The Dottie Bakke House

The first owner of the land on record was Matthew Cochran. He purchased a large amount of land from the Union Pacific Railroad in 1886. There were several real estate transactions on this property between 1886 and 1901. George Hamilton owned the property from 1887 to 1901. This is the time that the house was built.

In 1901 Winett Mabee acquired the property. He died in 1919 and his wife Susannah inherited the property. They had 2 children (daughter—Ethyl Mabee Coomer, son—Alfred Mabee) and a minor granddaughter Grace M. Smith. Susannah sold the property to Albert W. Johnson.

In 1927 Albert Johnson purchased the property (160 acres) from Susannah Mabee. He continued to raise Jersey cows and run the dairy. Albert was married to Edith; they had 4 children. Albert died in 1947, and his wife Edith and daughters Muriel and B. Lucille inherited the property.

The family sold their thoroughbred Jersey cows and within 3 weeks people were living in the barns. Muriel and B. Lucille converted the barns into apartments and sold lots to various people between 1949 and 1952.

During the Johnson family ownership, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal was built (1942), the volunteer fire department was formed (1942), the South Adams County Water District was formed (1951), and Commerce Town was incorporated (1952).

Because Dad taught school and had the summers off, we drove to Denver to spend the summers on Grandpa's dairy farm. Farming was done with horse-drawn implements. They had Jersey cows and sold whole milk on the “milk route” with a 1937 Dodge station wagon.

Dale passed peacefully on 2/2/17. He was the founder of Johnson Engineering Corporation, an aerospace engineering company in Boulder, Colorado, and an alumnus of the University of Colorado, class of 1956.

Thomas Martin and Rebecca Elsie purchased the property in 1959. They had three daughters, Judith, Janet and Joan. Thomas owned a fleet of gas trucks (M & M Trucking, later Petco). Betty managed the apartments on the property and was a Girl Scout leader.

While living there they remodeled the kitchen, bathroom and living room, and cleaned out the basement coal room.

In 1965 Duane and Dottie Bakke purchased the property. Dottie was born in Laverne, Minnesota, and married Duane in 1957, moving to Colorado. They had 3 children. Duane and Dottie divorced in 1975, and Dottie bought out his share of the property in 1986.

Dottie lived in the house longer than anyone. She was a seamstress who sewed Victorian clothing and hats, collected dolls, and called the property Echo Vale. She hosted weddings, Victorian Teas, and reunion parties there, decorating it in the Victorian style. Dottie passed away in March 2022, just before her 90th birthday.

Barbara was born in western Kansas; her family moved to Commerce City in 1948. She graduated from Adams City High School in 1963 and Colorado State College in 1967, taught in Denver Public Schools, and later became a flight attendant and travel guide for Ports of Call.

In 2022, she purchased the Dottie Bakke Victorian House with her friend Jim Kinghorn and worked with the Commerce City Historical Society to preserve the property, selling it to Debra Bullock in March 2025 to keep it out of developers' hands.

Debra (Hage) Bullock is a Colorado native who moved to Commerce City at age 5. She and her husband Rene’ are founders of the Commerce City Historical Society, and she is the author of Images of America: Commerce City, published by Arcadia Publishing in 2010.

Debra purchased the Dottie Bakke House in March 2025 to protect and preserve it, alongside the Commerce City Historical Society. It is the oldest standing house in Commerce City.