The strike was the result of the company's decision to not increase wages to match the rapid inflation that resulted during and immediately following World War I. From the perspective of the company, however, higher wages were only possible if the government reversed its decision to prevent fare increases. At this time, streetcar fare rates affected most of the city's residents. When a new mayoral candidate won election promising to not only prevent fare increases but restore fares to pre-war rates, the Tramway Company announced that they would be reducing the pay of current employees. In response, unionized Tramway conductors and other workers initiated a strike on August 1, 1920. Within days, the strikebreakers and armed guards hired by company officials clashed with striking workers. The violence escalated quickly, leading to the death of seven men and severe injuries for another fifty. In response, the mayor and governor placed the city of Denver under military control. Two hundred and fifty soldiers occupied the city while the Tramway company replaced almost two-thirds of their workforce with strikebreakers. The company was aided by city leaders and a press that generally favored the company over the unionized workers, as well as a public that feared a union victory might lead to higher streetcar fares. Neither the union nor the original Tramway company survived the strike, although the company was able to recover following bankruptcy proceedings that included the decision of city leaders to permit fare increases.

This historic building was designed in the Renaissance Revival style of architecture and features terra cotta and coffered plastered ceilings.

Protesters attacked the property of the Tramway company on the fifth day of the strike.

Protesters overturned five tram cars on Colfax near the Cathedral.

Audio

Article on the 1920 Tramway Strike, Sacramento Union, August  10,1920 

More Info

Official Report of the 1920 Tramway Strike

Overview of the strike from Colorado Encyclopedia 

Hotel Treato (current owner of the building) website

Product

This eight-story building was completed in 1911 for the Denver Tramway Company. Now home to a boutique hotel, the building once stood in the center of one of Colorado's most significant  labor conflicts. The building still bears the scars of that conflict in the form of bullet holes fired by participants and police in the 1920 Tramway Strike. 

Tramway Building and the Denver Tramway Strike of 1920

This quick walking tour starts at the iconic Daniels & Fisher Tower and winds through the heart of downtown with stops at some of the most interesting historical markers and buildings in the city.

Denver Walking Tour: Downtown History and Architecture 

This Denver landmark was built in 1911 and designed by
architect F.G. Sterner. It was designed in the Italian Renaissance style and
constructed with brick, stone, and terra cotta. It rose 393 feet into the Denver
skyline, making it the tallest structure west of the Mississippi for many years.
In its early days, it was home to the Daniels and Fisher Department Store. 

In the 1950s the original department store vacated the premises
and it began to fall into disrepair. It sat empty for two decades. In the 1970s
the building was destroyed, but a group of dedicated people managed to save and preserve
the 21-floor clock tower.&nbsp; Through the
70s and 80s it was used for commercial purposes and office space. 

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
December of 1969. With clock faces on all four sides, it lights up the Denver
skyline each night. It is a Seth-Thomas clock. A large bell occupies the top
floors of the building above the observation deck. It now hosts weddings, parties,
and corporate and other special events on a regular basis. Guided, 45 minute tours are available, as well, every Saturday through Clocktowerevents.com.&nbsp;

The Daniels and Fisher (D&F) Tower is a distinctive Denver, Colorado landmark. Built as part of the Daniels &amp; Fisher department store in 1910, it was the tallest between the Mississippi and California at the time of construction, at a height of 325 feet.

Daniels and Fisher Tower

Soule's parents moved from Maine to Lawrence, Kansas during the conflict regarding slavery in the new territory known today as "Bleeding Kansas." Ardent abolitionists, Soule's parents were&nbsp;active supporters of the&nbsp;Underground Railroad. Inspired by his parents,&nbsp;young Silas Soule traveled from&nbsp;Lawrence to Harper's Ferry in a failed attempt to rescue two of&nbsp;John Brown's followers after they were convicted of conspiracy for helping Brown capture the arsenal as part of his plan to attack the institution of slavery.&nbsp; Like many ambitious young men, Soule&nbsp;traveled&nbsp;to&nbsp;Colorado Territory in hopes of making his fortune during the gold rush around Pike's Peak. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, however, he abandoned the search for gold to assist the Union.&nbsp;Lieutenant&nbsp;Soule's Colorado unit spent&nbsp;most of the war years working to prevent Confederate-aligned rebels from taking control of communities in the Southwest. He was later promoted to Captain and&nbsp;assigned to guard mountain passes along the Sante Fe Trail. In this capacity,&nbsp;Soule worked as a&nbsp;liaison&nbsp;with&nbsp;Native leaders&nbsp;and helped to frame several&nbsp;treaties between the Cheyenne and the Arapaho. During a period of high tensions between soldiers and Native tribes at Sand Creek, Soule disobeyed an order to fire upon a Native village. His action saved many innocent lives as none of the soldiers under his command fired upon the villagers, who had either fallen to their knees or ran from the village.&nbsp;He would later be one of the first soldiers to testify against his superior officers. In&nbsp;retaliation, Soule was killed at this location less than three months after his testimony.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The following selection comes from a letter by Soule to another army officer shortly after the Sand Creek Massacre. "I refused to fire and swore that none but a coward would. For by this time hundreds of women and children were coming towards us and getting on their knees for mercy. Anthony shouted, "kill the sons of bitches" Smith and Louderbeck came to our command, although I am confident there were 200 shots fired at them, for I heard an officers say that Old Smith and any one who sympathized with the Indians, ought to be killed and now was a good time to do it. The Battery then came up in our rear, and opened on them. I took my comp'y across the Creek, and by this time the whole of the 3rd&nbsp;and the Batteries were firing into them and you can form some idea of the slaughter. When the Indians found that there was no hope for them they went for the Creek, and buried themselves in the Sand and got under the banks and some of the Bucks got their bows and a few rifles and defended themselves as well as they could. By this time there was no organization among our troops, they were a perfect mob – every man on his own hook. My Co. was the only one that kept their formation, and we did not fire a shot."

At this location on April 23, 1865, Cavalry officer Silas Soule was killed by an unknown assassin. Soule's death is believed to be an act of retaliation against Captain Soule-both for his refusal to follow orders to fire on a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village, and for his later testimony that revealed the extent of the now-infamous Sand Creek Massacre. An estimated 70-160 Native Americans were killed when a force of six hundred soldiers surrounded the village. Knowing that this was a village affiliated with Cheyenne chief Black Kettle who was working to negotiate a peace, Soule disobeyed orders and ordered his men to hold their fire. Other officers followed the order to destroy the village and kill its inhabitants, despite discovering that two thirds of the victims were women and children. 

Assassination of Silas S. Soule, 1865

The Federal Reserve Bank in Denver is a branch of the Kansas City bank which is the Federal Reserve Bank for the region. The museum teaches about the history of the Federal Reserve System which was created in 1913 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law. It was initially formed to prevent future bank “panics” such as the one that occurred in 1907. It has since evolved into an economic entity that seeks to maximize employment, stabilize prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.

The museum permits visitors to design their own currency and attempt to detect which is a real $20 bill and which is counterfeit. It also gives visitors the chance to take a photo in front of $30 million worth of $100 bills (and it takes up more space than you might think). One can also view a range of American currency dating back to 1775, a $100,000 bill and coins produced at the nearby mint which contain various deformities.&nbsp;

Since the bank also destroys $2-$3 million daily, visitors are given a bag of shredded money as a souvenir of their visit. Finally, as visitors approach (or leave) the museum on foot, they often hear strange sounds emanating from the sidewalk, and many spend a few minutes attempting to convince themselves that they are not hearing things.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Located within the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank, the Denver Money Museum utilizes interactive and interpretive displays to impart knowledge to visitors about the Federal Reserve System, its history, economics and monetary policies. This modest museum offers both self-guided audio tours and guided tours for groups of the 5th-grade level and above with a reservation. Walk-ins are welcome and admission is free. However, adults 18 and older are required to show a valid state or national ID to gain admittance.

The Denver Money Museum

The building was constructed by real estate developer Rodney
Curtis and designed by architect Leonard Cutshaw. The three-story, red brick
building is an example of late 19th Century architecture. The
building initially housed a number of businesses. The original storefront was
remodeled in the 1970s. The building was renovated in 2005 by ArtectureDenver to
create updated restaurant space.&nbsp; 

After Baur died, the Confectionery remained under family
ownership until 1951. A restaurant was added in 1918 and Baur’s then occupied
the entire building. The company was famous for “good things to eat” as well as
good business practices. It expanded through the years but also racked up debt and
eventually sold in 1951. New management continued to grow the business before
eventually closing in 1970. 

Upper floors of the building were converted to office space
at that time and several different restaurants came and went in the original
storefront. KEW Realty Corporation bought the building and remodeled it in
2005. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in July of 2006.
Chef Dory Ford brought back the Baur name and focus on quality food when he
opened Baur’s Restaurant and Listening Lounge in 2015.

In 1870 Otto Paul Baur founded the O.P. Baur Confectionery Company. He partnered with James Colwell and the duo became successful caterers. Eventually Baur became the sole owner. By the 1890s his candies and confections were known around the world. It was an 1891 that he opened the location at 1512 Curtis Street. 

Baur's Restaurant and Listening Lounge/O.P. Baur Confectionery Company

The lodge had offices on the top two floors of the building and rented the rest of the building. The most notable tenant in the early 20th century was the Dutch Mill Cafe, a cabaret-style dining establishment that operated until 1935.&nbsp;The Odd Fellows sold the building in 1938. The building is now home to a law firm and several restaurants and retailers.&nbsp;

Architect Emmett Anthony designed this Late Victorian-Commercial Style building, which was completed in 1899 by the city's first lodge of the Odd Fellows, an international fraternal organization that had millions of members in the United States at the turn of the century. The members of the lodge dubbed this building "Union Lodge" to emphasize that their founding members had all been loyal to the Union during the Civil War. 

Odd Fellows Hall

In the early years of the twentieth century, Denver promoted
itself as the “City of Lights”, thanks to its newly illuminated downtown
skyline, anchored by the “best lighted building in the world”, at 910 15th
Street. &nbsp;Built in 1910 to house the newly
consolidated Denver Gas &amp; Electric Company, the Gas &amp; Electric Building
provided visual evidence of the new prominence of electrical technology in
American life and of Denver’s status as a modern city.&nbsp; As one of the rapidly growing “instant cities”
of the American West, Denver provided an ideal market for utility companies seeking
to promote electric- and gas-powered appliances as a necessary element of the
modern home. An early photograph of the building shows a sign claiming "The Christmas gift will please if it's an electric iron, chafing dish, 
toaster, coffee percolator or artistic electric stand lamp - looking for a useful Christmas gift? - see our household electrical appliances" ( <a title="Link: http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/1501" href="http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/1501" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/1501</a>). For more information on this era, see Cities of Light and Heat: Domesticating Gas &amp; Electricity in Urban
America by historian Mark H. Rose, which follows the growth of utilities in
Denver and Kansas City. 

Officially the work of local architectural firm Frank E.
Edbrooke &amp; Company, the building’s design has been attributed to Frank
Edbrooke’s nephew, Harry J. Edbrooke, who would go on to create many notable
structures in Denver after establishing his own firm in 1913. The building
exemplifies the new American “skyscraper” style created by the Chicago
architect Louis J. Sullivan in the late 1800s, when steel-frame construction
and the invention of the elevator made truly tall buildings feasible. The Gas &amp; Electric Building echoes
Sullivan’s pioneering designs, especially in its three-part design and its use
of ornament. The lower stories form a solid base below an eight-story shaft
crowned by an overhanging cornice.&nbsp; The
arched tenth-floor windows seem to flow upward into the curving cornice,
providing a contrast to the simple squared-off forms of the middle stories.

What really makes the building stand out, however, are the
13,000 light bulb sockets embedded in the bright white terra cotta of the façade.
The lights trace the outlines of the building while creating geometric patterns
of their own.&nbsp; In the building’s early
days, it was referred to as “the best illuminated building in the world”, and
around 75,000 people – roughly a third of the city’s population at the time –
attended the initial switching-on of the lights. The ornamental lights remained
in use until World War II gave rise to mandatory Blackouts. The building was renamed the
Insurance Exchange Building and the lights fell into disuse after the Public Service Company of Colorado (Denver
Gas &amp; Electric’s successor) moved to a different location in 1962. The building was
restored and the lights re-lit in 1990. It is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.

Erected in 1910, the 10-story Denver Gas & Electric Building (also known as the Public Service Company Building) once served as a single vast advertisement for the wonders of electricity, thanks to the 13,000 lightbulbs embedded in its white terra cotta façade.  The bulbs went dark for a time after World War II but were rewired in the 1990s, and the building once again lights up Denver’s central business district each night.  Designed by local firm of Frank E. Edbrooke & Company, the building is an example of the early skyscraper style pioneered by Louis J. Sullivan of Chicago.  The geometric patterns created by the bulbs, along with dramatic details such as the arched tenth-floor windows, ensure that the building is a striking sight by daylight as well.

Denver Gas & Electric Building (Public Service Company Building)

This impressive structure was built as the headquarters of
the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (Mountain Bell), and has
housed each of Mountain States’ successor companies. It is currently home to
CenturyLink. While the interior is not open to the public, the outer lobbies on
14th Street and Curtis Street, both featuring murals by Alan True
celebrating the history of communications in the American West, are freely
accessible.&nbsp; In addition, the online
Telecommunications History Group hosts a virtual museum and tour at <a href="http://www.telcomhistory.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.telcomhistory.org</a>. 

The building was created as one of the Bell System’s “palaces”,
regional headquarters that would serve as urban monuments, celebrating a new
age of interconnectedness, in addition to housing employees and equipment.&nbsp; Completed in 1929, the Mountain Bell building
would be among the last of these “palaces”.&nbsp;
At the time of its completion, it was the tallest building in Denver,
and therefore in the entire Rocky Mountain region from Montana to New Mexico.
It dominated Denver’s skyline and would do so until the 1950s, when skyscrapers
built in the more utilitarian International Style appeared in Denver. 

The exterior is the work of Denver architect William N.
Bowman. Architects of this era frequently used the soaring verticals of the
Gothic style to emphasize the height of the new “skyscrapers”; the design of
the Mountain Bell building draws on the late Gothic style known as the
Perpendicular. The building’s materials were locally sourced, ranging from
steel produced in Pueblo, to brick and terra cotta manufactured in Denver and
Golden, to granite and travertine from the nearby Rocky Mountains. Beneath its
Gothic skin, the building housed cutting-edge technology. Equipment housed
within the specially designed fireproof core provided Denver residents with automated
dialing service for the first time, while fully automatic elevators carried
visitors to the executive suites and conference rooms on the upper floors.

Denver residents paid their phone bills in person in the outer
Curtis Street lobby, where murals by painter Alan Tupper True, including “The
Smoke Signal” and “The Pony Express”, celebrate the evolution of communications
in the West.&nbsp; Another mural cycle by
True, in the outer 14th Street lobby, paints a heroic image of the
construction of telephone lines through the mountains and through the
artificial canyons of the new cities. More murals &nbsp;decorate the inner lobbies, which are not
freely accessible. &nbsp;Murals by True can
also be seen in the state capitol building, the Civic Center, the Brown Palace
Hotel, and the Renaissance Denver Downtown Hotel (formerly the Colorado National
Bank).

The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Building stands at 931 14th St, across the street from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver’s central business district. The ten-story Art Deco building was the tallest in Denver until the 1950s. It opened in 1929, shortly before the catastrophic stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression. The building’s style was described as Modern American Perpendicular Gothic, a modernist reinterpretation of English Gothic forms.  Its exterior lobbies feature mural cycles by Denver artist Alan True, whose work appears in the state capitol building and elsewhere in Denver.

Mountain States  Telephone and Telegraph Building

America's largest non-profit theatre organization and the
largest performing arts complex under one roof, the Denver Performing Arts
Complex is owned by the City and County of Denver's Arts and Venues division
and managed by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The complex
has four resident companies: the Colorado Ballet, Colorado Symphony Orchestra,
Opera Colorado, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts repertory company
[1; 2]. The ten-theatre complex consists of 12 acres on four blocks, all
connected by The Galleria, an 80-foot-high glass roof. Its three largest
theatres are the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Boettcher Concert Hall, and the
Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, but the complex is also home to a cabaret at Garner
Galleria Theatre, the Conservatory Theatre, the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex
(comprising the Stage, Space, Ricketson, and Jones Theatres), and the Seawell
Grand Ballroom [2].&nbsp;

History of the
Complex



In the 1950s, Helen G. Bonfils, co-owner of the Denver Post newspaper, was one of the
city's leading philanthropists, as well as an occasional actress. She built the
Bonfils Theatre on Colfax Avenue as a community theatre, performing there with
her friends, then partnered with Wall Street lawyer and Broadway producer
Donald R. Seawell to bring a professional acting company to Denver in the 1960s.
Seawell brought Tyrone Guthrie of Minneapolis to Denver for the creation and
direction of the company, but a series of disasters prevented progress. Guthrie
died suddenly, Helen Bonfils' health declined to the point that she was
permanently hospitalized, and Bonfils and Seawell struggled in a legal battle
for the ownership of the Post. The
legal battle was won, but Bonfils died, leaving Seawell in charge of the paper
in 1972 [1].



Seawell created the Bonfils Foundation using stock from the
newspaper and, in the same day, changed the charter of the Bonfils Theatre into
the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, gotten agreement from the City of
Denver for his plans, and hired Kevin Roche as the architect for the project
[1]. Construction on the performing arts complex began two years later, in
1974, with the Berlin Philharmonie inspired Boettcher Concert Hall (opened in
1978) as its centerpiece. The historic Auditorium Theatre (now the Quigg Newton
Denver Municipal Auditorium and Ellie Caulkins Opera House) and the
multi-theatre Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex were also within Seawell's original
complex [2]. Only a year later, two cabaret spaces were added, touring Broadway
shows came to the complex, and Denver's repertory company under Edward Payson
Call had begun performing in the Bonfils Complex. During the 1980s, the three-year
Master of Fine Arts Acting school, the National Theatre Conservatory, was
established, new plays were developed by the Theatre Company, and the company
was nominated for its first Tony Award. In 1991, the former Auditorium sports
arena was remodeled into the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre to better accommodate touring
Broadway productions [1]. Also in the 1990s, the DCPA began offering community
acting courses, established the Colorado Performing Arts Hall of Fame, and
opened its special event venue, the Seawell Grand Ballroom [1; 2]. In the
following decade, the complex began hosting Disney Theatricals, established the
Colorado New Play Summit, and received an Innovation Lab for the Performing
Arts Grant. Donald Seawell retired in 2007, and passed away in 2015 [1]. 


Today, in addition to performances, the complex offers
school programs, acting classes for all ages, workshops, study guides, distance
learning, cast interactions, and competitions in playwriting and musical
theatre, and hosts field trips, career days, Kids Night on Broadway and Family
Day events, the Family Forum, backstage tours, and the Women with Hattitude
Luncheon [1].

America's largest non-profit theatre organization and the largest performing arts complex under one roof, the Denver Performing Arts Complex is owned by the City and County of Denver's Arts and Venues division and managed by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The complex has four resident companies: the Colorado Ballet, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts repertory company [1; 2]. The ten-theatre complex consists of 12 acres on four blocks, all connected by The Galleria, an 80-foot-high glass roof. Its three largest theatres are the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Boettcher Concert Hall, and the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, but the complex is also home to a cabaret at Garner Galleria Theatre, the Conservatory Theatre, the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex (comprising the Stage, Space, Ricketson, and Jones Theatres), and the Seawell Grand Ballroom [2].

Denver Performing Arts Complex

Jefferson Randolph&nbsp;Smith was a criminal and con-man best-known as the head&nbsp;of a criminal syndicate that defrauded miners&nbsp;during the Klondike's gold rush prior to his death in 1898. Smith got his start as a ocn-man in the West, moving to&nbsp;Denver in the 1880s and making his first fortune with a "soap lottery" - a clever gambling racket where Smith sold bars of soap under the premise that some bars contained a significant amount of money. After residents detected a pattern where the lucky soap purchasers were nearly always Smith's co-conspirators, the con-man earned the&nbsp;nickname "Soapy Smith." Smith's criminal network expanded far beyond short cons to operating saloons and gambling houses. By the late 1880s,&nbsp;the city's newspapers reported tales of bribery and corruption between Smith and city officials-especially those who operated the city's fire and police board. Smith fled the city temporarily but returned and by 1892, he was able to secure contracts and jobs for his network of&nbsp;supporters as well as lax enforcement of laws against gambling, prostitution, and narcotics. Elected on the Populist ticket pledging progressive reform and an end to corruption in 1893, Governor Davis Hanson Waite took on Denver's notoriously corrupt city administration that was known to have&nbsp;connections to Smith's growing&nbsp;criminal empire. As the city's growing middle class became less willing to tolerate Denver's&nbsp;gambling, prostitution, and narcotics, politicians like Waite gained control of the state legislature and pledged reform.&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1893, the state legislature revised Denver's charter in a manner that removed the mayor's control over two of the six&nbsp;city commissioners. In the future, the governor would appoint the commissioners who headed the city's police and fire&nbsp;boards. In the past, control over these boards provided&nbsp;an important source of patronage and that allowed the political machine to&nbsp;provide jobs to their&nbsp;supporters. In return, these men&nbsp;kicked money back to the machine and followed their orders to allow Smith's criminal activities to go unpunished. If the governor could control these city offices, Soapy Smith and his supporters recognized that Waite could appoint men might take action against their illicit business&nbsp;activities.&nbsp;<div>The confrontation between Denver's political machine and the reform-minded governor came to a head in March of 1894. Months earlier, the state legislature revised the city charter in a manner that allowed the governor to appoint two of the city's commissioners who were given authority over the administration of the police and fire departments. The governor used this power to replace two men he believed were using their power to support organized crime and threatened to send the state militia should they defy his order. Rather than accept their removal, these men and their supporters turned the city hall into an arsenal, challenging the governor to respond in a way they believed would convince citizens that the state was trying to usurp the authority of the city's elected officials.&nbsp;</div><div> In the spring of 1894,&nbsp;the governor used this power to remove members of the fire and police board. Rather than accept the decision, Denver's political machine&nbsp;challenged the governor's authority in the courts and threatened armed conflict. The Governor responded to the challenge by threatening to send the state militia-an action he took when members of the machine turned&nbsp;City Hall into an arsenal. Members of the police and fire boards, together with other city&nbsp;officials and dozens of Smith's men&nbsp;barricaded themselves inside the building in March of 1894.&nbsp;One local paper reported that every criminal in the city who was not in jail was employed as a&nbsp;deputy sheriff.&nbsp; </div><div>The conflict nearly led to a war on the streets of Denver for a week, as both sides prepared for battle-the supporters of the city government occupying City Hall surrounded by state militia with cannon and Gattling guns. The action alarmed many and the Supreme Court reprimanded the governor for inflaming the situation but upheld the governor's authority in the case. After the Supreme Court upheld the new city charter that gave the governor authority to appoint fire and police commissioners, the former city officials backed down and state and federal troops left the city.</div>

Completed in 1883, Denver's City Hall was located between Larimer and Lawrence streets until it was razed in around 1940. A small marker that includes the bell from the building's tower is all that is left of the former building, which became the center of an armed conflict between the governor and city officials in 1894. 

Like many other cities during the "Gilded Age," Denver's city government was under the influence of political machines that profited from lax enforcement of laws against operators of brothels and gambling houses and purveyors of narcotics. In 1889, con-man turned organized crime leader Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith's influence in securing the election of mayor Wolf Londoner became so obvious that Londoner was forced to step down. Smith fled the city for a time but soon returned and regained his influence within city hall. In 1894, a new reform-minded governor challenged the city's political machine by attempting to replace some of the city's commissioners. City officials refused to accept the governor's authority and promised to fight, prompting the governor to deploy the state militia. For several days, residents of the city watched as the power struggle between the governor and the city nearly resulted in a war on the streets of Denver.

Denver's City Hall War of 1894

The Miller Building sits at the corner of 14th and Larimer. It is a surviving second-generation building. Much of the area was destroyed in a fire in 1863. Currently it houses Ted’s Montana Grill, however it was home to a successful speakeasy during prohibition.The current building was constructed in 1889. It is located in the historic Larimer Square, the area which is the site of the first settlement of Denver. In 1863, there was a great fire in the square. Many of the original structures were made of wood. This spurred a mandate that all buildings be constructed of stone afterwards. The building touts a late Victorian style with red brick.Gahan’s Saloon operated here until 1936. Irish immigrant and Denver Councilman, William Gahan owned the saloon. He also ran a saloon on 39th &amp; High St. In the early 1900s, the Irish population owned 10% of the bars in Denver. Irish influence in the political and policing sectors helped saloons thrive. It also helped that Gahan’s was located across from the old City Hall. Many politicians, social, and business leaders frequented there. In 1913, William Gahan passed, and left the saloon to his son.In 1916, the saloon changed names to Gahan’s Soft Drink Parlor. The name was changed due to the prohibition going into effect in Colorado on New Year's Day that year. However, the saloon soda fountain maintained a basement speakeasy. Gahan's became the most notorious speakeasy in Denver, where even the civil servants of the town went without ratting on the establishments secret business. Gahan’s survived prohibition, while 400 other Denver establishments closed. This was due in large part to political sway due to those high profile customers Gahan's received.The current occupant of the location, Ted's Montana's Grill, is part of a restaurant chain with a cause and goal or preserving 19th century saloon lifestyle. They also have a commitment to sustainability and enviromentally friendly products and men options.

The Miller Building at 1401 Larimer, once was home to Gahan’s Saloon. Gahan's Saloon was a legendary watering hole and poker hall for politicians, policemen and city hall
reporters. In 1916, when Colorado passed prohibition, Gahan’s became Gahan’s “Soft Drink Parlor.” The name was a cover for the speakeasy operating out of the basement. Now, it is the location for Ted's Montana Grill. The Montana restaurant chain is a for-profit endeavor  that allocates funds to prevent the extinction of bison.

The Miller Building

The Kettle Arcade is the first building in Denver to be built using the neighboring walls as its own and was part of a movement to renovate the wooden buildings in Larimer Square. The Kettle Arcade has a mural detailing Colorado History and was also the site of the first settlement of people of European descent in Denver. In 1865 there was a great fire in the square and since many of the original structures were made of wood, the city responded with a mandate requiring commercial buildings to utilize stone. The Kettle Arcade was built in 1873. The building was constructed by George E. Kettle. Kettle was a cattleman, butcher, and real estate investor. Using the existing walls of the buildings on either side. He then built a front and rear wall and completed the structure using local sandstone. What makes this place special is that it was the first building in Denver to be built in this manner. In 1988 a mural was commissioned for the ceiling. It features some important figures in Colorado History. <ul><li>Chief Hosa aka Chief Little Raven – He was chief of the Arapahoe tribe that lived close to Denver City. They had seasonal teepees they lived in. He originally welcomed the “whites” to share his camp.</li><li>Soapy Smith – He is an infamous Con Man. He ran successful saloons across Colorado. He was also the leader of a gang that had heavy influence on politicians. </li><li>William Larimer – He was the founder of the Denver City Territory. The site of the first settlement of Denver is named after him. </li><li>Robert Speer – Elected as Mayor of Denver in 1904. He spearheaded the Denver City Beautiful campaign. This was an effort to upgrade the city. </li><li>Annie Oakley – She was second to none when it came to sharp shooting. She is the original feminist. She supported a woman’s ability to do anything they wanted. Some believe Annie Oakley passed through Denver. Although the artist may have been mistaken for Calamity Jane. </li></ul>

Constructed in 1873 through the efforts of George Kettle, this indoor space connected two existing buildings and used the neighboring structures as side-wall support. Kettle constructed only front and rear walls for the arcade itself. In the 1980s, the building was decorated with a mural featuring key figures from Denver’s early history, including William Larimer, Chief Little Raven, sharpshooter Annie Oakley, con man Soapy Smith and Denver Mayor Robert Speer.

The Kettle Arcade Building

Larimer Square was designated Denver's first historic
district in 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973,
and includes two half-blocks of seventeen buildings and two open spaces on 1400
Larimer Street. The site of original downtown Denver, established in 1858,
Larimer Street suffered fire and floods in the 1860s, and its first log cabin
structures were replaced in the ensuing two decades with the Italianate,
Victorian Gothic, Renaissance, and Classical style brick structures which stand
today [1]. Once again, Larimer Square is a busy street, home to independent
retail stores, restaurants, clubs, and bars, and host to events including live
music and comedy, the Denver Chalk Art Festival, charity fundraisers, and al
fresco dining and craft beer festivals [2].

 History of Larimer Square 

General William E. Larimer, Jr. founded Denver City on
November 22, 1858, only weeks after Green Russell and a group of Georgia settlers
established nearby Auraria upon discovering gold. The street which would be
named for the General began in Auraria, bridged the Cherry Creek, and continued
into the newly established Denver City. Larimer Square, at the intersection of
Larimer and F Streets (now 15th Street) consisted of four cabins with doors
made from coffins [1; 2]. F Street was part of the military trail connecting
Santa Fe, Fort Union, and Arkansas River trading posts, frequented by trappers
and frontiersmen including John Smith, Kit Carson, and the Autobees brothers.
Only a year later, Denver had grown from a four-structure settlement to a
25-building town, with Larimer Street as its hub and home to Denver's first
drugstore, post office, meeting hall, theatre, church, and library. Residents
of the Square included William Gilpin, a writer, explorer, and Colorado's first
territorial governor; John Evans, Colorado's second governor and founder of
Northwestern and Denver Universities; Count Henri Murat, a barber who claimed
to be the nephew of Joseph Bonaparte (King of Spain 1806-1808 and Naples
1808-1813); and military man John M. Chivington, who fought at the Battle of
Glorieta Pass and the Sand Creek Massacre. A major supply of gold was struck in
1860, prompting the Colorado gold rush and raising Denver's prominence [1]. The
same year, in a moonlight ceremony on the Larimer Street Bridge, Auraria was
annexed by Denver [2].



From the 1860s to 1880s, Larimer Street became a true Wild
West setting,&nbsp; with one saloon for every
five buildings, one gambling hall for every ten, a red light district, brawls,
and visitors including Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Chief
Little Raven, Soapy Smith, Richard "Uncle Dick" Wootton, Horace and
Baby Doe Tabor, and Molly Brown [1]. A fire at the Cherokee House saloon on
April 19, 1863, spread and destroyed 70 buildings in Denver; though Larimer
Street's buildings survived, city ordinance required brick or stone
construction to replace wooden structures [2]. After a flood the following
year, Larimer Square's log cabin structures were replaced according to the new
ordinance. Silver mines in Leadville and Central City brought profits to
Denver, funding the construction of the Tabor Building and the Windsor Hotel in
the early 1880s [1]. The Clayton Building (now called the Granite Building) was
constructed by real estate tycoon G.W. Clayton (founder of Clayton College for
poor orphans) and William M. Clayton in 1882 on the site of William Larimer's
log cabin; the building later became the Granite Hotel [2].



In 1893, the price of silver crashed and the gold standard
was adopted. Colorado relied primarily on the silver industry by this time, and
Larimer Street growth halted, the buildings soon derelict. By 1900, the street
was Denver's Skid Row. Though Larimer Street's Gahan's Soft Drink Parlor was
home to the city's most popular speakeasy during Prohibition, the street failed
to thrive even after the post-World War II boom, and the city of Denver
considered demolition of the historic Square in the 1950s. However, Denver
native Dana Crawford formed Larimer Square Associates in 1965 to preserve and
refurbish the buildings, revitalize the neighborhood, and restore the
structures to their original uses for retail, restaurant, entertainment, and
office spaces [1; 2].

&nbsp;

Historic Marker
Inscription:

Larimer Street

Lower Downtown Historic District 

—Established 1988 —

General
William H. Larimer, Jr., founder of Denver City which was established on
November 22, 1858, named the city after the Governor of the Kansas Territory
and the principal street after himself. Some of Denver’s first cabins were
located at the corner of 15th and Larimer Streets. Larimer Street gained
prominence as Denver’s main thoroughfare when it escaped the 1863 fire, which
destroyed buildings along Market and Blake Streets. By the 1880’s, Larimer
Street has gained the reputation of being Denver’s main shopping and
entertainment area. The Vanderbilt’s, Guggenheim’s and Rothschild’s dined and
shopped in Larimer Street’s fine establishments.

Larimer’s once prominent
buildings included City Hall at 14th and Larimer, the Tabor Block on 16th and
Larimer and the Windsor Hotel at 18th and Larimer. It was at the Windsor where
Horace Tabor, owner of the Leadville Matchless Mine, Lieutenant Governor of
Colorado and U.S. Senator, courted Baby Doe creating a scandal by divorcing his
wife and later marrying the younger women. Some of the Windsor’s other famous
and infamous guests included Bat Masterson, Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane,
Soapy Smith, Jack Kerouac, David Moffat, Ulysses S. Grant and John L. Sullivan.

After the silver crash of 1893,
Larimer Street and Lower Downtown fell into decline. Few buildings were
constructed until the 1970’s. The area became Denver’s Skid Row until
restoration began with the 1400 block of Larimer Street, now a National
Historic District known as Larimer Square. Under Denver’s Skyline Urban Renewal
Project, new buildings were constructed along Larimer from 15th to 20th Streets
including Writers Square and the Tabor Center. 
&nbsp; 
Erected by Lower Downtown Historic District [3].

Larimer Square was designated Denver's first historic district in 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and includes two half-blocks of seventeen buildings and two open spaces on 1400 Larimer Street. The site of original downtown Denver, established in 1858, Larimer Street suffered fire and floods in the 1860s, and its first log cabin structures were replaced in the ensuing two decades with the Italianate, Victorian Gothic, Renaissance, and Classical style brick structures which stand today [1]. Once again, Larimer Square is a busy street, home to independent retail stores, restaurants, clubs, and bars, and host to events including live music and comedy, the Denver Chalk Art Festival, charity fundraisers, and al fresco dining and craft beer festivals [2].

Larimer Square Historic District

Tragedy struck on April 24, 1977, when an arsonist destroyed the building that stood on this corner since 1865. At the time, Constitution&nbsp;Hall, as it came to be known owing to the building's role as a meeting place where delegates met to draft the state constitution, was the third-oldest building in Denver. The building was originally two stories tall, with a third story added just a few years prior to the meetings of state delegates. Of the 39 men, most were attorneys, demonstrating the rise of this profession in the mid-to-late 19th century.&nbsp; The bank moved out of this building shortly after the delegates concluded their business, occupying a larger building at 16th and Larimer. The building held a variety of businesses over the next hundred years, including a brokerage and a purveyor of harnesses.&nbsp;

After two previous attempts at statehood failed, delegates from throughout Colorado met here at the original location of the First National Bank of Denver in the winter of 1875. The delegates met throughout the winter, producing a state constitution that led to the admission of Colorado as the thirty-sixth state. Following the approval of Colorado voters and Congress, Colorado was admitted to the Union by President Grant on August 1, 1876. The residents of Colorado approved the new constitution by a wide margin, with 15,433 in favor and 4,062 opposed. The building was destroyed by a fire in 1977, although a marker was erected on the southwest side of a nearby building to commemorate the history of the convention and the building that once stood at this location.    

Denver's Constitution Hall, 1875-1876 

Barney L Ford was born in Virginia in 1822 and spent much of his youth as a slave on a South Carolina plantation. At the age of seventeen, Ford escaped from the plantation and traveled the Underground Railroad to Chicago. While in Chicago, he became an active abolitionist upon meeting Henry O. Wagoner, a supporter of the Underground Railroad. Ford soon began to help enslaved people escape as well and then began his own family after marrying Julia Wagoner, the sister of Henry Wagner. They new couple enjoyed a short stay in Nicaragua, where they owned a successful hotel. The couple moved to Colorado in search of gold which Ford discovered in Breckenridge. However, Black men were not tolerated by local mining interests and law enforcement chased him and his party away and destroyed their property. Ford moved to Denver and was able to purchase a barbershop and the Inter-Ocean Hotel. In 1863, his barbershop burned down in a fire but he once again pivoted and to other business ventures.After the fire, Barney Ford purchased this building at 15th &amp; Blake Street. The building housed the People’s Restaurant at street level, a barbershop and hair salon operated in the basement, and a bar on the second level. Over the course of his life, ford amassed great wealth and was once listed as the 14th wealthiest person in Colorado.Outside of his business, Barney Ford was also a political influencer. He was part of a group of Black pioneers who spoke out against Colorado’s bid for statehood in 1864 because the amendment excluded Black men from voting. In 1865, he supported the Territorial Legislature and lobbied the Federal government for Black voting rights in Colorado.

This building was purchased by Barney L Ford, a businessman, civic leader, politician, and influential figure in Denver's African American community. Ford became active in the abolitionist movement after he escaped from a South Carolina Plantation at the age of seventeen when he traveled the Underground Railroad to Chicago. Ford traveled to Colorado in search of gold but faced discrimination in the goldfields which led him to Denver where he built a significant business empire serving the needs of the Black community. The building is currently home to a sushi restaurant on the first level. 

Barney L. Ford Building

<h4>The Clark and Gruber Mint and Denver Gold Mining</h4><div>The story of Clark and Gruber begins in Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory, when in 1855 Milton Clark began work as a grocer. Within two years, however, Clark and Emmanuelle Gruber formed Clark, Gruber &amp; Co. to capitalize on the massive gold rush occurring near Pike’s Peak near Denver. Like the thousands of Americans who moved to this area in search of their fortunes, Clark and Gruber moved to Colorado and bought a two-story building in Denver in 1860. Soon afters, Clark, Gruber &amp; Co. began buying gold dust with the hope of shipping it back East to the federal mints. However, transport was quite expensive, and so they decided it would be cheaper to set up their own mint.</div><div> </div><div>Soon, the firm built a highly favorable reputation and it was a&nbsp;valuable source of local exchange. The Clark and Gruber mint was available to the public in 1860, and over the next two years, the firm minted thousands of gold coins ranging in value from $2 to $20. Although most coins resembled the federal mint’s style, some contained a picture of Pike’s Peak to pay tribute to the source of the bullion. When Congress established its federal mint in Denver, Clark, Gruber &amp; Co. sold their minting and refining business to the U.S. government. By 1865, Clark and Gruber elected to charter a national bank, and over the next several decades, the First National Bank of Denver grew substantially.1</div>

This historical marker pays tribute to the first banking firm in the Denver area. The Clark and Gruber Mint produced gold coins from raw metal in the 1860s, an era when mining was he cornerstone of the local economy and gold was coming to the city from the many mines around the area. Consequently, the Clark, Gruber & Co. firm was one of the few banks in U.S. history that simultaneously conducted commercial banking and gold minting operations. 

In 1863, the U.S. Congress prohibited the private minting of coins. At that time Clark and Gruber became the Denver Branch of the U.S. Mint. In its three years of operation as a private firm, Clark and Gruber purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold and minted $594,305 worth of coins. In 1906, the U.S. Mint moved from this place to its current location on Colfax Avenue.

Clark and Gruber Mint Historical Marker

Jefferson “Soapy” Smith was a famous con man in Denver. Smith earned his nickname after a successful con in which he sold soap bars under the false promise that the purchaser had a good chance of winning prize money hidden inside the bars. Smith had a background in sales, but excelled at card games and ran numerous schemes in Denver. This helped him amass enough loot to open the Tivoli Club, his longest running saloon. It was also the location where he ran his crime organization which became powerful at the turn of the century.. Jefferson Randolph Smith Jr. was born in 1860. He came from a successful and well-regarded family with both his father and two of his brothers working as attorneys. Three of his other brothers became doctors, one a minister, and one a farmer. In 1876, Smith's family moved to Texas and he worked as a salesman. After his mother died, Smith moved to Denver and began his transition from salesman to con man. In 1883 he was nicknamed “Soapy" after a successful con in which he turned a handsome profit by selling soap to miners in Colorado. What made his soap special? Smith hid money prizes under paper wrapped around the soap. He made a show of wrapping the money in front of a crowd, with prizes that could include anything from $20-$100 bills. Smith used sleight-of-hand to pocket most of the bills. He would sell the soap from $1 to $5, being sure to "sell" a winning soap bar or two to his associates who were planted in the crowd. Seeing the numerous bills wrapped in the soap bars and excited winners in the crowd, many were victimized by Smith's early con. This provided money for Smith to enlarge his operation and the scale of his swindles. In 1885, Smith opened the Tivoli Club at 17th &amp; Market St. The upstairs consisted of a gaming room and downstairs was home to a saloon. Smith's main goal was to get money out of visitors to the city. He hung a warning sign above the stairs going up to the gaming room. It read "Caveat Emptor" meaning "let the buyer beware." The Tivoli Club came under fire when two visitors felt they had been swindled out of $1500. They took Smith to court. When evidence was provided that they aggrieved parties had been swindled, Smith defended his actions saying his was an “institution of public education.” Sure the Tivoli was operating under false pretenses, Smith acknowledged, but these rigged games "cured the compulsive gambler of his urge." <blockquote>He stated “I should be recognized as a public benefactor. Praise, instead of censure, should be our portion.” He was acquitted of the charges.</blockquote> Soapy Smith was able to influence the elite through his growing wealth, only some of which came from the gambling hall. The Tivoli was the headquarters for a growing organization. Among Smith's gang were disbarred lawyers, pickpockets, muggers, and burglars. These men ran a fake stock exchange, lottery shops and fake diamond auctions. Soapy was able to avoid punishment for years by bribing police and politicians, and there is evidence that he also rigged elections. The Rocky Mountain news nicknamed the club "the slaughterhouse" because his hired men would cause bodily harm to those who challenged Smith or his crooked dealers. Eventually Smith's actions caught up to him. Smith changed the Tivoli Club's name to the Silver Dollar Club after visitors to the city had heard enough warnings that business declined. Despite this change, but the mid 1890s it was well-known that Smith was the ringleader of a gang that used this as their headquarters. David H Waite was elected as governor under a reform banner and voters looked to him to drive corruption from the city. Soapy Smith's ties to City Hall soon fell, and favor ran out for the Tivoli Club. This saloon closed in 1895 but Smith's story lives on in Colorado folklore

Denver's Tivoli Club was a famous gaming hall and saloon operated by the infamous Soapy Smith. The Tivoli Club operated from 1885 to 1895 by Smith, a con artist who rose to lead a crime syndicate that controlled much of the city Denver. The Tivoli Club was Smith's headquarters and home to his gang of disbarred lawyers and political bosses as well as petty criminals. It was known around town that visitors would lose money here, but the biggest crime came for Smith's fake stock exchange, lottery shops, and fake diamond auctions. 

Former Site of Soapy Smith's Tivoli Club (1885-1895)

In 1880 the Windsor Hotel opened on the NE corner of 18th and Larimer as the first true luxury hotel in Denver. City boosters saw the hotel as a symbol of the city's rising prospects with its five-stories and 400 guestrooms. Many local and national figures were entertained here, but like many other luxury downtown hotels of its size, changes in transportation that saw the decline of traffic at downtown rail depots and the rise of interstate hotels reduced the viability of maintaining such a lavish building and the hotel was eventually torn down and replaced with a parking lot in 1960 followed by a modern high-rise office building. The hotel was constructed with sandstone from Fort Collins and rhyolite from Colorado Springs. The hotel features a grand entrance on Larimer and a “ladies entrance” on 18th. Each entrance had an iron porte-cochere to allow for carriages and it was reportedly the first hotel in Denver to be wired for electricity in latter years. Murals of local celebrities by Herndon Davis adorned the walls and have been preserved and relocated to the Oxford Hotel. The hotel was centrally located and offered a corridor that ended at shops on Larimer, a car barn on Arapahoe, and and one to a palatial marble bath. The bath had Turkish, Russian, and Roman pools. The hotel also offered a barbershop, hairdresser, and a restaurant supplied by the hotel's own farm and hunters who brought in wild game. However, the hotel was best known for its gambling and gaming rooms and the ease with which one might obtain alcohol during prohibition. The Windsor was a center of Denver social life and the hotel of choice for politicians and other famous visitors. A few tall tales continue to circulate such as one story that suggests the bar refused service to “Calamity Jane” after saying she needed to sit down at a table “like a lady" and prompting her to fired a gun in protest. Another story suggests that a prominent socialite once dropped a diamond and platinum necklace down a toilet in the hotel following a marital argument. Among the most famous hotel guests were Sir Henry M. Stanley, Mark Twain, John L. Sullivan, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Marie Dressler, Sarah Burnhart, Lillian Russel, and presidents Grant, Cleveland, Roosevelt and Taft.    A hotel of this size and opulence naturally found its business model hemmed in by the hard times by the 1930s. A renovation project in the 1940s saw a return of some of the hotel's lusted, but that decade also saw the start of a pattern that would doom many similar downtown hotels: the decline of rail traffic. In 1959, the Garrett Lumber and Wrecking Co acquired the title and held an auction of the hotels fineries. In 1960, the aging building was demolished and replaced with a parking lot.

Once a symbol of Denver, the Windsor Hotel was demolished in 1960. One of the first hotels in the city to offer electricity, the Windsor featured gambling rooms, ornate spaces for banquests, a bathhouse, and a ballroom with what may have been the first floating dance floor in the U.S. Many celebrities and statesmen stayed here, including four presidents and "Calamity Jane."  

Windsor Hotel (1880-1960)

The Denver Horse Railroad Company
was founded in January 1876. After it was purchased in 1871 by L. C. Ellsworth
of Chicago, the company managed to extend many miles of railroad track around
the city. This structure was built by the Denver City Railway Company in
1883. The building’s first use was as a car barn and horse stable during the
years when public transport was sometimes literally run on single horsepower. They
originally operated six open- and closed-cars with twenty horses along a route
that stretched all the way to Lawrence and Seventh Streets in West Denver. This
later expanded to more than forty five cars and approximately two hundred
horses. Passengers could easily travel to and from the city’s various downtown
districts via this line, which provided convenient access to the Union Station
across the street. The cars were stored in the first floor of the building. The
two floors above were used as stables, and the attic for the storage of hay and
grain. 

The four-story high rectangular building is made of brick
and heavy timber. It has a prominent façade facing Seventeenth Street, where
six large barn doors originally led into the stables within. Round-arched
windows were used on the western and eastern sides of the building.

The building’s façade was redesigned in 1892 by H.W. and V.E. Baerresen, two prominent Danish architects
operating in Denver (they also designed the El Jebel Shrine Temple at 1770
Sherman St.), after it was purchased from the Railroad Company by a Mr. Sheridan. At this point public transport
was beginning to switch to cable and electricity, so the horses were sold and
the building was renovated into mixed retail and business spaces. From 1902 to 1972building was operated by the Hendrie and Bolthoff Manufacturing and Supply Company
between, an extremely successful firm that developed new and more effective
mining machinery for the state, nation, and overseas – they were the largest
company of its kind in the world, at one point (Bretz, 2005). There are
some remnants of the original building that survived the reconstructions in
1892 and 1909, most notably the stone-faced piers and cast-iron pilasters that
separate the bays on the southwestern side.

Also known as the Sheridan Heritage Building, the Denver City Railway Company Building of Lower Downtown was constructed in 1883. Located directly opposite Union Station, the building served as the headquarters and terminus of the city’s first public mass transit system, operated by the Railway Company from 1883 to 1892.

Denver Walking Tour: Downtown History and Architecture

Tramway Building and the Denver Tramway Strike of 1920

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information