Joseph E. Bates Joseph E. Bates Joseph E. Bates (May 5, 1837 – September 22, 1900) was an American politician who served on the city council and as mayor. Bates was born in Chautauqua County, New York and raised in Muskegon County, Michigan. He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1860, where he became involved in working for various businesses. He became active in city politics being elected a city councilor in 1868. Bates established enterprises including the Denver Brewery, Denver Pacific Railroad and the Denver Smelting and Refining Works. Joseph E. Bates was twice elected Mayor of Denver, in 1872 and again in
H. E. Bates provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and this was exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled "Through the Woods" and "Down the River". Both have been reprinted numerous times. He discarded his first novel, written when he was in his late teens, but his second, and the first one to be published, "The Two Sisters", was inspired by one of his midnight walks, which took him to the small village of Farndish. There, late at night, he saw a light burning in a cottage window and it was this that triggered the