This massive Headstone is in Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo, Colorado. It is over 115 years old.
Patrick Dunphy, a builder of the Moffat Road, died on June 4th, 1909 reads the headline in the local newspaper. His contracting firm Dunphy & Nelson held a bid for the Moffat Road Railway project. One contract in 1905 landed on 18 miles of grading work to be done between Hot Sulphur Springs and Gore Canyon at Kremmling, Colorado. His firm’s crew was near 75 men laying tracks with a tracklaying machine along the Moffat Road.




Patrick, Born in Ireland in 1849, came to the United States and began a journey of building the railroad. He first began to stay in Pueblo at the Southern Hotel, visiting from Victor, Colorado in 1902. The newspaper shows he stays several times throughout the year. Sometime soon after he was listed as a resident of Pueblo and joined the Knights of Columbus chapter there.
The Pueblo Sun wrote “Dunphy Recovers” in January of 1909, and states that he is doing well after a “stomach getting out of order” where he was brought to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment.
Then the news of his death in June was a few mere months later. He was 60 years old when he passed in the sanitarium at St. Mary’s after a long illness. St. Mary’s must have left a lasting impression on him along with a few other organizations in the area. He left the bulk of his fortune to the Knights of Columbus, St. Mary’s Hospital, St Patrick’s church and other charities.

All of the Knights of Columbus were asked to attend his funeral in a publication from June 5th, 1909 in the Pueblo Sun Newspaper. “All Knights of Columbus are asked to meet at McMahon & Collier’s undertaking parlors at 9 a.m. Sunday, June 6th (1909), to attend the funeral of Brother Patrick Dunphy. The knights will escort the body to the church where a solemn high requiem mass will be sung. All knights who can possibly do so must be present. Thomas Kelly, JR. R.S.”
His monument stands tall and stunning on the sunny corner of the lot in the Cemetery. The Celtic Knots on the cross high above my head were so intricate and beautiful. This monument was very large, and stood very high above me. It is absolutely worth a visit to see.
Rest in Peace Patrick Dunphy.
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