Oil painting of Dr. R. Harry Worthington donated by Miss Ida Thompson March 16, 1938., Artist J. Harrison Mills was born in 1842 near Buffalo, New York and known as a Buffalo, New York artist. In 1859 he began painting portraits in his first studio in Lockport, New York. In 1861 he established himself in Buffalo. Volunteering in the Civil War, he sustained injuries in the Second Battle of Bull Run causing his discharge four months later. He wrote a history of his regiment establishing his journalistic skills along with his artistic. He came to Colorado in 1872, due to his wife's ill health, settling in Grand County. There Mrs. Mills taught children of the first settlers in the area. Mills immersed himself in the area mingling with trappers, explorers, hunters, Indians and mountaineers, and made long journeys on snow shoes. Thus his paintings reflect the real life of the frontier. Mills brought a professionalism to the artistic community in Denver. In 1876 he organized the Academy of Fine Arts Association of Colorado which subsequently led to the founding of the Colorado Academy of Design. Among its directors were Governor F. W. Pitkin, William G. Evans, and Mills himself, who was elected as its first president. While in Denver he engaged in wood engraving for book illustrations, painting portraits and landscapes, and writing for magazines. In 1882 he managed the first art exhibition in Colorado under the auspices of the Mining and Industrial Exposition. By 1885 his wife's health had improved and they returned to New York where he continued his artistic work until his death in 1916.