The History Colorado Center is a museum in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

dedicated to the history of the state of Colorado. Construction on the $111 million building started on 19 August 2009. The museum opened on 28 April 2012 at 1200 Broadway, one block south of the site of its predecessor, the Colorado History Museum, which closed in 2010. The center is administered by

History Colorado History Colorado is a historical society that was established in 1879 as the State Historical Society of Colorado, also known as the Colorado Historical Society. History Colorado is a 501(c)(3) organization and an agency of the State of Colorado un ...

, formerly the Colorado Historical Society.

Research

The Stephen H. Hart Library & Research Center provides a collection of artifacts, archives and photography to History of Colorado's Collection. Collections consists of maps, clothing, teapots, photography dating from the 1850s, and news paper collections containing marriage, birth, and death records.

Permanent Exhibits

The History Colorado Center features six permanent exhibits: Living West, Colorado Stories, Denver A-Z, Destination Colorado, Time Machine, and Denver Diorama. All exhibits feature hands-on opportunities for childhood learning and interesting displays for adults.

Living West

The Living West exhibit is a 7,000 square foot exhibit that explores the living dynamics between the people of Colorado and their state's environment. The exhibit is divided into three areas which focus on different environmental regions at different times in Colorado's history. The importance of water is a theme that runs throughout each area of the exhibit. The three exhibit areas of Living West include Mesa Verde (western Colorado), the Dust Bowl (the plains), and the Mountains.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde focuses on the daily lives of the

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...

. The exhibit features dioramas and artifacts including pottery and tools.

Dust Bowl

In this section, museum visitors can experience the Black Sunday storm of the 1930s and see what hardships the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

offered homesteading Coloradans.

Mountains

In this exhibit area, visitors can marvel at some of the wildlife Colorado's mountains have to offer as well as see how roads and rivers through the mountains have shaped life everywhere in the state. Using a hands-on water diorama and trees affected by the

Mountain pine beetle The mountain pine beetle (''Dendroctonus ponderosae'') is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton, and measures approximately , about the siz ...

as examples, the museum illustrates just how important preserving Colorado's resources is.

Destination Colorado

Destination Colorado focuses on the former town of

Keota, Colorado Keota is a mostly abandoned town located on the prairie in the Pawnee National Grasslands in Weld County, Colorado, Weld County in the U.S. state of Colorado. Keota's elevation is . Keota is located approximately 50 miles east of Greeley on Coun ...

which has since become unincorporated. The town, established in 1880, is described as the iconic homesteading mecca that faced drought and famine but was also filled with kindness and community. The trip through the exhibit is narrated by several actors portraying real residents of Keota as it winds through the general store and school, among other places. Some of Keota's residences and many of their relatives are still alive today.

Colorado Stories

Colorado Stories takes an in-depth look at some of the people that have shaped Colorado's history and made it the state it is today. Highlights include a ski jump simulator and a short video on loop depicting the struggles faced by internees at the

Granada War Relocation Center The Amache National Historic Site, formally the Granada War Relocation Center but known to the internees as Camp Amache, was a concentration camp for Japanese Americans in Prowers County, Colorado. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor o ...

, an internment camp in Southeastern Colorado used to house Japanese-Americans after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. A walk-through exhibit area shows the cramped conditions in the internees' quarters. Other exhibits include a Silverton, CO silver mine, a look at rangers working in

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

and a section that explores the various triumphs and hardships experienced by Colorado's African-Americans.

Time Machine

Upon entering the museum, guests are greeted by a 40 by 60-foot map of the state of Colorado. The map was designed by renowned artist Steven Weitzman using a revolutionary type of concrete tiles he designed himself. When visitors move a large "steam punk" style time machine over certain areas on the map, screens on the machine come to life and go back in time to relay fascinating stories from different periods in that area's history.

Denver A-Z

This quirky exhibit focuses on the capital of Denver. A journey through the alphabet reveals interesting tidbits about Colorado's most populous city from big blue bears to the city's fascination with zombies.

The Denver Diorama

A local favorite, the Denver Diorama shows what this major city looked like when it was a small town on the 1800s Colorado plains.

References

External links

History Colorado Center website
{{Authority control Museums in Denver History museums in Colorado History Colorado