How the McCarty & Fickel Family Home Became a Museum

“To be the finest in Berthoud…a 46×70 house for Dr. D.W. McCarty…will be of brick, with the best materials and finest finish. ” Berthoud Bulletin, March 31, 1916

Located in Berthoud’s Seventh Street Neighborhood the McCarty-Fickel house was built by Dr. and Mrs. D.W. McCarty in 1916. Planned by Mrs. McCarty and designed in the “ Denver Square ” style of architecture by Denver ’s G.W. Huntington, the residence reflected the characteristic symmetry of the American Craftsman movement.

The McCartys raised three children—Horace, Helen, and Wilson—in the home while Dr. McCarty conducted a general practice that required him to travel to rural districts in the Berthoud, Mead, and Johnstown areas.

When Helen McCarty graduated from the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine in 1932, she returned to live with her widowed father and conducted a practice in the home. Helen married R.B. Fickel DDS in 1942 and turned her attention to a family that grew to include son Bruce Jr. and daughter Jane after she ended her practice following WWII.

Over the following decades members of the Fickel family played important roles in Berthoud’s civic affairs. Dr. R.B. Fickel, who helped found the Berthoud Historical Society in 1977, deeded the home to the organization for use as house museum in July 2008.