%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Anne Evans http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/anne-evans <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Anne Evans</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-10-14T12:44:12-06:00" title="Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - 12:44" class="datetime">Wed, 10/14/2020 - 12:44</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/anne-evans" data-a2a-title="Anne Evans"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fanne-evans&amp;title=Anne%20Evans"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Anne Evans (1871–1941) was a Colorado civic leader and patron of the arts who transformed the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> cultural community. Among her numerous activities, Evans started and helped guide the <strong>Denver Art Museum</strong> to national prominence, assisted in the development of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-public-library"><strong>Denver Public Library</strong></a>, led the restoration of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-opera-house"><strong>Central City Opera House</strong></a> and the establishment of the Central City Opera Festival, supported arts education at the <strong>University of Denver</strong>, and provided leadership in the creation of Denver’s <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civic-center"><strong>Civic Center</strong></a> area. An artist herself, Evans was also influential in collecting and promoting American Indian art, making the Denver Art Museum the first in the nation to showcase Indian art and establish a Native Arts Department.</p> <h2>Early Years</h2> <p>Anne Evans was born in London, England, on January 23, 1871, while her family was on a trip abroad. She was the second daughter (the first died in childhood) and the youngest of four children born to <strong>Margaret Patten Gray</strong> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a>.</p> <p>Anne Evans’s family was one of the most prominent in Colorado. Her father, John Evans, had arrived in 1862 to serve as <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>territorial</strong></a> governor. Before that, he had been a physician, businessman, and educational benefactor in Illinois, where he founded Northwestern University in Evanston, a town that was named for him. He later founded the University of Denver (DU). Forced to resign his governorship in 1865 for his role in precipitating the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sand-creek-massacre"><strong>Sand Creek Massacre</strong></a>, he became a successful railroad and real estate developer. John and Margaret Evans were devoted Methodists who actively promoted a variety of cultural, philanthropic, and religious causes.</p> <p>Anne Evans was educated at Miss Mary Street’s School and Wolfe Hall in Denver. Her family appreciated the arts and encouraged her evident talents. The Evans home served as a centerpiece of Denver society, hosting arts gatherings and parties. The family spent winters at their house downtown and summers at the Evans Ranch near <strong>Evergreen</strong>.</p> <p>As a child, Anne was known as a “tomboy,” that is, a girl who enjoyed active games and the outdoors. At age fifteen, she was sent to Illinois for a year in the care of her much older cousin Cornelia Gray Lunt, with the aim of turning her into a more conventional young society woman. During this transformative year, Anne’s wilder nature was somewhat tamed and “Cousin Nina,” who was an art patron and civic leader, and who never married, became a lifelong role model for young Anne.</p> <h2>The Artist Years</h2> <p>As a teenager, Evans attended college preparatory classes at DU in 1887 before leaving Colorado for three years of study at the Misses Ferris School in Paris and the Willard School in Berlin. During her years in Europe, Evans honed her art skills and gained an appreciation for art history and cultural institutions devoted to art. In 1891 Evans returned home to Denver, where she began to pursue her own painting career and become involved in the art community.</p> <p>In 1895 twenty-four-year-old Anne Evans was accepted in the Art Students’ League, a prestigious art school in New York City. She spent four years (not sequential) enrolled in rigorous art classes in New York during the school year, while returning to Evans Ranch in Colorado for the summer.</p> <p>After the death of John Evans in 1897, Evans and her mother moved in with her brother <strong>William Evans</strong> at <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/byers-evans-house"><strong>1310 Bannock Street</strong></a>. The house was remodeled with a large addition to create living space for the two women. Evans lived in the house during winters for the rest of her life. She never married. She enjoyed being part of her brother’s active household and her role as Aunt Anne to his children. She helped to manage the Evans Investment Company with her mother and brothers. Following the death of her mother in 1903, she inherited a modest income that guaranteed her financial security.</p> <p>In addition to her family, Evans had a close, lifelong friendship with Mary Kent Wallace, who founded <strong>Kent Denver School</strong>. The women traveled together, spent time at the Evans Ranch, and were both active members of the Denver branch of the Theosophical Society, a religious group that incorporates beliefs from Eastern and Western religions.</p> <h2>The Heart of Denver Arts and Culture</h2> <p>While the men in the Evans family made their mark in Colorado business and politics, Anne Evans devoted her life to arts and culture, starting with her influential role in the creation of Civic Center as a home for the Denver Public Library and Denver Art Museum.</p> <p>A member of the exclusive Artists’ Club of Denver, Evans belonged to a group at the forefront of producing and promoting the arts in Colorado. She nurtured a nascent artistic community in Denver by encouraging and providing financial assistance to artists, especially young artists who were just beginning their careers. She supported her friends, luminaries of the Denver art scene, by personally commissioning works of art, recommending their works to others, or assisting them in applying for art projects. As she moved from being an active artist to an enthusiastic patron and supporter of the arts, she led the Artists’ Club to acquire a permanent art collection and host art exhibitions in a variety of locations.</p> <p>In 1904 Mayor <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/robert-w-speer"><strong>Robert Speer</strong></a> appointed Evans to the newly created Denver Art Commission, charged with transforming Denver in line with his <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/city-beautiful-movement-denver"><strong>City Beautiful</strong></a> ideals. One of the commission’s major goals was to create a Civic Center to serve as the heart of the Denver community. Civic Center took shape slowly over a generation, but its first building, the city’s grand new Greek Revival public library, opened in 1910. Evans, who had also been appointed to the Denver Public Library Commission in 1907, is credited for working out an agreement for the Artists’ Club to get space in the new library for a permanent gallery. This was a first step toward her ultimate goal of getting a dedicated building for art exhibitions at Civic Center.</p> <h2>Denver Public Library</h2> <p>Evans served as president of the library commission in 1910–15, becoming the first woman in the country to hold such a position. She oversaw the construction of the first four branch libraries and made sure that each new building’s budget included funds for commissioned works of art. During her decades on the library commission, serving until 1940, she provided leadership and vision as the library grew and adapted to the changing needs of the growing city.</p> <h2>Denver Art Museum</h2> <p>In 1922 the Artists’ Club gallery moved away from Civic Center, when the group received an unexpected donation of the Chappell House mansion at 1300 Logan Street. The Denver Artists’ Club was renamed the Denver Art Museum, with Evans serving as executive secretary and interim director. She was involved in all aspects of running the museum, including hiring museum directors, locating and negotiating to buy artworks for the collection, overseeing the expansion of the building, and fundraising.</p> <p>During this period, Evans developed an intense interest in American Indian culture and began to collect and promote indigenous art as fine art rather than folk art. Her efforts to have American Indian art recognized and placed in art museums elevated the Denver Art Museum to national recognition. In 1925, under her direction, the Denver Art Museum was the first in the nation to showcase an exhibition of American Indian art, which included items from Evans’s private collection. She headed a museum committee to acquire American Indian art, and by 1930 the museum hired a full-time curator for its Native Arts Department, the first of its kind in the nation. Later she donated her entire collection of Santos—Native American Christian religious art and other items that included paintings, pottery, and kachinas—to the museum, expanding the collection.</p> <p>In addition to her promotion of American Indian art, Evans also played a major role in the movement to restore and preserve the mission churches of New Mexico. Working with native peoples, artist communities in Colorado and New Mexico, and architects, Evans raised funds and awareness to preserve these historic buildings.</p> <p>Within a decade, the Denver Art Museum had outgrown the Chappell House. In 1932 Evans negotiated for gallery space in the new City and County Building at Civic Center and secured a commitment from the city to build a freestanding art museum nearby. In 1948 Denver bought land for the museum at Fourteenth Avenue and Acoma Street, but the building was not completed until 1971.</p> <h2>University of Denver</h2> <p>Evans followed her parents’ legacy of leadership at the University of Denver. Evans’s father had founded the institution, and her mother had insisted it have a School of Fine Arts. Anne Evans served on the three-member advisory board of the Art Department from 1932 until her death. Evans also served on the board of the University <strong>Civic Theatre</strong> starting in 1929. The university honored Evans with an honorary doctor of letters degree in 1914 and an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 1939, citing her services to the university and the larger Denver community.</p> <h2>Central City Opera</h2> <p>In 1931, while serving on the University Civic Theatre board, Evans and her fellow board member <strong>Ida Krause McFarlane</strong> convinced DU to accept the gift of the dilapidated Central City Opera House. Built in 1878, the once-elegant opera house had served as a cultural icon in the gold-mining town known as the “richest square mile on earth.” The opera house featured frescoes on the ceiling, a huge chandelier, beautiful murals, and near perfect acoustics, but by 1930 it had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned. Evans believed that reviving the opera house as a fully functioning theater would promote the arts in Colorado while also preserving the state’s cultural and architectural heritage.</p> <p>Serving on the first board of directors of the Central City Opera House Association, Evans focused on raising funds for the project. She used her connections to convince Denver’s elite to volunteer, support, and contribute to the restoration. Within a year, the crumbling, abandoned theater was transformed to its former glory. The Central City Opera House’s grand opening in 1932 was a huge success, as were the following seasons. Until the late 1930s, when a general manager was hired, Evans and McFarlane were primarily responsible for the success and growth of the Central City Opera Festival.</p> <p>The opera revitalized and perhaps even saved <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city%E2%80%93black-hawk-historic-district"><strong>Central City</strong></a>, which had been in danger of becoming a ghost town. The board was able to lure top Broadway talent to the restored venue during the summers, when New York theaters went dark. In an early version of today’s summer festivals in resorts such as <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a> and <strong>Vail</strong>, the most famous opera singers and actors of the day came to Colorado to perform at the opera house.</p> <h2>Evans Ranch</h2> <p>Throughout her life, Evans spent her summers with family and friends on the Evans Ranch, located near Upper Bear Creek above Evergreen. Visitors enjoyed hiking trails, climbing nearby <strong>Mt. Evans</strong> (named for her father), riding horses, giving dinner parties, and putting on elaborate theatrical productions.</p> <p>When the original ranch cottage burned down in 1909, Evans built <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/anne-evans-mountain-home"><strong>her own mountain home</strong></a> on the property. It was located on a site with magnificent mountain views in all directions. The rustic house had unique vertical log construction and featured American Indian art inside. It provided ample sleeping rooms and large spaces for performances, entertaining, and social events. The house was restored in the 1990s and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.</p> <h2>Later Years and Legacy</h2> <p>In 1940, when Evans was sixty-nine years old, she suffered a heart attack. She began to limit her activities. Later that year, she donated her remaining Indian collection to the Denver Art Museum and her mountain properties to her nephew and niece. She gave her personal library to the University of Denver.</p> <p>On January 6, 1941, Anne Evans died of a heart attack. Newspapers throughout the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountain</strong></a> region, as well as the <em>New York Times</em>, carried obituaries lauding her contributions to the cultural life of Colorado. Easily one of the most important figures in the history of Denver arts and culture, Evans helped establish many of the core institutions that continue to serve the city today. Her energy and vision made Denver into the cultural capital of the Rocky Mountain region.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>For unknown reasons, Evans requested that all her personal effects be destroyed upon her death. Her heirs complied with her wishes and destroyed all her letters, artwork, notes, and photographs. The Evans house at 1310 Bannock Street was donated to <strong>History Colorado</strong> in 1981 and now serves as the Colorado Center for Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House. Visitors can tour the restored house and see Anne Evans’s sitting room and bedroom, as well as two surviving works of art by Evans that escaped destruction.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/duncan-elizabeth" hreflang="und">Duncan, Elizabeth</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/anne-evans" hreflang="en">Anne Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/john-evans" hreflang="en">John Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-art-museum" hreflang="en">Denver Art Museum</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-public-library" hreflang="en">Denver Public Library</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera" hreflang="en">central city opera</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera-house-association" hreflang="en">Central City Opera House Association</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-civic-theatre" hreflang="en">Denver Civic Theatre</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/university-denver" hreflang="en">University of Denver</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/evans-ranch" hreflang="en">Evans Ranch</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/byers-evans-house" hreflang="en">Byers-Evans House</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>“<a href="https://www.coloradobusinesshalloffame.org/anne-evans.html">Anne Evans</a>,” Colorado Business Hall of Fame, n.d.</p> <p>“<a href="https://www.cogreatwomen.org/project/anne-evans/">Anne Evans</a>,” Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, n.d.</p> <p>Clifford E. Rinehart, “Evans, Anne,” in <em>Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary</em>, ed. Edward T. James, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971).</p> <p>Barbara Edwards Sternberg, <em>Anne Evans—A Pioneer in Colorado's Cultural History: The Things That Last When Gold Is Gone </em>(Denver: Buffalo Park Press with Center for Colorado and the West at Auraria Library, 2011).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Gail M. Beaton, <em>Colorado </em><em>Women: A History</em> (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2012).</p> <p>Stephen J. Leonard and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Denver: Mining Camp to Metropolis </em>(Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1990).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Anne Evans (1871–1941) was a Colorado civic leader and patron of the arts. She transformed the <strong>Denver</strong> cultural community. Evans assisted in the development of the <strong>Denver Public Library</strong>. She also led the restoration of the <strong>Central City Opera House</strong>. Evans supported arts education at the <strong>University of Denver</strong>. She provided leadership in the creation of Denver’s <strong>Civic Cent</strong>er area. Evans was also collected and promoted American Indian art. She made the <strong>Denver Art Museum</strong> the first in the nation to showcase Indian art and establish a Native Arts Department.</p> <h2>Early Years</h2> <p>Anne Evans was born in London, England, on January 23, 1871, while her family was on a trip abroad. She was the youngest of four children born to <strong>Margaret Patten Gray</strong> and <strong>John Evans</strong>.</p> <p>Anne Evans’s family was one of the most prominent in Colorado. Her father, John Evans, had arrived in 1862 to serve as <strong>territorial</strong> governor. Before that, he had been a physician and businessman in Illinois. John Evans founded Northwestern University in Evanston. The town was named for him. He later founded the University of Denver (DU). John Evans was forced to resign his governorship in 1865 for his role in the <strong>Sand Creek Massacre</strong>. He later became a successful railroad and real estate developer. John and Margaret Evans were devoted Methodists. They promoted a variety of cultural, charitable, and religious causes.</p> <p>Anne Evans was educated at Miss Mary Street’s School and Wolfe Hall in Denver. Her family respected the arts and encouraged her talents. The Evans home served as a centerpiece of Denver society. The Evans hosted arts gatherings and parties. The family spent winters at their house downtown and summers at the Evans Ranch near <strong>Evergreen</strong>.</p> <p>Anne was known as a “tomboy,” or a girl who enjoyed active games and the outdoors. At age fifteen, she was sent to Illinois for a year. She lived with her much older cousin, Cornelia Gray Lunt. The goal was to turn Anne into a young society woman. During this year, Anne’s wilder nature was tamed. “Cousin Nina,” was an art patron and civic leader. She became a lifelong role model for young Anne.</p> <h2>The Artist Years</h2> <p>As a teenager, Evans attended college preparatory classes at DU. She left Colorado for three years of study at the Misses Ferris School in Paris and the Willard School in Berlin. During her years in Europe, Evans honed her art skills. She gained an appreciation for art history and cultural institutions devoted to art. In 1891 Evans returned home to Denver. She began to pursue her own painting career and become involved in the art community.</p> <p>In 1895 twenty-four-year-old Anne Evans was accepted in the Art Students’ League. It was a prestigious art school in New York City. She spent four years enrolled in art classes in New York during the school year. She returned to Evans Ranch in Colorado for the summer.</p> <p>John Evans died in 1897. Afterwards, Anne Evans and her mother moved in with her brother <strong>William Evans</strong> at <strong>1310 Bannock Street</strong>. A large addition was added to create living space for the two women. Evans lived in the house during winters for the rest of her life. She never married. She enjoyed being part of her brother’s active household. She helped to manage the Evans Investment Company with her mother and brothers. Following the death of her mother in 1903, she inherited a modest income. It guaranteed her financial security.</p> <p>Evans had a lifelong friendship with Mary Kent Wallace. Wallace founded <strong>Kent Denver School</strong>. The women traveled together. They spent time at the Evans Ranch.</p> <h2>The Heart of Denver Arts and Culture</h2> <p>Anne Evans devoted her life to arts and culture. She started with her role in the creation of Civic Center as a home for the Denver Public Library and Denver Art Museum.</p> <p>Evans was a member of the exclusive Artists’ Club of Denver. The group was at the forefront of producing and promoting the arts in Colorado. She nurtured an artistic community in Denver by providing financial assistance to artists. Evans supported her friends by commissioning works of art. She also recommended their works to others. Evans assisted them in applying for art projects. She led the Artists’ Club to acquire a permanent art collection. They also hosted art exhibitions in a variety of locations.</p> <p>In 1904 Mayor <strong>Robert Spe</strong>er appointed Evans to the newly created Denver Art Commission. The commission was charged with transforming Denver in line with Speer's <strong>City Beautiful</strong> ideals. One of the commission’s major goals was to create a Civic Center to serve as the heart of the Denver community. Civic Center took shape slowly. Its first building, the city’s grand new Greek Revival public library, opened in 1910. Evans had also been appointed to the Denver Public Library Commission in 1907. She worked out an agreement for the Artists’ Club to get a permanent gallery space in the new library. This was a first step toward her goal of getting a dedicated building for art exhibitions at Civic Center.</p> <h2>Denver Public Library</h2> <p>Evans served as president of the library commission in 1910–15. She was the first woman in the country to hold such a position. She oversaw the construction of the first four branch libraries. Evans also made sure that each new building’s budget included funds for commissioned works of art. She served until 1940. Evans provided leadership and vision as the library grew.</p> <h2>Denver Art Museum</h2> <p>In 1922 the Artists’ Club gallery moved away from Civic Center. The group received an unexpected donation of the Chappell House mansion at 1300 Logan Street. The Denver Artists’ Club was renamed the Denver Art Museum. Evans served as executive secretary and interim director. She was involved in all aspects of running the museum. Evans hired museum directors. She located and negotiated to buy art. Evans also oversaw the expansion of the building and fundraising.</p> <p>During this period, Evans developed an interest in American Indian culture. She began to collect and promote indigenous art as fine art rather than folk art. Her efforts to have American Indian art placed in art museums elevated the Denver Art Museum to national recognition. In 1925, under her direction, the Denver Art Museum was the first in the nation to showcase an exhibition of American Indian art. The exhibit included items from Evans’s private collection. She headed a museum committee to acquire American Indian art. By 1930 the museum hired a full-time curator for its Native Arts Department. It was the first position of its kind in the nation. She later donated her entire collection of Native American art to the museum.</p> <p>Evans also played a major role in the movement to restore and preserve the mission churches of New Mexico. Working with native peoples, artist communities, and architects, Evans raised funds and awareness to preserve these historic buildings.</p> <p>Within a decade, the Denver Art Museum had outgrown the Chappell House. In 1932 Evans negotiated for gallery space in the new City and County Building at Civic Center. She secured a commitment from the city to build a freestanding art museum nearby. In 1948 Denver bought land for the museum at Fourteenth Avenue and Acoma Street. The building was not completed until 1971.</p> <h2>University of Denver</h2> <p>Evans followed her parents’ legacy of leadership at the University of Denver. Evans’s father founded the institution. Her mother had insisted it have a School of Fine Arts. Anne Evans served on the three-member advisory board of the Art Department from 1932 until her death. Evans also served on the board of the University <strong>Civic Theatre</strong> starting in 1929. The school honored Evans with an honorary doctor of letters degree in 1914. She was given an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 1939.</p> <h2>Central City Opera</h2> <p>In 1931, while serving on the University Civic Theatre board, Evans and a fellow board member convinced DU to accept the gift of the rundown Central City Opera House. The opera house was built in 1878. It had served as a cultural icon in the gold-mining town. The opera house featured a huge chandelier, beautiful murals, and near perfect acoustics. By 1930 it was abandoned. Evans believed that reviving the opera house as a theater would promote the arts in Colorado. It would also preserve the state’s cultural heritage.</p> <p>Evans focused on raising funds for the project. She used her connections to convince Denver’s elite to contribute to the restoration. Within a year, the crumbling theater was restored to its former glory. The Central City Opera House’s grand opening in 1932 was a huge success. Until the late 1930s, Evans and <strong>Ida Krause McFarlane</strong> were primarily responsible for the success and growth of the Central City Opera Festival.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The opera revitalized <strong>Central City</strong>. It had been in danger of becoming a ghost town. The board was able to lure top Broadway talent to the restored venue during the summers. The most famous opera singers and actors of the day came to Colorado to perform at the opera house.</p> <h2>Evans Ranch</h2> <p>Throughout her life, Evans spent her summers with family and friends on the Evans Ranch. The ranch is located near Upper Bear Creek above Evergreen. Visitors enjoyed hiking trails. They climbed nearby <strong>Mt. Evans</strong>, which was named for Anne's father. There were also dinner parties and elaborate theatrical productions.</p> <p>The original ranch cottage burned down in 1909. Afterwards, Evans built <strong>her own mountain home</strong> on the property. It was located on a site with magnificent mountain views in all directions. The rustic house had unique vertical log construction. It featured American Indian art inside. There were ample sleeping rooms and large spaces for performances, entertaining, and social events. The house was restored in the 1990s. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.</p> <h2>Later Years and Legacy</h2> <p>In 1940, when Evans was sixty-nine years old, she suffered a heart attack. She began to limit her activities. Later that year, she donated her remaining Indian collection to the Denver Art Museum. Evans gave her mountain properties to her nephew and niece. She gave her personal library to the University of Denver.</p> <p>On January 6, 1941, Anne Evans died of a heart attack. Newspapers throughout the Rocky Mountain region carried obituaries praising her additions to cultural life in Colorado. Evans helped establish many of the institutions that serve the city today. Her energy and vision made Denver into the cultural capital of the <strong>Rocky Mountain</strong> region.&nbsp;</p> <p>For unknown reasons, Evans asked that all her personal effects be destroyed upon her death. Her heirs complied with her wishes. They destroyed all her letters, artwork, notes, and photographs. The Evans house at 1310 Bannock Street was donated to <strong>History Colorado</strong> in 1981. It serves as the Colorado Center for Women’s History. Visitors can tour the restored building. They can see Anne Evans’s sitting room and bedroom, as well as two surviving works of art by Evans.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Anne Evans (1871–1941) was a Colorado civic leader and patron of the arts. She transformed the <strong>Denver </strong>cultural community. Evans started and helped guide the <strong>Denver Art Museum</strong> to national prominence. She assisted in the development of the <strong>Denver Public Library</strong>. Evans also led the restoration of the <strong>Central City Opera House</strong>. She supported arts education at the <strong>University of Denver</strong>. She provided leadership in the creation of Denver’s <strong>Civic Center</strong> area. Evans was also collected and promoted American Indian art. She made the Denver Art Museum the first in the nation to showcase Indian art and establish a Native Arts Department.</p> <h2>Early Years</h2> <p>Anne Evans was born in London, England, on January 23, 1871, while her family was on a trip abroad. She was the youngest of four children born to <strong>Margaret Patten Gray</strong> and <strong>John Evans</strong>.</p> <p>Anne Evans’s family was one of the most prominent in Colorado. Her father, John Evans, had arrived in 1862 to serve as <strong>territorial</strong> governor. Before that, he had been a physician and businessman in Illinois. John Evans founded Northwestern University in Evanston. The town was named for him. He later founded the University of Denver (DU). John Evans was forced to resign his governorship in 1865 for his role in the <strong>Sand Creek Massacre</strong>. He later became a successful railroad and real estate developer. John and Margaret Evans were devoted Methodists. They promoted a variety of cultural, charitable, and religious causes.</p> <p>Anne Evans was educated at Miss Mary Street’s School and Wolfe Hall in Denver. Her family respected the arts and encouraged her talents. The Evans home served as a centerpiece of Denver society. The Evans hosted arts gatherings and parties. The family spent winters at their house downtown and summers at the Evans Ranch near <strong>Evergreen</strong>.</p> <p>Anne was known as a “tomboy,” or a girl who enjoyed active games and the outdoors. At age fifteen, she was sent to Illinois for a year. She lived with her much older cousin, Cornelia Gray Lunt. The goal was to turn Anne into a young society woman. During this year, Anne’s wilder nature was tamed. “Cousin Nina,” was an art patron and civic leader. She became a lifelong role model for young Anne.</p> <h2>The Artist Years</h2> <p>As a teenager, Evans attended college preparatory classes at DU. She left Colorado for three years of study at the Misses Ferris School in Paris and the Willard School in Berlin. During her years in Europe, Evans honed her art skills. She gained an appreciation for art history and cultural institutions devoted to art. In 1891 Evans returned home to Denver. She began to pursue her own painting career and become involved in the art community.</p> <p>In 1895 twenty-four-year-old Anne Evans was accepted in the Art Students’ League. It was a prestigious art school in New York City. She spent four years enrolled in art classes in New York during the school year. She returned to Evans Ranch in Colorado for the summer.</p> <p>John Evans died in 1897. Afterwards, Anne Evans and her mother moved in with her brother <strong>William Evans</strong> at <strong>1310 Bannock Street</strong>. A large addition was added to create living space for the two women. Evans lived in the house during winters for the rest of her life. She never married. She enjoyed being part of her brother’s active household. She helped to manage the Evans Investment Company with her mother and brothers. Following the death of her mother in 1903, she inherited a modest income. It guaranteed her financial security.</p> <p>In addition to her family, Evans had a lifelong friendship with <strong>Mary Kent Wallace</strong>. Wallace founded Kent Denver School. The women traveled together. They spent time at the Evans Ranch. Both active members of the Denver branch of the Theosophical Society. The society was a religious group that incorporated beliefs from Eastern and Western religions.</p> <h2>The Heart of Denver Arts and Culture</h2> <p>Anne Evans devoted her life to arts and culture. She started with her role in the creation of Civic Center as a home for the Denver Public Library and Denver Art Museum.</p> <p>Evans was a member of the exclusive Artists’ Club of Denver. The group was at the forefront of producing and promoting the arts in Colorado. She nurtured an artistic community in Denver by encouraging and providing financial assistance to artists. She supported her friends by commissioning works of art. Evans also recommended their works to others. She assisted them in applying for art projects. As she moved from being an active artist to an enthusiastic supporter of the arts, she led the Artists’ Club to acquire a permanent art collection. They also hosted art exhibitions in a variety of locations.</p> <p>In 1904 Mayor <strong>Robert Speer</strong> appointed Evans to the newly created Denver Art Commission. The commission was charged with transforming Denver in line with his <strong>City Beautiful</strong> ideals. One of the commission’s major goals was to create a Civic Center to serve as the heart of the Denver community. Civic Center took shape slowly. Its first building, the city’s grand new Greek Revival public library, opened in 1910. Evans, who had also been appointed to the Denver Public Library Commission in 1907. She is credited for working out an agreement for the Artists’ Club to get space in the new library for a permanent gallery. This was a first step toward her goal of getting a dedicated building for art exhibitions at Civic Center.</p> <h2>Denver Public Library</h2> <p>Evans served as president of the library commission in 1910–15. She was the first woman in the country to hold such a position. She oversaw the construction of the first four branch libraries. Evans also made sure that each new building’s budget included funds for commissioned works of art. She served until 1940. She provided leadership and vision as the library grew.</p> <h2>Denver Art Museum</h2> <p>In 1922 the Artists’ Club gallery moved away from Civic Center. The group received an unexpected donation of the Chappell House mansion at 1300 Logan Street. The Denver Artists’ Club was renamed the Denver Art Museum. Evans served as executive secretary and interim director. She was involved in all aspects of running the museum. Evans hired museum directors. She located and negotiated to buy art. Evans also oversaw the expansion of the building and fundraising.</p> <p>During this period, Evans developed an intense interest in American Indian culture. She began to collect and promote indigenous art as fine art rather than folk art. Her efforts to have American Indian art placed in art museums elevated the Denver Art Museum to national recognition. In 1925, under her direction, the Denver Art Museum was the first in the nation to showcase an exhibition of American Indian art. The exhibit included items from Evans’s private collection. She headed a museum committee to acquire American Indian art. By 1930 the museum hired a full-time curator for its Native Arts Department. It was the first position of its kind in the nation. She later donated her entire collection of Native American art to the museum.</p> <p>Evans also played a major role in the movement to restore and preserve the mission churches of New Mexico. Working with native peoples, artist communities, and architects, Evans raised funds and awareness to preserve these historic buildings.</p> <p>Within a decade, the Denver Art Museum had outgrown the Chappell House. In 1932 Evans negotiated for gallery space in the new City and County Building at Civic Center. She secured a commitment from the city to build a freestanding art museum nearby. In 1948 Denver bought land for the museum at Fourteenth Avenue and Acoma Street. The building was not completed until 1971.</p> <h2>University of Denver</h2> <p>Evans followed her parents’ legacy of leadership at the University of Denver. Evans’s father had founded the institution. Her mother had insisted it have a School of Fine Arts. Anne Evans served on the three-member advisory board of the Art Department from 1932 until her death. Evans also served on the board of the University <strong>Civic Theatre</strong> starting in 1929. The university honored Evans with an honorary doctor of letters degree in 1914. She was given an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 1939.</p> <h2>Central City Opera</h2> <p>In 1931, while serving on the University Civic Theatre board, Evans and a fellow board member convinced DU to accept the gift of the rundown Central City Opera House. The opera house was built in 1878. It had served as a cultural icon in the gold-mining town. The opera house featured a huge chandelier, beautiful murals, and near perfect acoustics. By 1930 it was abandoned. Evans believed that reviving the opera house as a theater would promote the arts in Colorado. It would also preserve the state’s cultural heritage.</p> <p>Evans focused on raising funds for the project. She used her connections to convince Denver’s elite to contribute to the restoration. Within a year, the crumbling theater was restored to its former glory. The Central City Opera House’s grand opening in 1932 was a huge success. Until the late 1930s, Evans and <strong>Ida Krause McFarlane</strong> were primarily responsible for the success and growth of the Central City Opera Festival.</p> <p>The opera revitalized <strong>Central City</strong>. It had been in danger of becoming a ghost town. The board was able to lure top Broadway talent to the restored venue during the summers. The most famous opera singers and actors of the day came to Colorado to perform at the opera house.</p> <h2>Evans Ranch</h2> <p>Throughout her life, Evans spent her summers with family and friends on the Evans Ranch. The ranch is located near Upper Bear Creek above Evergreen. Visitors enjoyed hiking trails. They climbed nearby <strong>Mt. Evans</strong>, which was named for Anne's father. There were also dinner parties and elaborate theatrical productions.</p> <p>The original ranch cottage burned down in 1909. Afterwards, Evans built <strong>her own mountain home</strong> on the property. It was located on a site with magnificent mountain views in all directions. The rustic house had unique vertical log construction. It featured American Indian art inside. There were ample sleeping rooms and large spaces for performances, entertaining, and social events. The house was restored in the 1990s. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.</p> <h2>Later Years and Legacy</h2> <p>In 1940, when Evans was sixty-nine years old, she suffered a heart attack. She began to limit her activities. Later that year, she donated her remaining Indian collection to the Denver Art Museum. Evans gave her mountain properties to her nephew and niece. She gave her personal library to the University of Denver.</p> <p>On January 6, 1941, Anne Evans died of a heart attack. Newspapers throughout the <strong>Rocky Mountain</strong> region carried obituaries praising her additions to cultural life in Colorado. Evans helped establish many of the institutions that serve the city today. Her energy and vision made Denver into the cultural capital of the Rocky Mountain region.&nbsp;</p> <p>For unknown reasons, Evans asked that all her personal effects be destroyed upon her death. Her heirs complied with her wishes. They destroyed all her letters, artwork, notes, and photographs. The Evans house at 1310 Bannock Street was donated to <strong>History Colorado</strong> in 1981. It serves as the Colorado Center for Women’s History. Visitors can tour the restored building. They can see Anne Evans’s sitting room and bedroom, as well as two surviving works of art by Evans.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Anne Evans (1871–1941) was a Colorado civic leader and patron of the arts. She transformed the <strong>Denver</strong> cultural community. Evans started and helped guide the <strong>Denver Art Museum</strong> to national prominence. She assisted in the development of the <strong>Denver Public Library</strong>. Evans also led the restoration of the <strong>Central City Opera House</strong> and the creation of the Central City Opera Festival. She supported arts education at the <strong>University of Denver</strong> and provided leadership in the creation of Denver’s <strong>Civic Center</strong> area. Evans was also influential in collecting and promoting American Indian art. She made the Denver Art Museum the first in the nation to showcase Indian art and establish a Native Arts Department.</p> <h2>Early Years</h2> <p>Anne Evans was born in London, England, on January 23, 1871, while her family was on a trip abroad. She was the youngest of four children born to <strong>Margaret Patten G</strong>ray and <strong>John Evans</strong>.</p> <p>Anne Evans’s family was one of the most prominent in Colorado. Her father, John Evans, had arrived in 1862 to serve as <strong>territorial </strong>governor. Before that, he had been a physician, and businessman in Illinois. John Evans founded Northwestern University in Evanston. The town was named for him. He later founded the University of Denver (DU). John Evans was forced to resign his governorship in 1865 for his role in precipitating the <strong>Sand Creek Massacre</strong>. He later became a successful railroad and real estate developer. John and Margaret Evans were devoted Methodists. They actively promoted a variety of cultural, charitable, and religious causes.</p> <p>Anne Evans was educated at Miss Mary Street’s School and Wolfe Hall in Denver. Her family respected the arts and encouraged her talents. The Evans home served as a centerpiece of Denver society. The Evans hosted arts gatherings and parties. The family spent winters at their house downtown and summers at the Evans Ranch near <strong>Evergreen</strong>.</p> <p>Anne was known as a girl who enjoyed active games and the outdoors. At age fifteen, she was sent to Illinois for a year. She was in the care of her much older cousin Cornelia Gray Lunt. The aim was to turn Anne into a more conventional young society woman. During this year, Anne’s wilder nature was tamed. “Cousin Nina,” was an art patron and civic leader. She became a lifelong role model for young Anne.</p> <h2>The Artist Years</h2> <p>As a teenager, Evans attended college preparatory classes at DU. She left Colorado for three years of study at the Misses Ferris School in Paris and the Willard School in Berlin. During her years in Europe, Evans honed her art skills. She gained an appreciation for art history and cultural institutions devoted to art. In 1891 Evans returned home to Denver. She began to pursue her own painting career and become involved in the art community.</p> <p>In 1895 twenty-four-year-old Anne Evans was accepted in the Art Students’ League. It was a prestigious art school in New York City. She spent four years (not sequential) enrolled in rigorous art classes in New York during the school year. She returned to Evans Ranch in Colorado for the summer.</p> <p>John Evans died in 1897. Afterwards, Anne Evans and her mother moved in with her brother <strong>William Evans</strong> at <strong>1310 Bannock Street</strong>. A large addition was added to create living space for the two women. Evans lived in the house during winters for the rest of her life. She never married. She enjoyed being part of her brother’s active household and her role as Aunt Anne to his children. She helped to manage the Evans Investment Company with her mother and brothers. Following the death of her mother in 1903, she inherited a modest income. It guaranteed her financial security.</p> <p>In addition to her family, Evans had a close, lifelong friendship with Mary Kent Wallace. Wallace founded <strong>Kent Denver School</strong>. The women traveled together. They spent time at the Evans Ranch. Both active members of the Denver branch of the Theosophical Society, a religious group that incorporates beliefs from Eastern and Western religions.</p> <h2>The Heart of Denver Arts and Culture</h2> <p>While the men in the Evans family made their mark in Colorado business and politics, Anne Evans devoted her life to arts and culture. She started with her role in the creation of Civic Center as a home for the Denver Public Library and Denver Art Museum.</p> <p>Evans was a member of the exclusive Artists’ Club of Denver. The group was at the forefront of producing and promoting the arts in Colorado. She nurtured an artistic community in Denver by encouraging and providing financial assistance to artists. She supported her friends by personally commissioning works of art. Evans also recommended their works to others. She also assisted them in applying for art projects. As she moved from being an active artist to an enthusiastic patron and supporter of the arts, she led the Artists’ Club to acquire a permanent art collection and host art exhibitions in a variety of locations.</p> <p>In 1904 Mayor <strong>Robert Speer</strong> appointed Evans to the newly created Denver Art Commission, charged with transforming Denver in line with his <strong>City Beautiful</strong> ideals. One of the commission’s major goals was to create a Civic Center to serve as the heart of the Denver community. Civic Center took shape slowly over a generation, but its first building, the city’s grand new Greek Revival public library, opened in 1910. Evans, who had also been appointed to the Denver Public Library Commission in 1907, is credited for working out an agreement for the Artists’ Club to get space in the new library for a permanent gallery. This was a first step toward her ultimate goal of getting a dedicated building for art exhibitions at Civic Center.</p> <h2>Denver Public Library</h2> <p>Evans served as president of the library commission in 1910–15, becoming the first woman in the country to hold such a position. She oversaw the construction of the first four branch libraries and made sure that each new building’s budget included funds for commissioned works of art. During her decades on the library commission, serving until 1940, she provided leadership and vision as the library grew and adapted to the changing needs of the growing city.</p> <h2>Denver Art Museum</h2> <p>In 1922 the Artists’ Club gallery moved away from Civic Center, when the group received an unexpected donation of the Chappell House mansion at 1300 Logan Street. The Denver Artists’ Club was renamed the Denver Art Museum, with Evans serving as executive secretary and interim director. She was involved in all aspects of running the museum, including hiring museum directors, locating and negotiating to buy artworks for the collection, overseeing the expansion of the building, and fundraising.</p> <p>During this period, Evans developed an intense interest in American Indian culture and began to collect and promote indigenous art as fine art rather than folk art. Her efforts to have American Indian art recognized and placed in art museums elevated the Denver Art Museum to national recognition. In 1925, under her direction, the Denver Art Museum was the first in the nation to showcase an exhibition of American Indian art, which included items from Evans’s private collection. She headed a museum committee to acquire American Indian art, and by 1930 the museum hired a full-time curator for its Native Arts Department, the first of its kind in the nation. Later she donated her entire collection of Santos—Native American Christian religious art and other items that included paintings, pottery, and kachinas—to the museum, expanding the collection.</p> <p>In addition to her promotion of American Indian art, Evans also played a major role in the movement to restore and preserve the mission churches of New Mexico. Working with native peoples, artist communities in Colorado and New Mexico, and architects, Evans raised funds and awareness to preserve these historic buildings.</p> <p>Within a decade, the Denver Art Museum had outgrown the Chappell House. In 1932 Evans negotiated for gallery space in the new City and County Building at Civic Center and secured a commitment from the city to build a freestanding art museum nearby. In 1948 Denver bought land for the museum at Fourteenth Avenue and Acoma Street, but the building was not completed until 1971.</p> <h2>University of Denver</h2> <p>Evans followed her parents’ legacy of leadership at the University of Denver. Evans’s father had founded the institution, and her mother had insisted it have a School of Fine Arts. Anne Evans served on the three-member advisory board of the Art Department from 1932 until her death. Evans also served on the board of the University <strong>Civic Theatre </strong>starting in 1929. The university honored Evans with an honorary doctor of letters degree in 1914 and an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 1939, citing her services to the university and the larger Denver community.</p> <h2>Central City Opera</h2> <p>In 1931, while serving on the University Civic Theatre board, Evans and her fellow board member <strong>Ida Krause McFarlane</strong> convinced DU to accept the gift of the dilapidated Central City Opera House. Built in 1878, the once-elegant opera house had served as a cultural icon in the gold-mining town known as the “richest square mile on earth.” The opera house featured frescoes on the ceiling, a huge chandelier, beautiful murals, and near perfect acoustics, but by 1930 it had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned. Evans believed that reviving the opera house as a fully functioning theater would promote the arts in Colorado while also preserving the state’s cultural and architectural heritage.</p> <p>Serving on the first board of directors of the Central City Opera House Association, Evans focused on raising funds for the project. She used her connections to convince Denver’s elite to volunteer, support, and contribute to the restoration. Within a year, the crumbling, abandoned theater was transformed to its former glory. The Central City Opera House’s grand opening in 1932 was a huge success, as were the following seasons. Until the late 1930s, when a general manager was hired, Evans and McFarlane were primarily responsible for the success and growth of the Central City Opera Festival.</p> <p>The opera revitalized and perhaps even saved <strong>Central City</strong>, which had been in danger of becoming a ghost town. The board was able to lure top Broadway talent to the restored venue during the summers, when New York theaters went dark. In an early version of today’s summer festivals in resorts such as <strong>Aspen </strong>and <strong>Vail</strong>, the most famous opera singers and actors of the day came to Colorado to perform at the opera house.</p> <h2>Evans Ranch</h2> <p>Throughout her life, Evans spent her summers with family and friends on the Evans Ranch, located near Upper Bear Creek above Evergreen. Visitors enjoyed hiking trails, climbing nearby <strong>Mt. Evans</strong> (named for her father), riding horses, giving dinner parties, and putting on elaborate theatrical productions.</p> <p>When the original ranch cottage burned down in 1909, Evans built <strong>her own mountain home</strong> on the property. It was located on a site with magnificent mountain views in all directions. The rustic house had unique vertical log construction and featured American Indian art inside. It provided ample sleeping rooms and large spaces for performances, entertaining, and social events. The house was restored in the 1990s and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.</p> <h2>Later Years and Legacy</h2> <p>In 1940, when Evans was sixty-nine years old, she suffered a heart attack. She began to limit her activities. Later that year, she donated her remaining Indian collection to the Denver Art Museum and her mountain properties to her nephew and niece. She gave her personal library to the University of Denver.</p> <p>On January 6, 1941, Anne Evans died of a heart attack. Newspapers throughout the <strong>Rocky Mountain</strong> region, as well as the <em>New York Times</em>, carried obituaries lauding her contributions to the cultural life of Colorado. Easily one of the most important figures in the history of Denver arts and culture, Evans helped establish many of the core institutions that continue to serve the city today. Her energy and vision made Denver into the cultural capital of the Rocky Mountain region.&nbsp;</p> <p>For unknown reasons, Evans requested that all her personal effects be destroyed upon her death. Her heirs complied with her wishes and destroyed all her letters, artwork, notes, and photographs. The Evans house at 1310 Bannock Street was donated to <strong>History Colorado</strong> in 1981 and now serves as the Colorado Center for Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House. Visitors can tour the restored house and see Anne Evans’s sitting room and bedroom, as well as two surviving works of art by Evans that escaped destruction.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 14 Oct 2020 18:44:12 +0000 yongli 3427 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Central City–Black Hawk Historic District http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-black-hawk-historic-district <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City–Black Hawk Historic District</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2334--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2334.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/black-hawk-today"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Central%20City%20Media%207.jpg?itok=bklvXQ-4" width="850" height="768" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/black-hawk-today" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Black Hawk Today</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After a 1990 state constitutional amendment allowed Central City and Black Hawk to have casino gambling in the name of historic preservation, Black Hawk let large modern casinos overtake its historic core.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-19T14:19:17-07:00" title="Monday, December 19, 2016 - 14:19" class="datetime">Mon, 12/19/2016 - 14:19</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-black-hawk-historic-district" data-a2a-title="Central City–Black Hawk Historic District"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcentral-city-black-hawk-historic-district&amp;title=Central%20City%E2%80%93Black%20Hawk%20Historic%20District"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Central City and Black Hawk took shape during the boom years after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold on May 6, 1859, near the North Fork of <a href="/article/clear-creek-canyon-0"><strong>Clear Creek</strong></a> in what is now <a href="/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin County</strong></a>. For much of the 1860s and 1870s, the area was the richest <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>mining</strong></a> region in Colorado, and Central City rivaled <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> as the territory’s cultural capital. The towns lost prominence and population as the area’s mining stagnated and then declined over the next fifty years, but the revival of the <a href="/article/central-city-opera"><strong>Central City Opera House</strong></a> in 1932 helped attract tourists and spur <strong>historic preservation</strong>. In 1990 Colorado voters approved an amendment allowing the towns to have casinos, which generated millions of dollars for the local economy and historic preservation but also transformed the towns they were supposed to help preserve.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City, Black Hawk, and the nearby town of Nevadaville formed around one of the earliest major gold discoveries in the Rocky Mountains. Prospectors had first rushed to Colorado in the fall of 1858 and spring of 1859, after reports of gold finds near what is now Denver. By late spring 1859, however, much of the early optimism had faded and many “go-backers” were returning east with disappointment and empty pockets.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On May 6, just as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> was being declared dead, Gregory, a Georgian, struck gold near the North Fork of Clear Creek between what is now Black Hawk and Central City; a historic marker now stands at this spot. The news reached Denver a week later, and by early June Gregory Gulch was teeming with more than 4,000 prospectors living in tents and crude lean-tos. The population briefly ballooned to more than 20,000 later that summer, but shrank again when it was discovered that the area’s gold was bound up with quartz, making it difficult to extract and refine. Despite that, in 1859 prospectors in Gregory Gulch mined more than $1.5 million in gold.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As people streamed into Gregory Gulch, small mining camps sprouted up and down the valley. The town closest to Gregory’s find was originally called Gregory’s Diggings but soon became known as Mountain City. At the upper end of the valley about two miles to the west, discoveries on Quartz Hill led to the start of nearby Nevada City (Nevadaville). By the fall of 1859, a new town, Central City, was established between Mountain City and Nevada City. Soon it developed into the social and economic center of the region and became the county seat when Gilpin County was formed in 1861.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, in the spring of 1860 migrants from Illinois established a stamp mill—a facility that pulverizes ore to extract metals—where Gregory Gulch met the North Fork of Clear Creek. The mill was made by the Black Hawk Quartz Mill Company, and the area was soon called Black Hawk Point, then simply Black Hawk. With its relatively flat land and downstream location, Black Hawk developed into the hub for processing and transporting ores from the area’s mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City and Black Hawk boomed for about five years after 1859. Known as the “richest square mile on earth,” Central City was arguably the most important town in <a href="/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>. Buildings progressed from tents to log cabins to wood frames as the area moved from crude mining camps to established towns. Social and cultural development accompanied physical growth. In July 1859, local Methodists held their first service, and the next year the congregation’s log cabin was the first church building in the Colorado mountains. In November 1860, <strong>Bishop Joseph Machebeuf</strong> held the first Catholic mass in Mountain City. The most important early structure in Central City was Washington Hall (1861), which was the city’s main public building in the 1860s and later served as City Hall. Former slave <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/clara-brown"><strong>Clara Brown</strong></a> opened a laundry in Central City, and future senator <a href="/article/henry-teller"><strong>Henry Teller</strong></a> started a law office. In 1862 the Central City <em>Tri-Weekly Miner’s Register</em> started publication and the city’s first public school opened.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Smelter</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, the initial boom in Central City and Black Hawk had slowed down. The ongoing Civil War stifled migration and investment, and by about 1864 most of the area’s easy gold had been mined. Plenty of gold remained, but the ores were much harder to process because they contained gold in combination with sulfides. The Gilpin County economy stagnated while waiting for new infusions of capital and technology to make mining profitable again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The turnaround came in 1868, when chemistry professor <a href="/article/nathaniel-p-hill"><strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong></a> of Brown University introduced a new smelting—or metal extraction—process that he discovered in Wales. Hill and a group of Boston investors started the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk, and by 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 of ores per year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thanks to Hill’s smelting process as well as the arrival of the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> in Black Hawk in 1872, the 1870s was the most prosperous period in Gilpin County history. In 1871 the county’s gold production peaked at $3.2 million, and Central City rivaled Denver in cultural and political influence. Construction boomed. Local lawyer and businessman Henry Teller, who helped bring the Colorado Central to the area, invested in a grand four-story brick hotel called the <a href="/article/teller-house"><strong>Teller House</strong></a>, which opened in June 1872 with 150 rooms.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Fire of 1874</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Black Hawk never suffered any major fires, but Central City survived two devastating fires in the 1870s. The first, in January 1873, burned sixteen buildings. It proved to be merely a warm-up for the catastrophic fire of May 21, 1874, which destroyed about 150 of the town’s buildings. The Teller House and Washington Hall survived, but many of the town’s early structures were lost. Some people left town instead of rebuilding, but in general Central City was prosperous enough to immediately invest in improvements and new buildings. The town’s streets were widened and graded in the wake of the fire, and in 1875 eighty new buildings went up. To prevent future fires, new building codes prohibited wood construction in the business district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining and construction continued to boom in the late 1870s. Colorado’s admission to <strong>statehood</strong> in 1876 helped spur investment in the new state’s mines, and in 1877 Teller became one of the state’s first US senators. The most significant symbol of Central City’s ambitions in these years was the Central City Opera House. Central City’s longstanding love of theater stretched back to the opening of Hadley Hall in 1859 in Mountain City; the new opera house was an impressive stone structure completed in 1878 from a design by <a href="/article/robert-s-roeschlaub"><strong>Robert Roeschlaub</strong></a>. The opera house had a two-day opening ceremony, with vocal and instrumental performances on March 4 and a theatrical performance on March 5. With a capacity of 750 people, the Central City Opera House was regarded as the top theater in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City­–Black Hawk area lost some of its luster, for several reasons. First, statehood increased Denver’s importance, and the capital began to exert a strong gravitational pull on Central City’s wealthiest residents. Without its elites, Central City no longer mattered as much in state politics and culture. Second, new silver booms in places like <strong>Leadville</strong> and <a href="/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a> stole attention away from Gilpin County. In 1876 the county had produced about half of the state’s mineral wealth, but in the 1880s that figure dropped to roughly 10 percent. Gilpin County continued to lead the state in gold production, but the big bonanzas lay elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House turned out to be one of the last major buildings constructed in the area. It suffered a quick decline after the <a href="/article/tabor-grand-opera-house"><strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong></a> in Denver displaced it as the state’s finest theater in 1881. That year, the three-year-old opera house was sold to Gilpin County for use as a courthouse. Outraged citizens bought the building back, but over the next few decades it hosted more political rallies and wrestling matches than top-flight theatrical performances.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The presence of gold in Central City and Black Hawk saved the area from the collapse that many Colorado mining towns suffered after the <strong>repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act </strong>in 1893. The area even experienced a brief resurgence in the 1890s as gold mining revived and new technologies made production cheaper. The Gilpin County Courthouse, built in 1900, was a product of this period of renewed optimism. Yet even then, Central City and Black Hawk were overshadowed by the gold-mining boom at <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cripple-creek"><strong>Cripple Creek</strong></a>. By the early twentieth century, only a handful of mining operations remained.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With commodity prices rising faster than the price of gold, it was only a matter of time before gold mining no longer paid. The moment of reckoning finally came during the inflation that accompanied <a href="/article/colorado-world-war-i"><strong>World War I</strong></a>. In 1917 the Gilpin Tramway was abandoned after providing thirty years of local transportation throughout the mining district, and by 1918 nearly all mining operations were suspended. Some residents moved their houses elsewhere, and abandoned buildings were used for firewood. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left, and Black Hawk had roughly 200.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining experienced a minor revival during the <strong>Great Depression</strong>, when cheaper labor and higher gold prices made it profitable again. After the commercial mining of gold was prohibited during World War II, however, mining never fully recovered in Gilpin County. Nevadaville became a ghost town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City began to rely on its rich history to generate tourism. In the early 1930s the Central City Opera House Association restored the shuttered opera house and reopened it in July 1932 with a production of <em>Camille</em>. The association’s summer opera festivals, held almost every year except during World War II, helped bring new visitors and summer residents to the area. By 1940 the festival had grown to twenty-four performances that drew a combined audience of more than 20,000. Summer tourism surged in the decade after World War II, growing to 300,000 visitors in 1949 and more than half a million in 1955. Central City Opera became involved in historic preservation by acquiring the Teller House and several old residences in town to house festival staff and artists. In 1959 the Gilpin County Historical Society was founded, and in 1961 Central City became a National Historic Landmark; the district boundary was later expanded to include Black Hawk and Nevadaville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As the ski industry transformed Colorado tourism in the 1960s and 1970s, however, visitation to Central City and Black Hawk declined. Central City Opera lost audiences to modern venues such as the Santa Fe Opera and the <strong>Denver Performing Arts Complex</strong>. In 1982 Central City Opera’s rising debts forced it to cancel its fiftieth anniversary season. The festival returned in 1983 and soon rebuilt its audience, but Central City and Black Hawk continued to face a financial crisis caused by mounting infrastructure costs and declining tax dollars. Buildings were in disrepair and in danger of collapsing, and Central City had no money to fix a water supply that had been condemned by the state health department. After about 130 years in existence, Central City and Black Hawk had only a few hundred residents and faced the distinct possibility that they might soon join Nevadaville as ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Inspired by the example of the famous Old West town of Deadwood, South Dakota, where gambling was legalized in 1989 to generate revenue for preservation, residents in Central City and Black Hawk joined with Cripple Creek to push for an amendment to the state constitution that would allow limited-stakes gaming. The original idea was that existing businesses might add a few slot machines and a card table, with half of the revenue going to the state, 28 percent to the State Historical Fund, 12 percent to Gilpin and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/teller-county"><strong>Teller</strong></a> Counties, and 10 percent to the three towns. In November 1990, 57 percent of the state’s voters approved <strong>Amendment 4</strong>, which was billed as a preservation measure, and the first casinos opened on October 1, 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>One result of the gambling amendment was to flip the historical relationship between Central City and Black Hawk. Central City had always been the wealthier and more prominent of the two, but the same things that made Black Hawk a good mill town—flat land and easier access to Denver—also made it a good casino town. Starting in 1993, casinos in Black Hawk accounted for a majority of gambling in Gilpin County, and within a few years they generated two-thirds of the non-tribal gambling revenue in the state. In an attempt to short-circuit Black Hawk’s advantage, in 2004 Central City acquired a 150-foot-wide strip of land leading from the town to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/interstate-70"><strong>Interstate 70</strong></a> and constructed a $38.3 million highway. When it opened, the Central City Parkway promised to increase the town’s gambling revenue by giving people a direct route to Central City that did not involve passing through Black Hawk. But the new parkway did little to affect Black Hawk’s dominance. In recent years, Black Hawk’s roughly seventeen casinos have generated more than $90 million in taxes—about 85 percent of the statewide total—while Central City’s six casinos have generated more than $6 million, or almost 6 percent of the statewide total.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Twenty-five years later, gambling proved to be a mixed blessing. Advocates pointed out that casinos had saved Central City and Black Hawk by attracting visitors and generating money for local improvements and statewide historic preservation. By the early 2000s the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining. But opponents noted that gambling, like mining before it, had crowded out other businesses and fundamentally changed the towns it was meant to preserve. In 1998 development threats led the National Trust for Historic Preservation to name Central City and Black Hawk among the most endangered historic places in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Today Central City, Black Hawk, and Nevadaville represent three possible fates for a Colorado mining town in the twenty-first century. Nevadaville is now a ghost town with only a few buildings left standing. Black Hawk has displayed an unrestrained pursuit of profit at the expense of preservation and is dominated by huge new casinos and a thirty-three-story hotel that towers over the landscape. Central City has not been immune to new gambling-oriented development, but it has managed to preserve much of its historic core, and Central City Opera continues to attract some visitors interested in the town’s history and culture rather than its casinos.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city" hreflang="en">Central City</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera" hreflang="en">central city opera</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera-house-association" hreflang="en">Central City Opera House Association</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/black-hawk" hreflang="en">Black Hawk</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nevadaville" hreflang="en">Nevadaville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/john-gregory" hreflang="en">John Gregory</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-gold-rush" hreflang="en">Colorado Gold Rush</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gilpin-county" hreflang="en">Gilpin County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nathaniel-hill" hreflang="en">Nathaniel Hill</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/henry-teller" hreflang="en">Henry Teller</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-fire-1874" hreflang="en">Central City Fire of 1874</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/tourism" hreflang="en">tourism</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/amendment-4" hreflang="en">Amendment 4</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gambling" hreflang="en">gambling</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p><a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Fact%20Abstract%202015%20DRAFTv6-FINAL.pdf">“2015 Fact Book &amp; Abstract,”</a> Colorado Division of Gaming.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alan Granruth, <em>Mining Gold to Mining Wallets: Central City, Colorado, 1859–1999</em> (1999).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alan Granruth, ed., <em>The Little Kingdom of Gilpin: Gilpin County, Colorado</em> (Central City, CO: Gilpin Historical Society, 2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Rickey L. Hendricks and Julie A. Corona, “Central City–Black Hawk Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (April 1990).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sarah J. Pearce and Christine Pfaff, <em>Guide to Historic Central City and Black Hawk</em> (Evergreen, CO: Cordillera Press, 1987).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Colorado: A History of the Centennial State</em>, 5th ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Roger Baker, <em>Black Hawk: The Rise and Fall of a Colorado Mill Town</em> (Central City, CO: Black Hawk Publishing, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Patricia A. Stokowski, <em>Riches and Regrets: Betting on Gambling in Two Colorado Mountain Towns</em> (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Wyckoff, <em>Creating Colorado: The Making of a Western American Landscape, 1860–1940</em> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Central City and Black Hawk began after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold on May 6, 1859.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Colorado Gold Rush began in 1858-1859. Prospectors heard reports of gold strikes near what is now <strong>Denver</strong>. By late spring 1859, many “go-backers” were returning east with empty pockets and disappointment. Just as the Colorado Gold Rush was being declared over, John Gregory struck gold on May 6, 1859. He was near the North Fork of <strong>Clear Creek</strong>. A historic marker now stands at this spot. More than 4,000 prospectors rushed to this area when they heard the news. They lived in tents and simple lean-tos. The little town was named Gregory’s Diggings. Its population grew to 20,000 later in the summer. It shrank again when the news came that the gold in this area was bound up with quartz. This made it hard to separate the gold and quartz.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The total value of gold that prospectors mined in Gregory Gulch was more than $1.5 million. The town of Gregory’s Diggings became known as Mountain City. Another town, Nevada City, was started about two miles to the west. It became known as Nevadaville. A new town, between Mountain City and Nevada City, was started in the fall of 1859. Central City was its name. In 1860 a stamp mill was built near the spot where Gregory first struck gold. A stamp mill is a large machine that crushes rocks containing gold so the gold can be taken out. The mill was built by the Black Hawk Quartz Mill Company. This area soon became known as Black Hawk Point, and then just Black Hawk. Black Hawk was the hub where ore was processed and transported from the area’s mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After 1859, Black Hawk and Central City boomed for about five years. They were known as “the richest square mile on earth.” Central City became the most important town in the <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>. Over the next five years, the tents were replaced with log cabins. Log cabins became wood frame buildings. Mining camps turned into actual towns. Central City now had two churches, a laundry, a city hall, a law office, a public school, and a town newspaper.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Smelter</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, Central City and Black Hawk were no longer booming. One reason was that most of the “easy” gold had been mined, even though plenty of gold remained deep in the mountains. In 1868 a chemistry professor from the east, Nathaniel P. Hill, introduced a new process called “smelting” to separate the metals from the ore. By 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 of ore per year. The very next year Gilpin County’s gold production peaked at $3.2 million. Construction boomed. <strong>Henry Teller</strong>, a lawyer and businessman in Central City, invested in a grand four-story brick hotel called the <strong>Teller House</strong>. The Teller House opened in June 1872 with 150 rooms. It helped bring the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> to the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1870s, Central City survived two major fires. Mining and construction kept booming. Colorado became a state in 1876. More people invested their money in the mines. The Central City Opera House was built in 1878. It could seat 750 people and was thought to be the top theater in the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City-Black Hawk area lost some of its luster. First, Denver was now the capital city of Colorado. Some of Central City’s richest residents moved to Denver. Second, new silver booms in places like <strong>Leadville</strong> and <strong>Aspen</strong> drew people away from the area. Gilpin County still led the state in gold production, but the big bonanzas were happening in other parts of the state. The <strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong> was built in Denver in 1881. The Central City Opera House was no longer the top theater of the state. The Central City Opera House was sold to <strong>Gilpin County</strong> to be used as a courthouse. Angry citizens bought the building back to preserve it.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>There were a few years in the 1890s when gold was mined again. By the early 1900s, only a handful of mining operations remained. By the end of World War I, most mining was suspended. Some residents moved their homes to other places. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left. Black Hawk had about 200 people left.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>During the <strong>Great Depression</strong> (1929-1939), mining had a brief comeback. It never fully recovered in Gilpin County after World War II. Central City used its rich history to save it from becoming a ghost town. In the early 1930s, the Central City Opera House Association restored the opera house. It reopened in July 1932. Summer opera festivals were held almost every year except during World War II. The number of tourists grew by leaps and bounds. The Gilpin County Historical Society was started in 1959. More old homes and buildings were restored. During the 1960s and 1970s, the ski industry changed Colorado tourism. Central City and Black Hawk weren’t as popular as before. Tourists visited other opera houses in Denver and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Just like fifty years before, the two towns looked for a way to keep from becoming ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City and Black Hawk needed to find a way to attract tourists. The two towns had heard about what the famous Old West town of Deadwood, South Dakota, had done in 1989. Deadwood’s solution was to legalize limited-stakes gambling. Tourists started going to Deadwood to gamble. Black Hawk and Central City decided to imitate this plan. Before 1990 it was illegal to gamble in the state of Colorado. Black Hawk and Central City joined with the town of Cripple Creek to support an amendment to the Colorado constitution. Amendment 4 allowed limited-stakes gambling in these three towns. Money from gambling would be used to save historic buildings. A majority of the state’s voters approved Amendment 4 in 1990. The first casinos opened in 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gambling has had positive and negative effects in Central City and Black Hawk. Money has been available to restore historical buildings. Central City was wealthier than Black Hawk in the gold mining days, but now gambling has made Black Hawk wealthier. By the early 2000s, the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining. In each town, gambling has crowded out other businesses and changed the towns in different ways. But it has helped preserve some of the most important historic structures from the days of the Colorado Gold Rush.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Central City and Black Hawk began after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold in the area on May 6, 1859. For much of the 1860s and 1870s, the area was the richest mining region in Colorado. The towns lost importance and population as the area’s mining declined over the next fifty years. The revival of the <strong>Central City Opera House </strong>in 1932 helped attract tourists and spur <strong>historic preservation</strong>. Today both towns are home to a thriving casino industry, with part of the profits going toward preservation of old mining-era buildings.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City, Black Hawk, and the nearby town of Nevadaville formed around one of the earliest major gold discoveries in the Rocky Mountains. On May 6, 1859, prospector John Gregory struck gold near what is now Black Hawk and Central City. A historic marker now stands at this spot. By early June the area, known as “Gregory Gulch,” had more than 4,000 prospectors. They lived in tents and lean-tos. In 1859 prospectors mined more than $1.5 million in gold from Gregory Gulch.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As people streamed into Gregory Gulch, small mining camps formed up and down the valley. Discoveries on Quartz Hill led to the start of nearby Nevada City (Nevadaville). By the fall of 1859, a new town, Central City, was established. When Gilpin County was formed in 1861, it became the county seat.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City was known as the “richest square mile on earth.” It was possibly the most important town in the newly created <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>. Buildings went from tents to log cabins to wood frames as the area transitioned from mining camps to towns. The most important early structure in Central City was Washington Hall (1861). It was the city’s main public building in the 1860s and later served as City Hall.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Smelter</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, the initial boom in Central City and Black Hawk had slowed down. By about 1864 most of the area’s easy gold had been mined. Plenty of gold remained, but the ores were much harder to process.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>That changed in 1868, when chemistry professor <strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong> of Brown University introduced a new smelting—or metal extraction—process. Hill and others started the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk. By 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 of ore per year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1870s were the most prosperous period in Gilpin County history, thanks to Hill’s smelting process and the arrival of the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> in Black Hawk in 1872. Construction boomed. Local lawyer and businessman Henry Teller built a grand four-story brick hotel called the <strong>Teller House</strong>. It opened in June 1872.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City survived two serious fires in the 1870s, and in 1875 new building codes outlawed wood construction in the business district. Mining and construction continued to boom in the late 1870s. Colorado’s admission to <strong>statehood</strong> in 1876 helped spur investment in the new state’s mines. The most notable symbol of Central City’s ambitions in these years was the Central City Opera House, completed in 1878.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City­–Black Hawk area lost some of its luster. Statehood increased Denver’s importance. Many of Central City’s wealthiest residents moved to Denver. New silver booms in <strong>Leadville</strong> and <strong>Aspen </strong>drew people away from Gilpin County. Gilpin County continued to lead the state in gold production, but big bonanzas lay elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1918 nearly all mining operations were suspended. Some residents moved their homes elsewhere. Abandoned buildings were used for firewood. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left, and Black Hawk had roughly 200.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City began to rely on its rich history to attract tourists. In the early 1930s, the Central City Opera House Association restored the opera house and reopened it in July 1932. The Central City Opera became involved in historic preservation, buying the Teller House and several old residences in town. In 1959 the Gilpin County Historical Society was founded, and in 1961 Central City became a National Historic Landmark. The district boundary was later expanded to include Black Hawk and Nevadaville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The ski industry transformed Colorado tourism in the 1960s and 1970s, drawing tourists to new resorts instead of historic places like Central City and Black Hawk. After about 130 years in existence, Central City and Black Hawk had only a few hundred residents. They faced the gloomy prospect of joining Nevadaville as ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>To avoid that fate, Central City and Black Hawk would have to attract more tourists. Before 1990 it was illegal to gamble in Colorado, but that year Black Hawk and Central City joined with Cripple Creek to support an amendment to the Colorado constitution that allowed gambling. <strong>Amendment 4</strong> was approved by a majority of the state’s voters and allowed limited-stakes gambling in the three towns. Money from gambling was to be used for historic preservation. The first casinos opened in 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gambling has had positive and negative effects in Central City and Black Hawk. The towns have money to restore historical buildings, but traffic and modern development in the narrow gulch have also marred their beloved scenery. Casinos have also pushed out other businesses. By the early 2000s, the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Central City and Black Hawk took shape after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold on May 6, 1859. For much of the 1860s and 1870s, the area was the richest mining region in Colorado. Central City rivaled <strong>Denver</strong> as the territory’s cultural capital. The towns lost importance and population as local mining stagnated and then declined over the next fifty years. The revival of the <strong>Central City Opera House</strong> in 1932 helped attract tourists and spur <strong>historic preservation</strong>. In 1990 Colorado voters approved an amendment allowing the towns to have casinos. This amendment generated millions of dollars for the local economy and historic preservation, but also transformed the towns they sought to preserve.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City, Black Hawk, and the nearby town of Nevadaville formed around one of the earliest major gold discoveries in the Rocky Mountains. Prospectors had first rushed to Colorado in the fall of 1858 and spring of 1859, after reports of gold finds near what is now Denver. By late spring 1859, much of the early enthusiasm had faded. Many “go-backers” were returning east with disappointment and empty pockets.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On May 6, just as the Colorado gold rush was being declared dead, Gregory struck gold near the North Fork of Clear Creek between what is now Black Hawk and Central City. A historic marker now stands at this spot. The news reached Denver a week later. By early June, Gregory Gulch was crowded with more than 4,000 prospectors. The population briefly ballooned to more than 20,000 later that summer. It shrank again when it was discovered that the area’s gold was bound up with quartz. That made it difficult to extract and refine. Despite that, in 1859 prospectors in Gregory Gulch mined more than $1.5 million in gold.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As people streamed into Gregory Gulch, small mining camps sprouted up and down the valley. The town closest to Gregory’s find was originally called Gregory’s Diggings, and soon became known as Mountain City. Discoveries on Quartz Hill led to the start of nearby Nevada City (Nevadaville). By the fall of 1859, a new town, Central City, was established between Mountain City and Nevada City. Soon it became the social and economic center of the region. When Gilpin County was formed in 1861, Central City became the county seat.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the spring of 1860, migrants from Illinois established a stamp mill—machinery used to smash gold-bearing rocks so the metal can be extracted—where Gregory Gulch met the North Fork of Clear Creek. The mill was made by the Black Hawk Quartz Mill Company. The area was called Black Hawk Point, then simply Black Hawk. It developed into a hub for processing and transporting ores from the area’s mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City and Black Hawk boomed for about five years after 1859. Known as the “richest square mile on earth,” Central City was maybe the most important town in <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>. Buildings grew from tents to log cabins to wood frames as the area moved from crude mining camps to established towns. Social and cultural development came with physical growth. In July 1859 local Methodists held their first service. The next year the congregation’s log cabin was the first church building in the Colorado mountains. In November 1860 <strong>Bishop Joseph Machebeuf</strong> held the first Catholic mass in Mountain City. The most important early structure in Central City was Washington Hall (1861). It was the city’s main public building in the 1860s. Later it served as City Hall. Former slave <strong>Clara Brown</strong> opened a laundry in Central City, and future senator <strong>Henry Teller</strong> started a law office. In 1862 the Central City <em>Tri-Weekly Miner’s Register</em> started publication and the city’s first public school opened.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Boomtowns</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, the initial boom in Central City and Black Hawk had slowed down. The ongoing Civil War curbed migration and investment. By the mid-1860s, most of the area’s easy gold had been mined. Plenty of gold remained, but the ores were much harder to process because they contained gold in combination with sulfides. The Gilpin County economy declined while waiting for new infusions of capital and technology to make mining profitable again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The turnaround came in 1868, when chemistry professor <strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong> of Brown University introduced a new smelting—or metal extraction—process that he discovered in Wales. Hill and a group of Boston investors started the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk. By 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 in ore per year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thanks to Hill’s smelting process as well as the arrival of the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> in Black Hawk in 1872, the 1870s was the most prosperous period in Gilpin County history. In 1871 the county’s gold production peaked at $3.2 million. Central City rivaled Denver in cultural and political influence. Construction boomed. Local lawyer and businessman Henry Teller, who helped bring the Colorado Central to the area, invested in a grand, four-story brick hotel called the <strong>Teller House</strong>. It opened in June 1872 with 150 rooms.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Disaster struck along with prosperity in the 1870s, as Central City suffered two devastating fires during its boom period. The first, in January 1873, burned sixteen buildings, but the next, on May 21, 1874, destroyed about 150 buildings. In 1875 eighty new buildings went up, and new building codes prohibited wood construction in the business district to prevent future fires.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining and construction continued to boom in the late 1870s. Colorado’s admission to <strong>statehood</strong> in 1876 helped spur investment in the new state’s mines. In 1877 Teller became one of the state’s first US senators. The most significant symbol of Central City’s ambitions in these years was the Central City Opera House. The new opera house was an impressive stone structure completed in 1878 from a design by <strong>Robert Roeschlaub</strong>. The opera house had a two-day opening ceremony. With a capacity of 750 people, the Central City Opera House was regarded as the top theater in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City–Black Hawk area lost some of its luster. First, statehood increased Denver’s importance. The capital began to attract Central City’s wealthiest residents. Without its elites, Central City no longer mattered as much in state politics and culture. Second, new silver booms in places like <strong>Leadville</strong> and <strong>Aspen</strong> stole attention away from Gilpin County. By 1876 the county had produced about half of the state’s mineral wealth. In the 1880s, that figure dropped to roughly 10 percent. Gilpin County continued to lead the state in gold production, but the big bonanzas lay elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House turned out to be one of the last major buildings constructed in the area. It suffered a quick decline after the <strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong> in Denver displaced it as the state’s finest theater in 1881. That year, the three-year-old opera house was sold to Gilpin County for use as a courthouse. Outraged citizens bought the building back. Over the next few decades it hosted more political rallies and wrestling matches than top-flight theatrical performances.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The presence of gold in Central City and Black Hawk saved the area from the collapse that many Colorado mining towns suffered after the <strong>repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act </strong>in 1893. The area even experienced a brief resurgence in the 1890s. Gold mining revived and new technologies made production cheaper. The Gilpin County Courthouse, built in 1900, was a product of this period of renewed optimism. Yet even then, Central City and Black Hawk were overshadowed by the gold-mining boom at <strong>Cripple Creek</strong>. By the early twentieth century, only a handful of mining operations remained.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With commodity prices rising faster than the price of gold, it was only a matter of time before gold mining no longer paid. The moment of reckoning finally came during the inflation that accompanied World War I. In 1917 the Gilpin Tramway was abandoned after providing thirty years of local transportation throughout the mining district. By 1918 nearly all mining operations were suspended. Some residents moved their houses elsewhere. Abandoned buildings were used for firewood. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left. Black Hawk had roughly 200.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining experienced a minor revival during the <strong>Great Depression</strong>, but commercial gold mining in Gilpin County never recovered after the US government banned gold mining during World War II. Nevadaville became a ghost town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City began to rely on its rich history to promote tourism. In the early 1930s, the Central City Opera House Association restored the shuttered opera house and reopened it in July 1932. The association’s summer opera festivals were held almost every year except during World War II. By 1940 the festival drew a combined audience of more than 20,000. Summer tourism surged in the decade after World War II, growing to 300,000 visitors in 1949 and more than half a million in 1955. Central City Opera became involved in historic preservation by acquiring the Teller House and several old residences in town to house festival staff and artists. In 1959 the Gilpin County Historical Society was founded. In 1961 Central City became a National Historic Landmark. The district boundary was later expanded to include Black Hawk and Nevadaville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Visitation to Central City and Black Hawk declined as the ski industry transformed Colorado tourism in the 1960s and 1970s. Central City Opera lost audiences to modern venues such as the Santa Fe Opera and the <strong>Denver Performing Arts Complex</strong>. In 1982 Central City Opera’s rising debts forced it to cancel its fiftieth anniversary season. The festival returned in 1983 and soon rebuilt its audience. Central City and Black Hawk continued to face a financial crisis caused by mounting infrastructure costs and declining tax dollars. Buildings were in disrepair and in danger of collapsing. Central City had no money to fix a water supply that had been condemned by the state health department. After about 130 years in existence, Central City and Black Hawk had only a few hundred residents and faced the possibility of joining Nevadaville as ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Gambling, which was not legal in Colorado before 1990, saved the sagging economies of not only Central City and Black Hawk but also Cripple Creek, which had been struggling since the end of its own gold rush. The three towns pushed for an amendment to the state constitution that would allow limited-stakes gaming to generate revenue for historic preservation. The original idea was that existing businesses might add a few slot machines and a card table, with half of the revenue going to the state, 28 percent to a newly created State Historical Fund, 12 percent to Gilpin and Teller Counties, and 10 percent to the three towns. In November 1990, 57 percent of the state’s voters approved <strong>Amendment 4</strong>, which was billed as a preservation measure. The first casinos opened on October 1, 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>One result of the gambling amendment was to flip the historical relationship between Central City and Black Hawk. Central City had always been the wealthier and more prominent of the two. The same things that made Black Hawk a good mill town—flat land and easier access to Denver—also made it a good casino town. Starting in 1993, casinos in Black Hawk accounted for a majority of gambling in Gilpin County. Within a few years they generated two-thirds of the non-tribal gambling revenue in the state. In an attempt to short-circuit Black Hawk’s advantage, in 2004 Central City acquired a 150-foot-wide strip of land leading from the town to Interstate 70 and constructed a $38.3 million highway. When it opened, the Central City Parkway promised to increase the town’s gambling revenue by giving people a direct route to Central City that did not involve passing through Black Hawk. But the new parkway did little to affect Black Hawk’s dominance. In recent years, Black Hawk’s roughly seventeen casinos have generated more than $90 million in taxes—about 85 percent of the statewide total. Central City’s six casinos have generated more than $6 million, or almost 6 percent of the statewide total.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Twenty-five years later, gambling proved to be a mixed blessing. Advocates pointed out that casinos had saved Central City and Black Hawk by attracting visitors and generating money for local improvements and statewide historic preservation. By the early 2000s, the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining. But opponents noted that gambling, like mining before it, had crowded out other businesses and fundamentally changed the towns it was meant to preserve. In 1998 development threats led the National Trust for Historic Preservation to name Central City and Black Hawk among the most endangered historic places in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Today Central City, Black Hawk, and Nevadaville represent three possible fates for a Colorado mining town in the twenty-first century. Nevadaville is now a ghost town with only a few buildings left standing. Black Hawk has displayed an unrestrained pursuit of profit at the expense of preservation. Central City has not been immune to new gambling-oriented development, but it has managed to preserve much of its historic core. The Central City Opera continues to attract some visitors interested in the town’s history and culture rather than its casinos.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 19 Dec 2016 21:19:17 +0000 yongli 2120 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Central City Opera House http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-opera-house <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City Opera House</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--495--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--495.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/central-city-opera-house"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/X-62921_0.jpg?itok=4I2CnZfP" width="1000" height="1249" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/central-city-opera-house" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City Opera House</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Built in 1878, the Central City Opera House was saved in the early 1930s by the start of the Central City Opera Festival.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--496--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--496.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/marriage-figaro-central-city-opera" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Marriage of Figaro at the Central City Opera</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For its 2014 festival, Central City Opera presented Mozart’s classic opera The Marriage of Figaro. This clip shows the finale of the opera’s second act.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1027--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1027.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/central-city-opera-house-0"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Robert-Roeschlaub-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=q7Jxrt5q" width="1000" height="1327" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/central-city-opera-house-0" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City Opera House</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Designed by Denver architect Robert Roeschlaub, the Central City Opera House opened in March 1878. It briefly made Central City the cultural capital of Colorado.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1028--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1028.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/central-city-opera-house-interior-0"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Z-10197_0.jpg?itok=xt_sY1Vh" width="1000" height="792" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/central-city-opera-house-interior-0" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City Opera House Interior</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Central City Opera House was restored in the early 1930s and became home to the Central City Opera Festival. The festival flourished in the 1950s, but maintenance costs and declining attendance caused a financial crisis in the 1970s.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1029--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1029.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/central-city-opera-house-ceiling"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/X-11567_0.jpg?itok=wiK48ZSv" width="1000" height="1268" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/central-city-opera-house-ceiling" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City Opera House Ceiling</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The opera house interior originally featured five ceiling paintings depicting classical motifs by the San Francisco artist John C. Massman. The ceiling paintings and chandelier were restored in the early 1930s with the help of Colorado muralist Allen True.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1030--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1030.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/opening-night-1932-0"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/RH-387_0.jpg?itok=oBS1lcb0" width="1000" height="818" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/opening-night-1932-0" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Opening Night, 1932</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Central City Opera Festival staged its first performance, a production of Camille starring the silent-movie star Lillian Gish, in July 1932. The director, Robert Edmond Jones, asked the audience to wear 1870s clothing to evoke the opera house's early days. The opera festival is now the second-oldest summer opera company in the United States.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/greg-vogl" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">admin</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2015-07-15T14:12:07-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 14:12" class="datetime">Wed, 07/15/2015 - 14:12</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-opera-house" data-a2a-title="Central City Opera House"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcentral-city-opera-house&amp;title=Central%20City%20Opera%20House"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Built in 1878, the Central City Opera House is the oldest opera house in Colorado. Though it declined along with Central City’s economy in the 1880s, it puttered along as a theater and movie house until owner Peter McFarlane finally closed its doors in 1927. Five years later, the building was revived and restored to host a summer festival put on by the <strong>Central City Opera House Association</strong>, which is now the fifth-oldest opera company and second-oldest summer opera company in the United States.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Construction and Early Years</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city%E2%80%93black-hawk-historic-district"><strong>Central City</strong></a> was steeped in theater starting in its early years; its first major theater, the Montana, opened in 1862, just two years after the city was founded. The Montana burned in the great fire of 1874, however, along with much of the business district. A new theater, the Belvidere, opened the next year, but it occupied the upper floor of a building and seated only 450. Many considered it inadequate for the city’s needs.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1877 the resounding success of an amateur production of <em>The</em><em> Bohemian Girl</em> provided the necessary spark to organize a movement for a new opera house. The community quickly formed the Gilpin County Opera House Association and raised $12,000 for construction, though costs eventually escalated to $32,000. Ground was broken on June 14, 1877. Designed by Denver architect <a href="/article/robert-s-roeschlaub"><strong>Robert S. Roeschlaub</strong></a>, the opera house was a large stone Renaissance Revival building with four-foot-thick walls. The interior featured five ceiling paintings depicting classical motifs by the San Francisco artist John C. Massman. The theater could seat more than 700 people.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House opened on March 4, 1878. It actually had two opening nights, one for music and one for drama, both featuring only local amateur talent. The opera house briefly made Central City the cultural capital of Colorado. It showed everything from vaudeville and minstrel shows to Shakespeare, and also hosted political rallies and civic events.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Precarious Survival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The opening of Denver’s <a href="/article/tabor-grand-opera-house"><strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong></a> in September 1881 immediately threatened the survival of the Central City Opera House. Touring companies and audiences no longer needed to go to Central City. Originally owned by the city, the Central City Opera House had by this time been acquired by Henry R. Wolcott. Wolcott saw the writing on the wall after the opening of the Tabor Grand and promptly sold the building to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin County</strong></a> for $8,000 for use as a courthouse. Completed in January 1882, the sale angered those locals who had contributed to the opera house’s construction just a few years earlier. They banded together to reorganize the Gilpin County Opera House Association as a corporation with shareholders. They sold stock to raise the necessary $8,000 and bought the building back from the county in December 1882.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The amateur actor <strong>Horace M. Hale</strong>, who was the largest stockholder in the opera house association, became the manager. The opera house never made much money, but it remained open by luring theatrical productions to Central City after they had played in Denver. Unfortunately, low profits meant much necessary maintenance on the building was deferred. Especially after Hale left Central City for Denver in 1886, the building began to deteriorate. By the 1890s some thought it unsafe for performances. Hale returned to inspect the opera house and hired <strong>Peter McFarlane</strong> to assume indirect management of the building.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>McFarlane was one of the original contractors who had helped build the opera house and wanted to own it himself. He soon started to repair and improve the building at his own expense. He installed electric lights in 1896. In the fall of 1898, he began buying stock in the opera house association. In 1900 he assumed full management of the building, and in 1901 he became majority owner when he bought Hale’s 200 shares for $900. Over the next decade he kept buying opera house association stock when he could, until by 1911 he owned 80 percent.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>McFarlane had to undertake a major restoration of the opera house in the early 1900s, repairing a leaky roof, replacing the seating, and installing a new furnace. He believed the opera house could turn a profit, but Central City’s declining economy made that increasingly difficult. McFarlane made at most a few hundred dollars a year from the opera house. He was able to keep it open largely because he had other businesses that supplied his income. During these years the opera house also continued to host local civic, religious, and political meetings.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The opera house’s last regular season of performances ended in May 1908. For the next two years, the building opened only occasionally for community events and traveling shows. It hosted a series of boxing matches in the winter of 1909–10. The next year McFarlane installed movie equipment and opened the opera house as a cinema on July 4, 1910. Except for a four-month closure during the flu epidemic of 1918, the opera house operated continuously as a movie theater for more than fifteen years. Profits were meager or nonexistent. McFarlane showed his final film at the opera house on January 1, 1927, and then closed the building for good.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Restoration and Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>McFarlane died on May 1, 1929, and left his opera house association stock to his three children. The family initially planned to sell the opera house for use as a warehouse or gymnasium, but McFarlane’s daughter-in-law Ida Kruse McFarlane, a professor of English at the University of Denver, thought it should be restored and returned to its original use. With support from <strong>Walter Sinclair</strong>, head of the Denver Civic Theater, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/anne-evans"><strong>Anne Evans</strong></a>, a Denver Civic Theater trustee and daughter of former territorial governor <a href="/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a>, Ida McFarlane persuaded her husband and the other two McFarlane children to give the opera house to the University of Denver to host summer opera festivals. This gift was realized in 1931, after the family cleared its title to the building by paying ten years of back taxes (only a few hundred dollars).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ida McFarlane, Anne Evans, the artist <strong>Allen True</strong>, and the prominent Denverites Edna and Delos Chappell established the Central City Opera House Association and hoped to stage their first performances in the summer of 1931. Years of neglect had not been kind to the building, however, and it required extensive renovations. The roof leaked, the ceiling was damaged, and the chandelier was missing. The building was full of rats and covered in grime. The restoration took four months and cost $25,000, much of it accomplished with the help of gifts and volunteers.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The opera house was ready in time to hold a festival in the summer of 1932. The opera house association got the prominent Broadway set designer Robert Edmond Jones to design and direct a production <em>Camille</em>, with the silent-movie star Lillian Gish in the title role. Jones liked the town and the theater, and his involvement gave the inaugural Central City Opera Festival national recognition.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Opening night was set for July 16. Jones asked the audience to wear 1870s clothing to evoke the opera house’s early days. The Colorado and Southern Railroad ran a special train from Denver to Black Hawk for the festival, with stagecoaches carrying people the final mile to Central City. Milton Bernet, a vice president of Mountain Bell, helped drum up publicity for the opening. The <em>Denver Post</em> ran a special section, stories went out on national wire services, and the <em>New York Times</em> covered the event. The opening ceremonies, held in front of the restored opera house, were broadcast on NBC radio.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1932 Central City Opera Festival was a success despite the treacherous drive from Denver (the main route in was a winding dirt road from Idaho Springs) and the lack of adequate lodging in town. Most performances of <em>Camille</em> sold out, and plenty of other people came to Central City to see the “rediscovered” mining town and take advantage of the city’s decision to allow gambling during the festival. Since then, the opera house has hosted the Central City Opera Festival almost every year.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Central City Opera Festival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>During the 1932 festival, the Central City Opera House Association reorganized as a separate entity outside the University of Denver’s umbrella. The university gave the opera house association a ninety-nine-year lease on the building. The association was soon able to secure Jones as producer and director of the festival for a five-year term. Jones’s fame and connections helped draw more stars to Central City, including Walter Huston and his wife, Nan Sunderland, who performed in <em>Othello</em> for the 1934 festival.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The festival shut down from 1942 to 1945 because of World War II. It was revived after the war and quickly expanded under the leadership of <strong>Frank Ricketson</strong>, who had become head of the opera house association. With multiple productions (including a separate play season starting in 1947), a ball, a fashion show, luncheons, and critical panels, the festival was drawing a large crowd to Central City and making the town into a tourist attraction. It helped that the road from Idaho Springs had finally been paved in the early 1940s. <em>The</em><em> Ballad of Baby Doe</em> had its world premiere at the opera house during the 1956 festival.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The festival had always relied on donations to make up its operating deficit, but fundraising became increasingly important in the 1950s. The old opera house building required frequent maintenance and repairs, and in the 1960s the festival’s attendance began to suffer a worrisome decline. The eventual result was a financial crisis, leading to a vastly reduced 1971 festival. In 1975 the Central City Opera House Association began to stage operas in Denver as well as Central City in an attempt to attract larger audiences. Nevertheless, debts continued to mount until they totaled $640,000 in February 1982, forcing the cancellation of the festival’s fiftieth anniversary season that summer.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The festival returned in 1983 with a renewed emphasis on staging popular productions from the standard opera repertory. Ticket sales and ticket prices both climbed. By the early 1990s seasons were starting to sell out again. Increased revenues allowed the opera house association to perform major repairs to the building’s foundation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Further work followed later in the 1990s, including new seating that reduced the building’s capacity to 550.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the early 1990s Colorado legalized gambling in the mining towns of Central City, Black Hawk, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cripple-creek"><strong>Cripple Creek</strong></a>. After gambling’s legalization, the opera house association leased one of its properties, the <a href="/article/teller-house"><strong>Teller House </strong></a>hotel, to a casino operator. The deal resulted in a $17 million windfall, including a $10 million renovation of the Teller House. Most gamblers ended up going to Black Hawk, however, making gaming in Central City less profitable than expected. As a result, the casino operator relinquished its lease on the Teller House after a decade. The building now houses a restaurant and bar, and hosts festival events such as receptions and recitals. Aside from its lease of the Teller House, the opera house association has also benefited from gaming through the construction of the Central City Parkway in the early 2000s, which made access from Denver easier than ever before.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The opera house association, now known as Central City Opera, continues to maintain the opera house, where it hosts its annual summer opera festival.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera-house" hreflang="en">central city opera house</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera" hreflang="en">central city opera</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-history" hreflang="en">central city history</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Roger Baker, <em>Before Camille: The First Fifty-Five Years of the Central City Opera House and Theater in Central City</em> (Central City, CO: Black Hawk Publishing, 2007).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Charles A. Johnson, <em>Opera in the Rockies: A History of the Central City Opera House Association, 1932–1992</em> (Central City, CO: Central City Opera House Association, 1992).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Charlie H. Johnson, Jr., <em>The Central City Opera House: A 100 Year History</em> (Colorado Springs: Little London Press, 1980).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Liston E. Leyendecker and Perry Eberhart, “Central City Opera House,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form (December 7, 1971).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>H. William Axford, <em>Gilpin County Gold: Peter McFarlane, 1848–1929, Mining Entrepreneur in Central City, Colorado</em> (Chicago: Swallow Press, 1976).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.loc8nearme.com/colorado/central-city/central-city-opera-house/6126327/">Central City Opera House</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alan Granruth, ed., <em>The Little Kingdom of Gilpin: Gilpin County, Colorado</em> (Gilpin County Historical Society, 2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alan Granruth, <em>Mining Gold to Mining Wallets: Central City, Colorado, 1859–1999</em> (1999).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Theatre of Dreams: The Glorious Central City Opera: Celebrating 75 Years</em> (Denver: Central City Opera House Association, 2007).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-teacher-resources--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-teacher-resources.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-teacher-resources.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-teacher-resources field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-teacher-resources"><p><a href="/sites/default/files/ARS_CENTRAL_CITY_OPERA_HOUSE.docx">Central City Opera House Teacher Resource Set - Word</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="/sites/default/files/ARS_CENTRAL_CITY_OPERA_HOUSE.pdf">Central City Opera House Teacher Resource Set - PDF</a></p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>The Central City Opera had its first summer festival in 1932. It was held in the Central City Opera House that had been built in 1878. Opera, popular musicals, and new works are still performed for the festival.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House opened in 1878. It was a community gathering place when Central City was a gold rush town. Later, Peter McFarlane bought the opera house. In 1910 he turned it into a movie house. He struggled for years to keep it open. McFarlane showed a final film there on January 1, 1927. Then he closed the building.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Peter McFarlane died in 1929. He left the opera house to his children. The family planned to sell it. McFarlane’s daughter-in-law, Ida Kruse McFarlane, was a professor at the University of Denver. She thought the building should be used as an opera house again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The McFarlane family decided to give the opera house to the University of Denver. In 1931, the family donated the building for use as an opera house.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ida McFarlane and Anne Evans started the Central City Opera House Association. Anne Evans, loved the arts and was the daughter of territorial governor John Evans. They spent $25,000 fixing up the building. The opera house held an opera festival in the summer of 1932. The first opera was called <em>Camille</em>. Famous silent-movie star Lillian Gish played the title role of <em>Camille.</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Opening night was on July 16, 1932. The audience wore 1870s clothing to give the feeling of the opera house’s early days. A special train ran from Denver to Black Hawk. Stagecoaches carried people the final mile to Central City. The <em>Denver Post</em> ran a special report about the opera. News stories were sent out and the <em>New York Times</em> covered the event. It was broadcast on NBC radio.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1932 Central City Opera Festival was a success. The performances of <em>Camille</em> sold out. The festival brought people to Central City. Many people came to see the old mining town. Since then the opera house has hosted the Central City Opera Festival almost every year.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Decades</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House Association separated from the University of Denver in 1932. The Festival continued to be popular and successful.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Festival shut down from 1942 to 1945 due to World War II. It started again after the war. Frank Ricketson was the director until 1963. The Festival attracted top talent and crowds. In 1947 the season put on two operas and one play. These drew large audiences. The New York theaters closed in August. It was easy to get a Broadway play to come to Central City for the month.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ricketson added new festival events. These included a ball, a fashion show, luncheons, and discussion panels. More than 300,000 tourists came to Central City during the summer season. About 42,000 people attended a show at the opera house. In 1955 more than half a million tourists visited Central City.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1955 the Festival asked Douglas Moore, to write an opera for the them. He wrote an opera about Colorado miner Horace Tabor and his wife “Baby Doe” Tabor. <em>The Ballad of Baby Doe</em> was put on in 1956. Critics from across the country came to see it. The opera was a hit. In 1958 it opened in New York City.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Financial Struggles</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Ricketson retired in 1963. There were financial problems. The festival needed more donations. The old opera house needed repairs. In the 1960s the festival’s attendance began to decrease.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1971 the festival did not perform an opera. An opera was put on the next year, but money was still an issue. Debts continued to rise. The opera cancelled its 50th season in 1982.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1983 the festival started again. Each season had two operas and one operetta. The operetta was performed in Denver, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs. This was to advertise the Central City Opera. There was an increase in ticket sales. By the early 1990s tickets were starting to sell out again.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1998 Pelham “Pat” Pearce was the festival’s general director. He put on unusual productions. In 2000, the festival started performing in languages other than English. Translations are provided above the stage for the audience to follow along.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2003 <em>Gabriel’s Daughter</em> was written for the Opera House. The opera told the story of Clara Brown. She was freed slave who was the first black woman in Colorado. In 2007 the company presented an opera about Poet Li Bai by Gue Wenjing.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City Opera is successful again. Audiences are traveling to Central City to see the performances. The festival has an important place in Denver arts. The Central City Opera focuses on developing young talent and experimenting with opera.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera includes the Bonfils-Stanton Artists Training Program. This program attracts top young opera singers. They come for ten weeks of training. About 900 singers apply each year for the program’s thirty spots.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>The Central City Opera had its first summer festival in 1932. It was held in the Central City Opera House that had been built in 1878. The festival attracted star talent because top directors and performers were available during the summer. The Central City Opera has offered opera, popular musicals, and new works at their festival.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House opened in March 1878. The opera house made Central City the cultural capital of Colorado. But three years later, the Tabor Grand Opera House opened in <strong>Denver</strong>. Peter McFarlane bought the opera house and in 1910 turned it into a movie house. After struggling for years to keep it open, McFarlane showed a final film there on January 1, 1927. Then he closed the building.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>McFarlane died on May 1, 1929 and left the opera house to his three children. The family planned to sell it for use as a warehouse. McFarlane’s daughter-in-law, Ida McFarlane, was a professor at the University of Denver. She thought the Opera House should be restored and returned to its original use. Walter Sinclair, head of the Denver Civic Theater supported the idea. Anne Evans, a Denver Civic Theater trustee and daughter of former territorial governor John Evans was interested as well. Ida McFarlane persuaded her husband and his siblings to give the opera house to the University of Denver. The family paid ten years of back taxes of a few hundred dollars. In 1931, the family donated the building for use as an opera house.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ida McFarlane and Anne Evans started the Central City Opera House Association. Extensive renovations were made that cost $25,000. The opera house was ready in time to hold an opera festival in the summer of 1932. The Opera House Association hired Broadway set designer Robert Edmond Jones. He designed and directed a production of <em>Camille</em>. His involvement gave the first Central City Opera Festival national recognition. Famous silent-movie star Lillian Gish played the title role of <em>Camille</em>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Opening night was set for July 16, 1932. The audience wore 1870s clothing to evoke the opera house’s early days. The Colorado and Southern Railroad ran a special train from Denver to Black Hawk. Stagecoaches carried people the final mile to Central City. The <em>Denver Post</em> ran a special section about the opera. News stories were sent out and the <em>New York Times</em> covered the event. The Opening Ceremony, held in front of the restored opera house, was broadcast on NBC radio.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1932 Central City Opera Festival was a success and the performances of <em>Camille</em> sold out. This was in spite of the dangerous drive from Denver and the lack of lodging in town. Many people came to see the “rediscovered” mining town. The city’s decided to allow gambling during the opera festival. Since then the opera house has hosted the Central City Opera Festival almost every year.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Decades</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1932, the Central City Opera House Association separated from the University of Denver. The university gave the Opera House Association a ninety-nine-year lease on the building. The Association hired Jones as producer and director of the festival. Jones’s connections helped draw stars to Central City. By 1940 the festival had 24 performances and drew more than 20,000 people.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Festival shut down from 1942 to 1945 due to World War II. It was started again after the war. Frank Ricketson become head of the Opera House Association. Ricketson stayed in the job until 1963. He worked during Festival’s “golden years.” The Festival attracted top talent and crowds after World War II. In 1947 the season expanded to two operas and one play. It drew the largest audience to date. The performance of a play became a regular part of the Festival’s offerings. Since New York theaters closed in August, it was easy to get a Broadway production to come to Central City for the month.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ricketson had a background in movie promotion. He added a variety of festival events to draw larger crowds. These included a ball, a fashion show, luncheons, and discussion panels. In 1949, actress Mae West appeared in her play <em>Diamond Lil</em>. More than 300,000 tourists came to Central City during the summer. About 42,000 people attended a show at the opera house. In 1955 more than half a million tourists visited Central City.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1955 the Festival contacted Douglas Moore, who had won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera <em>Giants in the Earth</em> (1951). He was asked to write an opera for the Central City opera. He wrote an opera about Colorado miner Horace Tabor and his wife “Baby Doe” Tabor. <em>The Ballad of Baby Doe </em>was first performed during the festival’s twenty-fifth season in 1956. Critics from across the country came to see it and the opera was a hit. In 1958 it opened in New York City. It is one of the few American operas to be produced regularly.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City Opera commissioned other operas and plays. Some focused on Colorado history. These were not as successful as The Ballad of Baby Doe. In 1958 an original play called <em>And Perhaps Happiness</em> was put on. It was written by poet Thomas Hornsby Ferrill about the <strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong>. In 1964 another commissioned opera was performed. It was titled The Lady from Colorado and was about a Colorado pioneer. Critics panned the story and the music. Neither of these was liked by the critics.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Financial Struggles</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Ricketson retired in 1963. There were problems with Central City Opera’s finances. The festival needed more donations to make up its operating costs. The old opera house building needed repairs. In the 1960s the festival’s attendance began to decrease. A new opera company in Santa Fe took away some of Central City Opera’s support.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The result was a financial crisis. In 1971 the festival did not perform an opera. An opera was put on the next year, but money was still an issue. In 1975 the Central City Opera House began to perform operas in Denver to attract larger audiences. But, debts continued to rise. The opera was forced to cancel the 50th anniversary season in 1982.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1983 the festival started again with a new artistic director, John Moriarty. He liked to stage standard opera productions. Each season featured two operas and one operetta. The play portion of the festival had been dropped in the 1970s.  New York theaters had stopped taking a summer break. From 1984 until 1987 the operetta went on the road to Denver, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs. This was to advertise the Central City Opera. This resulted in an increase in ticket sales. Tickets raised $262,000 in 1984 and $635,000 in 1989. By the early 1990s seasons were starting to sell out again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Moriarty created the Central City Opera’s Apprentice Artists Program in 1978. Aspiring opera singers joined the choruses. They received ten weeks of instruction in singing, acting, and opera performance. The program was popular among young opera singers. It was so successful that there were 1,200 applications for twenty-six openings in 1984.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the early 1990s Colorado allowed gambling in Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek. Central City Opera leased one of its properties, the Teller House hotel, to a casino operator. They got 17 million dollars that included a $10 million renovation of the Teller House. Gaming in Central City was less profitable than expected. The casino operator gave up its lease on the Teller House after a decade. The building now is a restaurant and bar. It hosts festival events like receptions and recitals. Central City Opera benefited when the Central City Parkway was built in the 2000s. This made access from Denver easier than before.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1998 Pelham “Pat” Pearce took over as the festival’s general director. Under his leadership it puts on more unusual productions. He has focused on modern and lesser-known operas. In 2000, the festival started performing in languages other than English. Translations are provided above the stage for the audience to follow along.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Pearce brought other important productions to Central City. In 2001, Benjamin Britten’s opera <em>Gloriana</em> was performed in America for the first time. It had been written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. A few years later Pearce staged <em>Claudio</em> Monteverdi’s <em>The Coronation of Poppea</em>. It is a little-performed but important seventeenth-century opera.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2003 the festival had another work written for them. Gabriel’s Daughter was written by Henry Mollicone and William Luce. The opera told the story of Clara Brown, a freed slave who was the first black woman in Colorado. In 2007 the company presented another world premiere opera about Poet Li Bai by Gue Wenjing.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>This new focus has proven successful at Central City. Audiences are willing to travel to see new or unusual performances. As a result, the festival has an important place in Denver arts.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera includes the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program. This program attracts top young opera singers. They come for ten weeks of rigorous training and career development. About 900 singers apply each year for the program’s thirty spots.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In addition, historic preservation is part of Central City Opera’s mission. Back in the 1940s it began to buy old houses around Central City. They needed housing for festival staff and artists. The opera house association bought the Teller House, a nearby hotel. Central City Opera owns about thirty buildings in town. These include Festival Hall that is a former brewery. It serves as administrative offices. It also owns McFarlane Foundry.  It is an 1860s building they use as a rehearsal hall. Williams Stables is a former livery stable that is now a performance space.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>The Central City Opera had its first summer festival in 1932. It was held in the Central City Opera House that had been built in 1878. The festival attracted star talent because top directors and performers were available during the summer. Starting in the 1960s a series of financial problems beset the organization. Since then, the opera has found a successful formula that mixes opera standards, popular musicals, and new works.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House opened in March 1878. It was designed by <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> architect <a href="/article/robert-s-roeschlaub"><strong>Robert S. Roeschlaub</strong></a><strong>.</strong> The opera house made Central City the cultural capital of Colorado. But just three years later, the Tabor Grand Opera House opened in Denver. Peter McFarlane acquired the opera house and in 1910 turned it into a movie house. After struggling for years to keep it open, McFarlane showed a final film there on January 1, 1927 and he closed the building.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>McFarlane died on May 1, 1929 and left the opera house to his three children. The family planned to sell it for use as a warehouse. McFarlane’s daughter-in-law, Ida Kruse McFarlane, was a professor of English at the University of Denver. She thought the Opera House should be restored and returned to its original use. Walter Sinclair, head of the Denver Civic Theater and Anne Evans, a Denver Civic Theater trustee and daughter of former territorial governor John Evans supported the idea. Ida McFarlane persuaded her husband and his siblings to give the opera house to the University of Denver to host a summer opera festival. The family paid ten years of back taxes and cleared the title to the building. The taxes amounted to just a few hundred dollars. In 1931, the family donated the building for use as an opera house.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ida McFarlane and Anne Evans established the Central City Opera House Association. They were joined by artist Allen True and prominent Denverites Edna and Delos Chappell. Extensive renovations were made that cost $25,000. The opera house was ready in time to hold an opera festival in the summer of 1932. The Opera House Association hired Broadway set designer Robert Edmond Jones. He designed and directed a production of <em>Camille</em>. His involvement gave the first Central City Opera Festival national recognition. Famous silent-movie star Lillian Gish played the title role of Camille.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Opening night was set for July 16, 1932. Jones asked the audience to wear 1870s clothing to evoke the opera house’s early days. The Colorado and Southern Railroad ran a special train from Denver to Black Hawk. Stagecoaches carried people the final mile to Central City. The <em>Denver Post</em> ran a special section about the opera. News stories were sent out on national wire services and the <em>New York Times </em>covered the event. The Opening Ceremony, held in front of the restored opera house, was broadcast on NBC radio.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1932 Central City Opera Festival was a success and the performances of <em>Camille</em> sold out. This was in spite of the treacherous drive from Denver and the lack of adequate lodging options in town. The main route into Central City was a winding dirt road from Idaho Springs. Many people came to Central City to see the rediscovered mining town. Some took advantage of the city’s decision to allow gambling during the opera festival. Since then the opera house has hosted the Central City Opera Festival almost every year.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Decades</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1932, the Central City Opera House Association separated from the University of Denver. The university gave the Opera House Association a ninety-nine-year lease on the building. The Association hired Jones as producer and director of the festival. Jones’s fame and connections helped draw stars to Central City. These included Walter Huston and his wife, Nan Sunderland, who performed in Othello for the 1934 festival. By 1940 the festival had twent-four performances and drew more than 20,000 people.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Festival shut down from 1942 to 1945 because of World War II. It was revived after the war and expanded under the leadership of Frank Ricketson. He become head of the Opera House Association. Ricketson stayed in the job until 1963 and worked during the Festival’s “golden years.” The Festival was able to attract top talent and crowds in the decades after World War II. In 1947 the season expanded to three full-scale productions, two operas and one play. It drew the largest audiences to date. The performance of a play became a regular part of the Festival’s offerings. Since New York theaters closed in August, it was easy to get a Broadway production to come to Central City for the month.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ricketson had a background in movie promotion. He added a variety of festival events to draw larger crowds. These included a ball, a fashion show, luncheons, and critical panels. In 1949, actress Mae West appeared in her play <em>Diamond Lil</em>. More than 300,000 tourists came to Central City during the summer season. About 42,000 people attended a show at the opera house. In 1955 more than half a million tourists visited Central City.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City Opera expanded its artistic role by commissioning new works. In 1955 the Festival contacted Douglas Moore, who had won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera <em>Giants in the Earth</em> (1951). He wrote an original opera about Colorado mining legend Horace Tabor and his wife, Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor. <em>The Ballad of Baby Doe</em> had its world premiere during the opera festival’s twenty-fifth season in 1956. Critics from across the country were in attendance. The opera was a hit with audiences and critics alike. In 1958 it opened in New York City. It has become one of the few twentieth-century American operas to be produced regularly.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City Opera has commissioned other works and staged world premieres. Some focused on Colorado history. These were not as successful as <em>The Ballad of Baby Doe.</em> In 1958 an original play called <em>And Perhaps Happiness</em> was staged. It was about the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> by poet and historian Thomas Hornsby Ferrill. In 1964 another commissioned opera was performed. It was titled <em>The Lady from Colorado</em> and was about Colorado pioneer Katie Lawder. Critics panned the story and the music. They were unable to tell if the show was an opera, a musical comedy, or something else entirely.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Financial Struggles</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Ricketson retired in 1963. Underlying problems with Central City Opera’s finances became apparent. The festival needed donations to make up its operating costs and fundraising became more important. The old opera house building needed maintenance and repairs. In the 1960s the festival’s attendance began to decrease. The new Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico took away some of Central City Opera’s support.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The result was a financial crisis. It led to a reduced 1971 festival with no opera productions. Opera returned the next year, but the festival remained on shaky financial footing. In 1975 the Central City Opera House Association began to perform operas in Denver to attract larger audiences. Debts continued to mount until they totaled $640,000 in February 1982. This forced the cancellation of the festival’s fiftieth anniversary season that summer.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The festival returned in 1983 under new artistic director John Moriarty. He brought a strong emphasis on staging standard opera productions. Each season began to feature two operas and one operetta. The play portion of the festival had been dropped in the 1970s.  New York theaters had stopped taking a summer break. From 1984 until 1987 the operetta went on the road to Denver, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs. This was to raise awareness of the Central City Opera along the Front Range. Moriarty’s efforts resulted in a sharp increase in ticket sales, from $262,000 in 1984 to $635,000 in 1989. By the early 1990s seasons were starting to sell out again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Moriarty created the Central City Opera’s Apprentice Artists Program in 1978. Aspiring opera singers joined the choruses. They received ten weeks of intensive instruction in singing, acting, and opera performance. The program was popular among young opera singers. It was so successful that there were 1,200 applications for twenty-six openings in 1984.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the early 1990s Colorado legalized gambling in the mining towns of Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek. Central City Opera leased one of its properties, the Teller House hotel, to a casino operator. The deal resulted in a $17 million windfall, including a $10 million renovation of the Teller House. Gaming in Central City was less profitable than expected. The casino operator gave up its lease on the Teller House after a decade. The building now houses a restaurant and bar. It also hosts festival events such as receptions and recitals. Central City Opera benefited from gaming when the Central City Parkway was built in the 2000s. This made access from Denver easier than ever before.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1998 Pelham “Pat” Pearce took over from Moriarty as the festival’s general director. Under his leadership Central City Opera has started to present more adventurous productions. They have focused on modern American and lesser-known operas. In 2000, the festival started performing in languages other than English. Translations are provided above the stage for the audience to follow along.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Pearce has brought premieres and other important productions to Central City. In 2001, it presented the American premiere of Benjamin Britten’s opera Gloriana that was composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. A few years later Pearce gambled on a production of Claudio Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, It is a little-performed but historically important seventeenth-century opera. In 2003 the festival staged the world premiere of its fourth commissioned opera, Gabriel’s Daughter. It was written by Henry Mollicone and William Luce. The opera told the story of Clara Brown, a freed slave who was the first black woman in Colorado. In 2007 the company presented its sixth world premiere, the Chinese composer Guo Wenjing’s opera about Poet Li Bai.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>This new focus has proven successful at Central City. The festival has a short summer season and audiences are willing to travel to see new or unusual performances. As a result, the festival has a stable place in the Denver arts landscape. Opera Colorado in Denver draws bigger stars and puts on larger productions. The Central City Opera focuses on developing young talent and experimenting with offbeat repertoire. The companies considered combining in 2013, when Opera Colorado came close to closing. They decided to remain separate in order to maintain their distinct missions.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The mission of the Central City Opera includes the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program. This program attracts top young opera talent for ten weeks of rigorous training and career development. About 900 singers apply each year for the program’s thirty spots. Program alumni, including Cynthia Lawrence, Denyce Graves, Don Bernardini, and Alan Held, have gone on to distinguished careers. Many return to the Central City Opera in starring roles.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In addition, historic preservation has been an integral part of Central City Opera’s mission. Back in the 1940s it began to acquire old houses around Central City for use as housing for festival staff and artists. The opera house association bought the Teller House, a nearby hotel. Central City Opera owns about thirty buildings in town. These include Festival Hall that is a former brewery that serves as administrative offices. It also owns McFarlane Foundry, an 1860s building repurposed as a rehearsal hall and Williams Stables, a former livery that is now a performance space.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 15 Jul 2015 20:12:07 +0000 admin 494 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org