Alan Berney Fisher
Alan Berney Fisher (1905–78), the son of architect William E. Fisher, was an important modernist architect in twentieth-century Denver.
Alan received early training in his father’s office before finishing his education at the University of…
Bison
Bison Reintroduction
Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Billups (1976–) is a retired National Basketball Association (NBA) player who played for seven teams, including the Denver Nuggets, before he retired in 2014. A Colorado native, Billups was a star player at the University of Colorado–Boulder…
Cheesman Park
One of the jewels of Denver’s park and parkway system, Cheesman Park (1601 Race St, Denver, CO 80206) sits on land that originally served as the city’s first cemetery. In 1890 the cemetery was closed, many—but not all—graves were relocated, and a park…
Clara Brown
Colorado Gold Rush
Colorado in World War I
As Europe stumbled into war in late July and early August 1914, Coloradans viewed the conflict with mixed emotions. Some favored the English, French, Italians, Russians, and their allies. Others preferred the Germans and Austrians and their friends. The…
Colorado State Capitol
Colorado: An Overview
Denver
Denver City and County Building
Facing the State Capitol Building and completing the dominant east-west axis for Civic Center, Denver’s City and County Building (300 W. Colfax Avenue) is the grandest monument of Mayor Robert Speer’s City Beautiful efforts. The elegant neoclassical…
Denver International Airport
Denver Ordnance Plant
Denver Special Indian Agency
The Denver Special Agency was established to provide goods and services to the Ute Indians visiting the plains of Colorado between 1871 and 1875. The agency served Utes who were accustomed to collecting supplies from Denver’s Middle Park Agency during…
Denver Tramway Strike of 1920
The Denver Tramway Strike of 1920 typified the active militancy of many labor unions during the early 1900s. The strike brought the conversation surrounding labor relations to the forefront of Denver politics and would influence the larger labor…
Denver, Laramie, & Northwestern Railroad
Denver’s Chinatown
Diana DeGette
Early Immigration to Denver, 1850–1920
Since the city was founded in 1858, Denver has included residents from a plethora of ethnic backgrounds drawn in by the promises of wealth and freedom often associated with the American West. As the city developed, immigrants from various parts of the…
Early Irrigation in Denver
Edwin Carter
Four Mile House
Frank P. Marugg
Great Fire of 1863
In the early morning hours of April 19, 1863, a fire raged through Denver, reducing much of the town’s business district to ash. As in most frontier towns of the American West, fire had been a concern for Denver citizens since the town’s founding in 1858…
Harry Tuft
Harry Tuft (1935–) is a Denver businessman, music promoter, educator, and proprietor of the long-standing Denver Folklore Center. As one of Denver’s enterprising musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, Tuft brought the genre of folk music and its culture to…
Hose Company No. 1
One of Denver’s earliest firehouses, the Hose Company No. 1 building was built in the 1880s and has since served as a print shop, welding shop, and storage facility. It will soon reopen as a restaurant for a new hotel. The preservation of Hose Company No…
Immigration to Denver, 1920–Present
Beginning in the 1920s, immigration to Denver underwent several significant changes owing to war, economic depression, and evolving civil rights legislation and related social tensions. Movements of people due to World War II, Japanese internment,…
John Elway
John Elway (1960–) is a former National Football League quarterback and general manager of the Denver Broncos. Elway won two Super Bowls as a Broncos player (1997 and 1998) and a third (2015) as the team’s general manager. As perhaps the most popular and…
John Hickenlooper
John Wright Hickenlooper II (1952– ) is a Colorado businessman and politician who served as mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011 and forty-third governor of the state from 2011 to 2019. In 2020 Hickenlooper was elected to the US Senate. In 1988 he founded…
Max Goldberg
Max Goldberg (1911–72) was a pioneer of early television broadcasting and a television personality in the 1950s and 1960s. Goldberg worked to promote the growth of television in Denver, and his weekly talk show On the Spot set the stage for television’s…
Michael Hancock
Michael Hancock (1969– ) is the forty-fifth mayor of Denver, elected in 2011. Currently in his third term, Hancock succeeded fellow Democrat John Hickenlooper and interim mayor Guillermo Vidal. Widely seen as a pro-growth mayor, Hancock is credited with…
Middle Park Indian Agency
The Middle Park Agency was established in 1862 for the Grand River, Uinta, and Yampa Utes. One of many federal Indian agencies established in Colorado during the 1860s, the Middle Park Agency mostly operated from Denver. After the Treaty of 1868…
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 touched off a nationwide economic depression that lasted for at least three years, threw millions out of work, and caused banks and businesses to fail across the country. In Colorado and other silver-mining states, the panic was tied to…
Rita Brady Kiefer
Rita Brady Kiefer has published two full-length poetry collections—Nesting Doll, finalist for the Colorado Book Award, and Crossing Borders—and three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Face to Face (New…
Riverside Cemetery
Riverside Cemetery was established along the South Platte River in 1876, making it the oldest surviving cemetery in Denver. It is the final resting place for many prominent early Coloradans, including John Evans, Augusta Tabor, Miguel Otero, and Barney…
Robert Cooperman
Robert Cooperman is the author of many collections of poetry, most recently, City Hat Frame Factory. In the Colorado Gold Fever Mountains won the Colorado Book Award for Poetry.
Poems
At the Denver Botanical…
Robert S. Roeschlaub
Robert W. Speer
Sadie Likens
Sakura Square
Sixteenth Street (Denver)
Ski Industry
South Platte Flood of 1965
The South Platte River flood of June 16, 1965 was one of the worst natural disasters in Denver’s history. It was part of a statewide flooding event that claimed a total of twenty-four lives across the Arkansas and South Platte River basins. The flooding…
St. Luke’s Hospital
St. Luke’s Hospital was a Denver fixture for over a century, serving the community as one of several hospitals in the capitol. St. Luke’s role in training several generations of doctors and nurses garners historical significance for the building complex…
The Denver Woman’s Press Club
Tremont House Hotel
Union Station
Western Federation of Miners
Founded in 1893, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was one of the largest and most active labor unions in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American West. The union was involved in some of the most important labor disputes in Colorado…