Things to do / Travel Guide
Mining Towns around Denver, Colorado
In a very big way the history of the eastern Colorado and Wyoming Rockies is the history of the mining of precious metals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this respect, the histories of Gold Rush towns such as Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Silver Plume, Cripple Creek, and Victor, are all similar. Gold or silver was discovered at some point in the mid-to-late 19th century. However, by the early 20th century the metal had run out, and, thus the towns' reason for being was destroyed. In these cities, the townsfolk for the most part were not able to find a replacement for the dying mining industries, and the towns froze. As such, the towns have remarkably well-preserved downtowns.
It took a while for the tourism to pick up, one reason obviously being that time needed to pass to make the buildings truly historical. And historical these towns are! When you enter Silver Plume or Cripple Creek, you will most probably feel as if you have transported back to the late-19th century. A stroll or drive up any of the main streets of these towns will reward you with a fascinating time-traveling experience.
Cripple Creek is generally considered to have the best-preserved and most extensive downtown of these old mining towns. Walk up the main street, West Carr Avenue/East Pike Peak Avenue, with the old storefronts that used to advertise saloons, bars, and apothecaries, and imagine how it must have looked back when the city was a bustling hub of every speculator and miner in the area.
Special landmarks in the city include the Butte Opera House, built in the 1890s. At its height it featured the Ladies' Vienna Orchestra. Cripple Creek District Museum, which was once the site of the Midland Terminal Railroad Depot, is housed in three buildings and is stuffed with all kinds of memorabilia significant to the region. The depot was quite important during the height of the city's mining days, transporting people as well as the gold they mined.
The mines themselves in some places are open as museums, windows into these speculators' lives. The best of these is undoubtedly the still-active (albeit on a much toned-down level) Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, one mile north of Cripple Creek. You can travel 1,000 feet below ground to experience fascinating tours of all the equipment used in gold-mining over 100 years ago, and the quarries themselves. On display in their natural un-mined states are gold veins, and telluride of gold ore. It's open from April-October.
Ghost Towns around Denver, Colorado
One former mining town, formerly home to hundreds and thousands, has become completely devoid of inhabitants, making it a true ghost town. This is Nevadaville, and it's located north of Central City and Blackhawk off State Road 119. Around a dozen buildings still stand, while others have been reduced to rubble. A few old gravestones remain. You can walk practically up to the town's mine, but don't approach the shafts!
In Canon City you can visit the Ghost Town Museum, a completely authentic town with sheriff's office and jail, saloon, and other attractions.
Historical Attractions around Denver, Colorado
Denver's beginnings were also humble, though. In fact, you can get right to the beginning of the city's history, with a visit to Denver's oldest house, Four Mile House. Located in Four Mile Historic Park at 715 South Forest Street, off Cherry Creek Drive South, the house served as a stagecoach stop and a wayside inn and tavern for travelers. It was built back in 1859, the year of the city's founding, and it's a “soddy,” a house built of sod.
A much more graceful building to gaze at and admire is the Brown Palace Hotel, at 321 17th Street in LoDo. This is the second-oldest hotel in Denver, and since its founding in 1892 it has hosted many a famous person. Winston Churchill slept in the rooms, so did Shaquille O'Neal - and Elvis Presley once called it the best hotel in the world. If you can't afford a stay, you can still visit the lobby, with its massive fireplace supported by golden onyx pillars. The hotel offers private (and therefore a bit expensive) tours of the curious triangle-shaped building.
Historic Downtowns in Loveland, Fort Collins, Cheyenne, and Laramie, Wyoming
Aside from the downtowns of the mining towns and of Denver, many other cities in the region also boast charming historic downtowns as well.
- Loveland's downtown is now very art-filled, but many of the old buildings still exist. Many are former industrial or commercial buildings, such as 102 E. Third Street, the old grocery store, and 107-109 W. Second Street, a factory and warehouse. The historic Loveland theater is the Rialto, built in the 1910s at 228 E. Fourth Street.
- Many of Fort Collins' oldest buildings now reside in the Fort Collins Museum complex, at 200 Matthews Street, two blocks to the east of Colorado State University. On display are one of the oldest log cabins in the state, a stone cabin from the 1860s, and a schoolhouse dating to 1884.
- Finally, if you make your way up to Cheyenne and Laramie, picturesque old downtowns await. The buildings on these busy streets are practically unchanged from the cities' heyday in the late-19th century. In Cheyenne, you can explore the State Capitol, and then the Historic Governor's Mansion six blocks away. The mansion, built in the Colonial Revival style with huge sandstone columns, has been turned into a museum, but much of the furnishings are original.
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