Colorado’s Mile High City sits atop a mountain of Old West history—from stories of fortune seekers to captains of industry, immigrants to activist women.
Founded in an unlikely spot where dry prairies meet formidable mountains, Denver overcame its doubtful beginning to become the largest and most important city within a thousand miles. This tour of the Queen City of the Plains goes beyond travel guidebooks to explore its fascinating historical sites in detail. Tour the grand Victorian home where the unsinkable Molly Brown lived prior to her Titanic voyage. Visit the Brown Palace Hotel suite that President Dwight and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower used as the “Summer White House.” Pay respects at the mountaintop grave of the greatest showman of the nineteenth century, Colonel William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. From the jazzy Rossonian lounge where Ella scatted and Basie swung to gleaming twenty-first-century art museums, author Mark A. Barnhouse traces the Mile High City’s story through its historical legacy.
Denver native Mark A. Barnhouse has published six history books on Denver, leads walking tours for the annual Doors Open Denver celebration of the city’s built environment and is available for speaking engagements. He earned his BA in history and English literature from the University of Colorado–Denver and has continued to research and write. You’ll find him on Facebook at “Denver History Books by Mark A. Barnhouse.”