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JULIUS CALDEEN GUNTER was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on October 31, 1858. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1879, and earned a LL.D. degree from the University of Colorado in 1926. Gunter had a distinguished legal career before he was elected to serve on the bench of the Third Judicial District, a position he held from 1889 to 1895. He also served on the bench of the Colorado Court of Appeals from 1901 to 1905, and on the Colorado Supreme Court from 1905 to 1907. On November 7, 1916, Carlson was elected Colorado's 21st governor, and on January 9, 1917, he was sworn into office. During his tenure, the U.S. entered into the battlefields of World War I and Colorado became a principal leader in the war endeavor. The Colorado Home Guard, the Colorado Wartime Council, and the Council of Defense were all designed to aid the troops. Governor Gunter, the first to mobilize the National Guard, was an influential force in the first State Council of National Defense, and he wrote personalized letters to the Colorado families who lost loved ones in the war.  During his administration, an army hospital in Denver was constructed, a tax was charged to corporations benefiting the national defense, and funding for state institutions was extended to a 10-year period.  Gunter left office on January 14, 1919, turning down an appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court. Governor Julius Gunter died on October 26, 1940, and is buried at the Fairmont Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Colorado State Archives

The Political Graveyard