Shep the Turnpike Dog, Broomfield, CO, USA

Shep's Grave, "Part Shepard Mostly Affection." Author's Collection

Shep, the Turnpike Dog

The first memorial that I'd like to talk about is Shep's grave in Colorado. This site is near me so I've visited a few times prior to starting this blog. Shep's story is especially interesting to me as someone interested in the monuments since the community actually took the care to move it, preserve it and even interpret it years after Shep was gone. Here's his story.

The Denver-Boulder Turnpike was championed by business interests North of Denver as a faster way to bring in visitors, workers and freight. The toll road connects Denver on the South, with Boulder on the North, which was just beginning to shift from a sleepy community to a national center for science and technology. When the Turnpike opened on January 20, 1952, by most accounts Shep was already a fixture. It's difficult to pin down exactly where the dog came from. If we combine the two common stories about his origin what we come up with is this:

Shep greeting motorists. Denver Post photo

He was part of a litter that escaped from a local farmer and made his way to the construction site where the toll road was being built. He found that the construction workers would share parts of their lunch with him, and became a regular. When the tollbooths opened he charmed the men who worked in them too. It took some coaxing, but one worker eventually convinced the dog to sleep in a tollbooth on
one cold night. Shep was sold on the idea, and he began to spend part of his days with the tollbooth operators. He became something of a mascot for the booths. Before long he was so well known that travelers would bring treats, bones and toys for Shep on their vacations and commutes, or donate extra money to a fund for his food.

Shep gets a treat at the tollbooth. Boulder Daily Camera photo

Shep hung around the tollbooths most of the day, although he did wander off to do dog things sometimes, he seemed to enjoy the company and affection he received from the drivers and the employees on the Turnpike. In 1958 Shep was shot with a shotgun. He was a shepherd, so he was probably bothering someone's livestock. He limped back to the tollbooths and the workers rushed him to local veterinarian Clyde Bruner, who treated the local celebrity for free. Shep lived out a long life at the tollbooths. Brunner became Shep's regular vet, seeing him for check-ups, and to nurse him back to health after he got into a fight with coyotes. Eventually, as he aged he began to lose his sight and hearing, a dangerous proposition for a dog that regularly interacts with cars. In 1964 the tollbooth workers who took care of him decided that it was best to have him put to sleep before he suffered, Dr. Bruner agreed and performed the procedure.

Shep was not just any dog. He received a small funeral, in which he was personally buried by the superintendent of the highway, Paul Kempf. A beautiful gravestone including an inlaid picture of the dog was donated by the Green Mountain Cemetery in Boulder. Tollbooth operators discussed getting a new dog, but decided that, "Nobody could take Shep's place. . . Never." In 1967 the construction of the road was paid off and the tollbooths were closed. When the Broomfield interchange was redesigned it carefully avoided Shep's resting place. The grave lay undisturbed until 2009 when after years of requests to the Department of Transportation the Broomfield Musuem received permission to move the grave. Shep's vet, Dr. Brunner cremated his remains so that they could be safely moved and kept at the new site.

Broomfield Parks Department Employees begin the process of moving Shep's grave. Broomfield Enterprise photo

Shep's Grave at the Broomfield Depot Musuem. Author's Collection

Shep's grave is now next to the old Railroad Depot Museum, an old railroad depot that was also moved form its original location. The Depot Museum and their "Friends," (the community group that raises funds and awareness) help to keep the memory of Shep. The musuem h
as held a Shep look-a-like contest at their "Dog Days" event the past two years.

More than fifty years after his death people still come to visit his grave, see whose dog looks most like him and to learn about him in the Depot Musuem. The care taken to move his grave and the city's choice to bring in his old vet speak to respect that we don't normally give to the fifty year old bodies of pets. Shep is remembered because he embodied something that animals evoke in us, he made people smile in what could otherwise be a mundane  ro annoying experience, paying a toll. Shep gave people a reason to look forward to stopping at tollbooths, which strikes me as an uncommon experience. As a mascot you couldn't have asked for more. He has also become deeply associated with the character of Broomfield, probably because the tollbooths were the only reason many Denver and Boulder residents stopped in the town.If you want to learn more, look at some of my sources at the bottom of the page or you can check in with the Friends of the Depot Musuem and others who care about Shep at his Facebook page.

The smaller gravestone behind the white marble one. The phrase "Our Pal," is hidden by plants. Author's collection

Sources: Broomfield Depot Musuem exhibits (Visited August, 2017), Denver Post, "Denver Boulder Turnpike 1952," Boulder Daily Camera, "Shep, the Turnpike Dog Remembered," Broomfield Enterprise, "Beloved Turnpike Dog, Shep, Moved to Broomfield Museum,"