The Denver Orphans’ Home (DOH) was organized in 1881 to help alleviate the critical problem of supporting dependent children by offering short-term shelter to the offspring of families of limited means in crisis, as well as caring for orphans and other…

Helen Ring Robinson (c. 1860–1923) was the first woman elected to the Colorado State Senate in 1912 and the second woman elected to any state senate in the nation. In her role as senator during the Progressive Era, she was a passionate advocate for…

The Progressive Era (1900–20) was a national period of social and political reform in which grassroots activists and their political allies sought the power of government and science to address pressing public problems. In Colorado, Progressives brought…

Robert Walter Speer (1855–1918) served as mayor of Denver for two terms, from 1904 to 1912, then was reelected in 1916, serving another two years as mayor before passing away in 1918 during the Spanish influenza pandemic. Speer is remembered primarily…