Meet Rosa

Rosa Beall, born Rosa Barker, was born in Collinsville, New York in 1838, the second of 8 children. Education at the Fairfield Seminary, after the family’s move to Cold Brook, New York, led Rosa to find interest in the various mediums of art including language, music and painting. Marrying Abram Van Vlierden at the age of 18 led her to into a nomadic life, hopping from place to place, during this time she brought two girls into the world, Lola and Minnie, born two years apart.

Life unfolds in unexpected ways, and for Rosa it unfurled onto the back of a bumpy wagon, into the unknown. Van Vlierden packed up the family to travel with the Townsend train out of Iowa, pointed west, and came through the Bozeman pass on August 1^st in 1864, becoming the first white woman to settle in the area.

Settling on the north end of the newly established town and living in a “double-decker” wagon they used to travel the great distance west, it was discovered that life does not come easy when you’re creating history, leaving few days dull. While their sod cabin was still in its building phase, Rosa recounted one night that “The howling wolves outside leaped higher and higher, until it seemed as though the next moment would surely bring them over the barriers.”

From 1864 to 1867, the Van Vlierden’s lived on land offered by the one and only, William Beall.

After some questionable legal dealings on Van Vlierdens’ behalf, the couple separated. The separation warranted Lola and Minnie to stay with mutual friends while custody and care for the girls was decided. What was not warranted, was her ex up and leaving with their two girls without Rosa’s knowledge. Rosa became irrevocably heartbroken as soon after the girls’ abduction, Minnie passed away due to diphtheria and Lola joined her sister the following year, passing from heart disease. Rosa was able to reunite her girls post-humorously when she retrieved the remains of Lola, burying her next to Minnie in New York.

And Rosa's Husband...

Rosa navigated life on her own back in Bozeman, providing for herself through her sewing skills and connecting with a familiar name, William Beall.

I knew you’d be wondering when the Beall surname would pop up...

William and Rosa were married in November of 1868, living a lovely life together until his death in 1903 at 415 North Bozeman, Rosa reunited with her husband at the age of 91 on April 16^th, 1930, in Sunset Hills Cemetery, where you can visit them today.

Rosa’s Contributions to Bozeman

A list of contributions falls quite shy of the lasting impact that a woman creating a sense of community has on a place. What are we without connection? Bozeman’s history and the love for our town are built on turning strangers into friends.

Rosa was determined to keep Bozeman’s pioneering and early history alive, keeping a detailed scrapbook throughout her life containing photographs, newspaper clippings and personal memorabilia, all pertaining to the Beall’s, history of Bozeman and of the beginnings of Gallatin County.

Many of these clippings allow you to follow her life through the growth of our small town where she was able to devote her time to build up the community through her work teaching Sunday School with St. James Episcopal Church, where in 1883 she would donate the historic bell, which still is housed beautifully in the bell tower. Her work with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, a key organization in the suffragist movement and social reform, the Pioneers’ Society of Gallatin County, the ultimate record keepers of our home where Rosa served four terms as president, the Order of the Eastern Star, a charitable organization, as a librarian for the Montana Historical Society, and one of great note, the sale of her land and home for the creation of a park we lovingly know as Beall Park.

An article Rosa published on February of 1923 included a note to the many that had moved to Bozeman...

"To those who have been permitted to remain to see this, our beautiful city, as it is today, there is great happiness in the knowledge that others are completing and making beautiful what was begun in the long ago of ... 1864."

Our Love Note to Rosa

We are incredibly excited to introduce the newest member to the Downtown Dollar family, Rosa Beall! These $20 denominations will be permanently in rotation, kicking off during this Women’s History Month. Keep an eye out for the founding mother when spending or gifting Downtown Dollars and celebrate the wonderful life of Mrs. Rosa Beall.

Learn more about Downtown Dollars HERE!