Transportation

The Denver Tramway Company (DTC) was the dominant private transit company in Denver ’s history, serving tens of millions of commuters per year at its peak and making it possible for the city to expand beyond its urban core. Established in 1885 by John Evans , William Byers , and other prominent...

The Denver, Laramie, & Northwestern Railroad Company (DL&NW) was a small firm that planned to link Denver and Seattle by rail in the early twentieth century. The company’s history serves as an example of the pitfalls of running a small railroad company in the western United States at a time...

The Fritchle Electric Automobile was an early, fully electric car designed in Denver in the early 1900s. The Fritchle stood as an example of the early period of automotive design, when the internal combustion engine had not yet secured its place as the most popular design for the burgeoning...

Interstate Highway 70 spans 2,100 miles across the United States, crossing the entire state of Colorado. The eastern end of the highway lies west of Baltimore, Maryland. From there it bisects the country until it reaches Cove Fort in Central Utah, where it merges into Interstate 15. In Colorado, I-...

The Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway climbs the 8.9 miles to the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak . The railway is the highest in North America and was built as a tourist attraction in the late nineteenth century. Other cog railways can be found on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and throughout...

During World War II, Denver ’s war production industry expanded to include the production of ship parts bound for assembly on the West Coast. Known colloquially as “the Rocky Mountain Fleet,” dozens of ships would eventually see production at the Colorado works. Today, the Rocky Mountain Fleet...