Museum of Denver

10/02/2026

We are beyond excited that our Board Member, Dr. Nicki Gonzales, has been appointed as the Colorado State Historian! At the Museum of Denver, we are committed to elevating local stories. Dr. Gonzales has dedicated her life to exploring and amplifying the histories of Latino, Chicano, and Hispanic communities across Colorado and the West. This is Dr. Gonzales' second term as State Historian.
We can't wait to work alongside her as we embark on our next chapter of community impact. Leave a comment about a story that you'd like to share with Dr. Gonzales to welcome our newest leader to the team!
Get to know all our board members here: museumofdenver.org

09/21/2026

Frances Wisebart Jacobs, the wife of a Jewish merchant, roamed the streets of Denver listening for the tell-tale coughing of tuberculosis “lungers.” She treated them until the disease killed her. She helped found what was originally the Frances Wisebart Jacobs Hospital in 1899. Today the hospital, known as National Jewish Health, is America's top respiratory hospital. Initially it admitted both Jews and Gentiles and charged no one for admittance. Jacobs is enshrined in the Colorado State Capitol as the Mother of Charities and one of the founders of what is now United Way, a national model for consolidated charities. (Extra fun fact: The National Jewish Relief Society campus in Lakewood has been replaced by the JCRS Shopping Center and the famed Casa Bonita Restaurant.
--Courtesy Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel

08/12/2026

Streetcar City - Although Denver has become an automobile city, it first boomed as a streetcar city after the first horse drawn rail lines clomped down the streets in 1871. A spider web of rail soon spanned the core city and many suburbs until street cars were discontinued in 1951. The Regional Transportation District system began slowly rebuilding rail service in 1974.
- Courtesy Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel

08/06/2026

The Ute Cheyenne and Arapahoe peoples lived here long before settlers. The indigenous people gathered, hunted and traded near the confluence of the Cherry Creek and the South Platte River.

Auraria, from the Latin for gold, was the original 1858 settlement in what became Denver. Originally bordered by the South Platte River on the south, Cherry Creek on the north and east, and Colfax Avenue on the south, it was annexed by Denver in 1860. The name was resurrected for the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) housing the Community College of Denver, the Metropolitan State University of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver.
- Courtesy Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel

08/03/2026

Auraria, from the Latin for gold, was the original 1858 settlement in what became Denver. Originally bordered by the South Platte River on the south, Cherry Creek on the north and east, and Colfax Avenue on the south, it was annexed by Denver in 1860. The name was resurrected for the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) housing the Community College of Denver, the Metropolitan State University of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver.
- Courtesy Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel

07/01/2026

Do you know what Denver park is the largest and most visited? If you count the Denver Zoological Gardens and the Denver Museum of Nature and History, which are within its boundaries, City Park is by far the largest and most visited municipal park.

- Courtesy Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel

06/26/2026

Big news! 📣 We are beyond excited to welcome Patty Calhoun to our Board of Directors!
At the Museum of Denver, we are committed to elevating local stories. Since co-founding Westword magazine in 1977 and serving as editor-in-chief since then, few people have recounted as many local stories as Patty Calhoun.
We can't wait to work alongside them as we embark on our next chapter of community impact. Leave a comment about a Westword article that made an impression on you to welcome our newest leader to the team!
Get to know all our new board members here: museumofdenver.org

06/22/2026

The American Museum of Western Art is home to one the country’s most notable displays of western art. It originated as the prized collection of Denver billionaire philanthropist and collector Philip Anschutz. Across the street from the Brown Palace Hotel, the historic 1880 Navarre Building started as a girls’ school, then a bo****lo and a night club before becoming a haven for western art.

Courtesy Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel

06/17/2026

Before automobiles began arriving, Denverites traveled by streetcar. From the first 1871 horsedrawn streetcar through cable and electric cars to gasoline buses these were a way of life ----- and even death aboard funeral coaches. The last streetcar ran on June 3, 1950 but reappeared in 1994 when the Regional Transportation District opened the first leg of what it hoped would be an electric rail network. Today, we see neighborhood retail hubs like South Ga***rd in the Washington Park neighborhood and South Pearl in the Platt Park neighborhood where the streetcars once stopped.

- Courtesy Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel

06/11/2026

Denver today is proud to be an urban forest. Originally it was treeless except for only one native tree – the cottonwood. Cottonwoods lined waterways and provided Native Americans and later-comers with shade, firewood, and shelter. These tall gangly trees are named for their seed dispensed in cotton-like clusters. We still see many of them today along rivers, creeks, and gulches.

Courtesy Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel