Red astrachan and Duchess of Oldenburg.

Those were the two varieties of apples that grew in the city’s first apple orchard, tended to by Maj. Henry McAllister and his wife, Elizabeth, at their downtown 1873 home, now the McAllister House Museum. The house plans for the oldest existing substantial home in Colorado Springs were done by architect George Summers, who also designed Springs founder Brig. Gen. William Palmer’s Glen Eyrie residence and Grace Episcopal Church.

The city’s first orchard will be feted at Saturday’s free Harvest Festival at the museum. The event also will feature tours, food, music, antique cars, crafts for kids, music by the Wayne Wilkinson Trio, and many of the city’s cultural and civic organizations, including the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, League of Women Voters, The African-American Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs and First Congregational Church.

The McAllisters grew apples for a decade to gather data for the state on growing fruit in southern Colorado. Museum staff replanted the two varieties, which they had shipped from Maine, three years ago. Apples take a decade to fruit, but the trees are doing well, says Eric Metzger, the museum’s executive director.

“The primary thing of interest on the grounds was this experimental garden and the primary object in the garden was apples,” Metzger said. “There were farmers south of town that were doing agriculture and horticulture and fruit, but it was definitely the first orchard in town. It was .877 acres. They got enough data to publish and then stopped because it was probably a huge labor for Mrs. McAllister.”

Though many in the Pikes Peak region know the names of historical folks like Palmer and Spencer Penrose, Henry McAllister’s name might be less familiar. He worked with Palmer’s Colorado Springs Co. as executive director before Palmer moved him to the Springs from the East Coast in 1872. His wife and 9-month-old son arrived in 1873 and they went on to have two more daughters.

“The big deal about this house is it’s very much intact relative to the way it was built in 1873,” Metzger said. “You get a fantastic feel for what this community would have been like at this time. And the feel from the leadership of the McAllisters. They become the first family of Colorado Springs. Queen Palmer (Palmer’s wife) lives in England for most of her adult life and they (the Palmers) can’t act as first family, so the McAllisters act as Colorado Springs’ first family.”

After Henry died in 1921, the home was rented by Fanny Robbins, a single female entrepreneur who ran a candy factory and shop out of the parlor.

“She was very successful. It’s great to show female entrepreneurship in the early 20th century,” Metzger said. “She was friends with Laura Gilpin, our local famous photographer. She was a woman about town, going to theater and concerts.”

After Robbins died in 1958, Henry’s daughters sold the home to Shepard’s Citations, a publication firm across the street, in 1959 for $35,000. They planned to raze the building and build a parking lot. The National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Colorado stepped in and proposed saving the property. With the help of El Pomar Foundation, they bought it back in 1961 for $10 from Shepard’s, which saw the value in preserving the historic home, Metzger says.

“McAllister wasn’t a dog-and-pony-show kind of guy.,” Metzger said. “He was pretty serious but people liked him. He spoke well. He could rally people. He was the Colorado Springs representative at so many things, like going to the Republican convention as the representative of southern Colorado. He spoke at women’s rights rallies in 1877 when we had the initial legislative decision for the vote.”