Four Mile Historic Park | Denver, CO 720-865-0800 | visit our website Four Mile Historic Park is a 12-acre park, home to the Denver area's oldest standing structure, Four Mile House.  It was built in 1859 to serve as a stage stop, wayside inn, and tavern for travelers on the Cherokee Trail headed to newly founded Denver City.  Levi and Millie Booth, owners from 1864 until the 1940s, grew the small wayside inn to a 600-acre working ranch/farm.

Oak Creek Tracks and Trails Museum| Oak Creek, CO 970-736-8245 | visit our website One hundred years ago, tiny Oak Creek, Colorado was attracting new residents from around the globe.  Immigrants from Poland, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Japan arrived in Oak Creek seeking work in the nearby coal mines.  Others founded new businesses in the quickly growing downtown commercial district.  In 1908, the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railroad reached Oak Creek and the town became a refueling stop for coal-hungry locomotives.   By 1915, some 2,000 people lived in Oak Creek, and more than 30 businesses operated in a collection of one and two-story masonry and wood-frame buildings.  Six of these businesses were saloons.

Steelworks Museum of Industry and Culture | Pueblo, CO 719-564-9086 | visit our website Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) played a major part in the industrialization of the West. It was the first integrated steel mill west of the Mississippi, controlling all of the natural resources necessary to produce steel: coal, iron ore, limestone and water.  Begun in 1872 by General William Palmer to provide steel rails for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, CF&I was later controlled by John Osgood of Redstone, Colorado and John D. Rockefeller.   The company produced necessities for the West, including iron rails, fencing, nails, and steel pipes.  The reach of CF&I was broad; the company owned and operated 62 mines and quarries and numerous sales offices and subsidiaries across the country.

Byers-Evans House Museum | Denver, CO 303-620-4933 | visit our website Built in 1883 by founding Rocky Mountain News publisher William Byers and sold in 1889 to the family of William Gray Evans an officer of the Denver Tramway Company, the Italianate Byers-Evans House is a testament to the growth of a new frontier city. Using his position in the newspaper business, William Byers was an enthusiastic promoter of Denver as the leading city of the west.  The Rocky Mountain News promoted Denver as the Queen City of the Rockies, imagined possibilities of an active river front on the South Platte, and championed the importance of irrigated agriculture.  In 1859, Byers authored one of 17 guidebooks welcoming newcomers to Denver.  He was also significant in forming the city's new Chamber of Commerce.

Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site | Colorado Springs, CO 719-578-6777 | visit our website Towering Pikes Peak and the red rock formations of the Garden of the Gods serve as the dramatic back drop for Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site in Colorado Springs.  The ranch is owned by the City of Colorado Springs and operated as a living history museum, interpreting the history of the settlement of the Pikes Peak Region between 1775 and 1910.Visitors will learn about the rigors of homesteading, the perils of 19th century agriculture and the sophistication of an early 20th century estate built by the founder of Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Colorado Springs, CO 719-385-5990 | visit our website This summer the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum will host the Annual Quilts and Fine Woodworking Exhibition, with a striking combination of contemporary quilts and woodworking created by regional artists. Each year this juried exhibition draws thousands of area residents, many of whom view the show several times. From August 30 through November 1, 2008 the gallery will be awash in color as traditionally pieced quilts mix with others incorporating digital manipulation and hand beading. The quilts are exhibited along side one-of-a-kind woodwork creations that combine such woods as walnut, bubinga, cherry or ash, to name just a few. "It's a delightful blend of textures, designs, colors, and techniques. Each year we are surprised by what the artists come up with," says Museum Director Matt Mayberry.

Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art | Denver, CO 303-832-8576 | visit our website The Kirkland Museum has a nationally important collection of 20th century decorative arts with more than 3,300 displayed works of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Glasgow, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Modern and Pop Art Styles.  The Museum was built as an art school in 1911 and contains the historic studio of Colorado modernist painter Vance Kirkland.Vance Kirkland's paintings are hung throughout the building.

Barney Ford House Museum | Breckenridge, CO 970-547-3112 | visit our website The Barney Ford House Museum honors Barney L. Ford, an escaped slave who prospered and became a prominent entrepreneur and black civil rights pioneer in Colorado. The house is located in the center of downtown Breckenridge, at the corner of Washington and Main Street.

Rosemount Museum | Pueblo, CO 719-545-5290 |visit our website Rosemount was the home of prominent Pueblo businessman John A. Thatcher and his wife Margaret. It was designed by noted New York architect Henry Hudson Holly.  Completed in 1893, the home cost $100,000 including appointments and furnishings-- an enormous sum for those times. The 37 room mansion is a three story brick building faced with rose colored rhyolite.  The roof is Vermont slate with columned chimneys serving ten fireplaces.

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Cortez, CO 800-422-8975 | visit our website THE CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER is an innovative leader in advancing knowledge of the human experience through archaeological research, education programs, and collaboration with American Indians.  Since 1983, Crow Canyon researchers have studied the rich history of the ancestral Pueblo Indians (the Anasazi) who inhabited the canyons and mesas of the Mesa Verde region over 700 years ago.

Museum of Northwest Colorado | Craig, CO 970-824-6360 | visit our website The Museum of Northwest Colorado is housed in the former National Guard Armory in downtown Craig, Colorado. The building was built in 1921 and was used as an Armory until the 1970s when it became a community center. It was renovated in 1991 and became the local history museum.

Town of Creede | Creede, CO 800-327-2102 | visit our website Welcome to the historic Town of Creede, Colorado! Creede.com is the official site of the Creede/Mineral County Chamber of Commerce, your connection to vacations, recreation, attractions, and the Arts in southern Colorado.

Telluride Historical Museum | Telluride, CO 970-728-3344 | visit our website Located in the Old Miner's Hospital, the Telluride Historical Museum provides visitors with a view into the life of early twentieth century hard rock miners who lived and worked in a harsh and often dangerous mountain environment.  The museum retains the hospital's original operating room and nurses' station and interprets Telluride's boom-bust-boom history with interactive dramatic exhibits.

Historic Fourth Street Corridor | Loveland, CO visit our website One of the hidden gems along Colorado's Front Range is downtown Loveland, where historic architecture, independent businesses and the arts come together to create a rich environment for visitors and residents alike.  The historic Fourth Street corridor between Railroad and Washington streets is filled with numerous historic buildings that tell the story of Loveland's development as a railroad and agricultural center.

Historic Downtown Salida | Salida, CO 719-539-4555 | visit our website Located adjacent to the scenic Arkansas River, Salida's downtown streets are lined with interesting historic structures and a variety of independently-owned galleries, bicycle shops, restaurants and other retail businesses. Founded as a railroad town, Salida is now evolving into a lively center for tourism, arts and recreation.Downtown Salida features one of the state's finest collections of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture and is a designated historic district.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center | Colorado Springs, CO 719-634-5581 | visit our website A rare combination of southwestern, modern and classical design, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is regularly listed as one of the state's most important architectural landmarks.  Architect John Gaw Meem realized the vision of the Fine Arts Center's founder, Alice Bemis Taylor, to create a center for the visual and performing arts as well as arts education, all under one roof;This summer, the Fine Arts Center will open a new addition to the original building, which is being fully restored as part of a $28 million construction project.

MacGregor Ranch | Estes Park, CO 970-586-3749 | visit our website MacGregor Ranch is the last remaining working cattle ranch in Estes Park and one of the few sites operating as both a working ranch and youth education center in northern Colorado. It is unique in that its historic collection and structures are original to the 1873 homestead family, and its collection is completely intact. MacGregor Ranch offers a window into the past for its visitors. Take a step back in time as you come in the front gate. Percheron draft horses and ranch hands work the hay meadow. The main ranch house, now the museum, is warm and inviting - welcoming children's groups and summer visitors. The Black Angus cattle and horses grazing the meadow remind you of simpler times.

Chimney Rock Archaeological Site | Pagosa Springs, CO 970-264-2287 call 970-883-5359  between May 15th and Septmeber 30th  visit our website In the shadow of the awe-inspiring twin pinnacles, experience a unique part of America's heritage at one of the most unusual and intriguing archaeological sites of the Ancestral Puebloan people in the Four Corners area of SW Colorado. Located between Durango and Pagosa Springs, Chimney Rock is a 4,100 acre site within the San Juan National Forest and is surrounded by the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. It was designated an Archaeological Area and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Town of Georgetown | Georgetown, CO 303-569-2555 | visit our website Founded in 1860, Georgetown grew to become one of the most important early mining settlements in the state.  Although gold brought the initial rush of settlers, it was silver that made the fortune of many Georgetown residents.  They built homes, churches, schools and commercial blocks using a range of late nineteenth-century architectural styles, from Greek Revival to Italianate and Second Empire.  The construction boom ended sharply after the silver crash of 1893.

Molly Brown House | Denver , CO 303-832-4092 | visit our website The Molly Brown House Museum interprets the life of Margaret Tobin Brown the famous survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. However Margaret, as she was known, is also a significant figure in Colorado history.  After earning a fortune in gold in Leadville, Margaret and her husband J.J., moved to Denver and became active in the community.  Margaret was a founding member of the Denver Women's Club.  She became a suffragist and even ran for the United States Senate in 1914, despite the fact that women could not vote in federal elections.

This project is paid for in part by a State Historical Fund grant
from the Colorado Historical Society.