Henry Templeton and his family arrived in Colorado City in July 1862 by wagon from Henry County, Illinois. Since they did not have a home to live in, the Templetons lived with the William Baird family on their ranch (known later as Beaver Ranch) until the following spring. When the spring of 1863 arrived, the Templetons settled below the mouth of Shooks Run next to a spring. That summer the Templetons had the first baby girl in El Paso County--Mary Harriet.

During the winter of 1863, Henry Templeton operated a hotel in the northwest part of Colorado City. With increased Indian hostilities, town residents built a log stockade around the hotel and used it for a safe house.

Although the exact date is not known, in the mid-1860s (possibly 1864), Henry Templeton and his partner, Mr. White, established the region's second flour mill, naming the mill the "Hawkeye Mills." Templeton and several men had gone "east" to purchase the necessary equipment for the flour mill. The men bought a combine reaper and mower, a 10-horse power threshing machine, and a string of horses for power. Upon their return, Templeton and the men then built a ditch to supply water to the new mill.

Because of Colorado City's decline during the 1860s, many settlers who remained in the area speculated in town lots. Having invested in several lots, Henry Templeton later sold them when the Midland Railroad constructed its offices and rails in 1886 and 1887. Templeton then invested his proceeds and built the "Templeton Block" on the present-day corner of Colorado Avenue and 25th Street and then built a home on the corner of Pikes Peak Avenue and 25th Street.