Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935

George L. Beam (1868-1935) was an American photographer for the Denver & Rio Grande railroad company.

George L. Beam was born May 18, 1868 in New Paris, Ohio. At the age of five him and his family moved to Lawrence, Kansas where he grew up and saw the deaths of his mother and two siblings. When he was twenty-one years old he established himself as a used foreign and domestic postage stamps dealer. He and his father moved to Denver, Colorado around 1890. In Denver Mr. Beam worked for the Chain Hardy & Co. as a stenographer, but soon there after he began working as a stenographer for the Chief Storekeeper and Purchasing Agent of the Denver & Rio Grande until 1893. In 1894 he became a secretary to Shadrach K. Hooper (the general passenger and ticket agent) for the Rio Grand. He was skilled with photography and was well established as the Rio Grande company photographer by 1905 when he photographed President Theodore Roosevelt in the Royal Gorge. He became a well respected photographer, taking photographs for the Denver & Rio Grande company along with other scenic views of the Western United States. At the age of 62 he married Fay L. Kuellmer in Colorado Springs on June 7, 1930. He died March 16, 1935 at the age of 66 in Denver and was buried in Lawrence, Kansas.

From the guide to the George L. Beam photograph of Royal Gorge Bridge, 1929 December 8 or 9, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)