His wife, Essie White Cohn (1902-1963) was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Denver from 1942-1963. They received undergraduate and masters degrees from the University of Denver and earned doctorates from the University of Chicago. Byron Cohn was instrumental in founding the Mt. Evans High Altitude Laboratory. Essie Cohn participated in several studies on the effects of high altitude on nutrition.

Denver, Colorado. He was instrumental in building the University of Denver's Chamberlin Observatory (1890) named after Humphrey B. Chamberlin. Howe oversaw the installation of the Observatory's Saegmuller telescope with its 20-inch Clark refractor. Howe's notebooks contain astronomical observations made at the campus observatory from 1897 to 1925 including Halley's Comet in 1910. His papers also contain correspondence, scrapbooks, as well as blueprints related to the building of the observatory.