., and came back to Glenwood Springs to join his father in expanding the Hotel Denver to include a cocktail lounge, dining room and banquet facilities.
In 1956, the owner of the Hot Springs property, Frank E. Kistler, decided to parcel off and sell his properties, which at the time included the pool, along with the Hotel Colorado, the Vapor Caves and some polo grounds on the south end of town.
“There was a rumor going around that he was going to sell the hot springs to some wealthy oil men from Oklahoma,” Bosco said. “People were pretty concerned that it would be turned into a private club, and that it would ruin the tourism business for Glenwood.”
So, Mike and Hank Bosco joined 20 other mostly local residents who each invested $10,000 to make the $200,000 down payment, along with $20,000 initial operating cash. Kistler retired but stayed on as an investor.
The hot springs property at that time included a two-story hotel to the west of the existing stone building, and another lodge building on the other end of the long parking lot.
It wasn't until the 1980s that those buildings were torn down and replaced with the existing lodge building next to the Hotel Colorado on Sixth Street. A series of pool renovations also took place from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Compared to a hotel, “The pool certainly had some different factors to consider, mainly related to liability,” Bosco said. “In the good old days they had these oak logs in the pool that people floated on. There was also a water wheel and a high diving board, but we got rid of all those.”
The original brick-floor pool with its red sandstone walls was also modernized with a new concrete pool, poured right over the top of the old one. A chlorination system was put in, which was later replaced with a modern ozone treatment system that completely changes out the hot springs water three times a day.
In 1973, the Boscos sold the Hotel Denver and, in 1976, Hank was asked by the board to become general manager of the Hot Springs property.
He held that position until 1989 when Kjell Mitchell, whose father was an original investor, was named general manager. Mitchell remains in that position today, while Hank retains the title of president and chairman of the board.
Bosco married Dorothy Cowles in 1950. They had two sons, John and Gary — both employed at the Hot Springs, John as assistant general manager and chief financial officer, and Gary as building and grounds manager — and two daughters, Deborah and Gina, who now live in Grand Junction and Englewood, respectively. Bosco also has eight grandchildren.
Dorothy passed away in 2005 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Bosco served on the Glenwood Springs City Council for eight years in the late 1950s and early '60s, following in his father's footsteps.
He is also a founding member and continuing supporter of YouthZone, an organization that provides support and counseling for troubled teens. In 2006, he was named Glenwood Chamber Resort Association Citizen of the Year. The chamber has established the Bosco Tourism Business of the Year award, an annual award in honor of the Bosco family and their contribution to tourism in Glenwood Springs.
He's also an active member of the local Kiwanis Club and a 50-year member of the Elks Lodge, and was involved in establishing the Chamber Ambassadors, a group charged with greeting and welcoming new businesses, visitors and tourists, as well as special events to Glenwood Springs.
Bosco served on several statewide organizations as well, and was part of lobbying for the location of the Interstate 70 Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel. He has also been honored by the Colorado State Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado/Wyoming Hotel Association. In August 2009, he was named to the Italian-American Hall of Fame in Denver.
“I've been blessed in performing my duties to have such competent friends and fellow employees and advisors,” he said of his latest honor. “They really should have all this recognition that I'm still getting.”
jstroud@postindependent.com
“My dad was pretty strict about my demeanor while I was growing up,” Bosco said of his childhood spent living in the old Star Hotel, located in what's now the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub next to the Hotel Denver, which his mom and dad owned and operated.
“I was always reminded that the guests and the hotel were our bread and butter, and to always smile and be friendly to people,” said Bosco, now president and chairman of the board for the Hot Springs Lodge and Pool, of which he has been one of the owners since 1956.
That same friendly smile and hearty “hello” continues to greet people today as, at age 87, he still keeps regular office hours in the lodge building overlooking the historic hot springs pool and Spa of the Rockies.
In honor of his lifetime achievements in the hotel/hospitality business and his long record of community involvement, Bosco will be one of eight inductees into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame next month in Denver.
Joining him will be Nathan, Melvin, Jerry and Mickey Gart, founders of the Gart Bros. Sports stores; James B. Wallace, a pioneer in the oil and gas industry; Merle Chambers, a female leader in the oil and gas industry; and Frederic Hamilton, an oil-man-turned arts activist.
Bosco was born to Italian immigrant parents in Glenwood Springs in 1922. His father, Mike Bosco, was brought to Glenwood from Italy at age 10 by an uncle, who worked in the area coal mines. He also owned the 40-room Star Hotel, which he later sold to Mike.
Mike Bosco also met and married his wife in Glenwood. Hank was their only son, and he was assigned various tasks around the hotel.
“Life was pretty simple here then,” he said. “There were very few automobiles, and there were no paved streets. Growing up here, it was kind of a Huck Finn existence. We played a lot of ‘Run, Sheep, Run,' ‘Kick the Can' and cops and robbers.
“Most of the travel in those days was by rail. There was no I-70, or even Highway 6,” he said.
While the grand Hotel Colorado, located across the river near the hot springs pool, attracted dignitaries and prominent socialites, the Star and its next door neighbor the Hotel Denver catered more to traveling businessmen and middle class vacationers.
Bosco recalled that, when he was about 12, the Star did have one rather infamous guest, Chicago gangster Diamond Jack Alterie.
“He was a pretty notorious criminal,” Bosco said. “Well, he got into a little shooting scrape after a night of gambling in one of the local pool halls. He always wore a pistol on each hip, and he followed this guy back to the hotel and up to his room, and shot him through the door.”
The man survived the shooting itself, but later died of an infection related to the wounds, he said.
His father purchased the adjacent 60-room Hotel Denver in 1938 and connected the two hotels, and Hank continued working at various duties at the Hotel Denver.
After graduating high school in 1940, Bosco enrolled at the University of Colorado and also enlisted in the Army Reserves. Near the end of his junior year, he was called to active duty, serving near the end of WW II. He received several promotions and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
After his return home, he graduated from the Lewis Hotel Management School in Washington, D.C., and came back to Glenwood Springs to join his father in expanding the Hotel Denver to include a cocktail lounge, dining room and banquet facilities.
In 1956, the owner of the Hot Springs property, Frank E. Kistler, decided to parcel off and sell his properties, which at the time included the pool, along with the Hotel Colorado, the Vapor Caves and some polo grounds on the south end of town.
“There was a rumor going around that he was going to sell the hot springs to some wealthy oil men from Oklahoma,” Bosco said. “People were pretty concerned that it would be turned into a private club, and that it would ruin the tourism business for Glenwood.”
So, Mike and Hank Bosco joined 20 other mostly local residents who each invested $10,000 to make the $200,000 down payment, along with $20,000 initial operating cash. Kistler retired but stayed on as an investor.
The hot springs property at that time included a two-story hotel to the west of the existing stone building, and another lodge building on the other end of the long parking lot.
It wasn't until the 1980s that those buildings were torn down and replaced with the existing lodge building next to the Hotel Colorado on Sixth Street. A series of pool renovations also took place from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Compared to a hotel, “The pool certainly had some different factors to consider, mainly related to liability,” Bosco said. “In the good old days they had these oak logs in the pool that people floated on. There was also a water wheel and a high diving board, but we got rid of all those.”
The original brick-floor pool with its red sandstone walls was also modernized with a new concrete pool, poured right over the top of the old one. A chlorination system was put in, which was later replaced with a modern ozone treatment system that completely changes out the hot springs water three times a day.
In 1973, the Boscos sold the Hotel Denver and, in 1976, Hank was asked by the board to become general manager of the Hot Springs property.
He held that position until 1989 when Kjell Mitchell, whose father was an original investor, was named general manager. Mitchell remains in that position today, while Hank retains the title of president and chairman of the board.
Bosco married Dorothy Cowles in 1950. They had two sons, John and Gary — both employed at the Hot Springs, John as assistant general manager and chief financial officer, and Gary as building and grounds manager — and two daughters, Deborah and Gina, who now live in Grand Junction and Englewood, respectively. Bosco also has eight grandchildren.
Dorothy passed away in 2005 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Bosco served on the Glenwood Springs City Council for eight years in the late 1950s and early '60s, following in his father's footsteps.
He is also a founding member and continuing supporter of YouthZone, an organization that provides support and counseling for troubled teens. In 2006, he was named Glenwood Chamber Resort Association Citizen of the Year. The chamber has established the Bosco Tourism Business of the Year award, an annual award in honor of the Bosco family and their contribution to tourism in Glenwood Springs.
He's also an active member of the local Kiwanis Club and a 50-year member of the Elks Lodge, and was involved in establishing the Chamber Ambassadors, a group charged with greeting and welcoming new businesses, visitors and tourists, as well as special events to Glenwood Springs.
Bosco served on several statewide organizations as well, and was part of lobbying for the location of the Interstate 70 Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel. He has also been honored by the Colorado State Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado/Wyoming Hotel Association. In August 2009, he was named to the Italian-American Hall of Fame in Denver.
“I've been blessed in performing my duties to have such competent friends and fellow employees and advisors,” he said of his latest honor. “They really should have all this recognition that I'm still getting.”
jstroud@postindependent.com
