September 2025. After Oscar came to London in June 2024 and I joined him there for a day, I’m now going to his hometown of Denver in Colorado. My second trip to the United States in 2025, after visiting my uncle and aunt in Wilmington, North Carolina. No, Denver is is not on foreign tourists’ mind when travelling to the US. But that doesn’t bother me. Quite the contrary.
On my last full day in Denver, I visited the History Colorado Center, which is the museum of history of Colorado.
History Colorado Center
The History Colorado Center in Denver is a modern museum dedicated to exploring and interpreting the state’s past. Located at 1200 Broadway, the $111 million building opened to the public on 28 April 2012, replacing the former Colorado History Museum, which had stood one block to the north. The centre is operated by History Colorado, the organisation formerly known as the Colorado Historical Society.
Construction began in August 2009, with the aim of creating a space that combined serious historical research with engaging, interactive exhibitions. At its core is the Stephen H. Hart Library and Research Center, which preserves and makes accessible a wide range of materials. The collections include maps, newspapers, photographs dating from the 1850s, clothing, domestic objects and archival records documenting births, marriages and deaths, offering rich resources for historians and genealogists alike.
The museum is best known for its permanent exhibitions, which approach Colorado’s story from multiple perspectives.
‘Living West‘ explores the deep relationship between people and the environment, focusing on Mesa Verde, the Dust Bowl and the mountain regions. Visitors encounter Ancestral Puebloan life through pottery and tools, experience the ferocity of the ‘Black Sunday‘ storm of the 1930s, and see the effects of mountain ecology on everyday life, including the devastation of the pine beetle.
‘Destination Colorado‘ recreates the once-thriving homesteading town of Keota, established in 1880. Through reconstructed settings such as the general store and schoolhouse, and with narration provided by actors portraying real residents, the exhibition conveys the hardships, resilience and strong sense of community that defined life on the plains.
‘Colorado Stories‘ brings together diverse narratives that have shaped the state, ranging from the struggles of Japanese Americans interned at the Granada War Relocation Center during World War II to the experiences of African Americans, miners in Silverton, rangers in Rocky Mountain National Park and ski pioneers.
Other exhibitions highlight specific aspects of the state’s identity. The ‘Time Machine‘, set against a vast floor map of Colorado designed by artist Steven Weitzman, allows visitors to roll a mechanical device across the surface and trigger stories from different places and eras.
‘Denver A–Z‘ takes a playful look at the capital city through an alphabet of unusual facts, while the Denver Diorama remains a local favourite, presenting the city as it appeared in the 1800s, when it was little more than a settlement on the plains.
When I visited in September 2025, ‘The 90s, Last Decade Before The Future‘ was a temporary exhibitions. As the title says, it explores the 90s from Coloradan and American perspective.
Since its opening, the History Colorado Center has established itself as both a research hub and a public attraction, blending scholarship with interactive learning to make the state’s complex history accessible to audiences of all ages.
The history of Colorado
Colorado’s history stretches back millennia—long before European arrival, the land was inhabited by Paleoamerican peoples for at least 13,500 years, possibly more than 37,000. Early Indian cultures such as the Ancestral Puebloans made their home in the valleys and mesas of what is now the Colorado Plateau; the Ute Nation occupied the mountain valleys; Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, Cheyenne and Shoshone peoples also lived in or passed through the region.
European involvement began with Spanish explorers claiming territories in the south, as part of New Spain, followed by French interest in land east of the Rocky Mountains. Through treaties and territorial adjustments, including the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the lands that would become Colorado passed among Spanish, Mexican, French and United States control. These realignments opened the region to increasing numbers of settlers, trappers, and traders.
The discovery of gold near the South Platte River (notably at Ralston’s Creek) in 1858 triggered the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. The rush drew large numbers of miners and other immigrants into the area — many of whom were traveling through to California but stayed when prospecting proved promising. The population boom helped build towns and created pressure for formal governance.
In 1859 settlers formed the Provisional Territory of Jefferson, an unrecognised government meant to fill the void in administrative structure. Official territorial status was granted in 1861 when the U.S. Congress established the Territory of Colorado, with boundaries largely the same as the modern state. Colorado’s territorial structure was in part a strategic move during the Civil War era, as control over mineral-rich regions and transportation routes was vital.
Conflicts between Native American nations and U.S. settlers and military forces were frequent. The Colorado War of 1863–1865 resulted in the forced displacement of tribes such as the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne.
Among its worst chapters was the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, where an attack on a Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment by U.S. forces drew condemnation later for its brutality.
When Colorado became a state on August 1, 1876 — earning the nickname ‘Centennial State‘ because its admission came 100 years after the Declaration of Independence — its boundaries were those already set during territorial times.
In the late 19th century, mining emerged as a dominant economic force. Silver discoveries in places such as Leadville in 1879, combined with earlier gold strikes, drew capital, workers, and infrastructure. Mining towns sprung up across the mountains.
Colorado also became a site of innovation in civil rights and political reform. In 1893, Colorado was among the first states to grant women the right to vote via popular referendum. Meanwhile, as mining and railroads expanded, so too did tensions around labor and working conditions.
Through the 20th century, Colorado’s growth continued, propelled by agriculture, tourism, energy and urban development. Cities such as Denver expanded rapidly. The rugged natural landscapes, including the Rocky Mountains and national parks, attracted millions of visitors. Changes in transportation — railroads first, later highways and aviation — linked Colorado more tightly to the rest of the country.
In recent decades, Colorado has continued to confront challenges related to environmental preservation, urbanization, water rights, and the legacy of its Indigenous peoples, even as its economy diversified into technology, aerospace, outdoor recreation, and renewable energy.
Today, Colorado’s identity is shaped both by its dramatic natural landscapes and by a complex past of settlement, conflict, and adaptation.
A visit
While not as vast as the Denver Art Museum, the History Colorado Centers demands perhaps more reading time. So I stayed over three hours. There’s no defined sequence for visiting the sections.
There’s no distracting audioguide either. The museum treats the history of the state in an anecdotical manner, so there is variety and diversity in its presentation.
I learned a lot about the Native American nations, their oppression, but also the oppressions of the first white settlers, of Spanish decent. Colorado was the home of the internment caps for Japanese and has a patchy LGBTQIA+ history. The state us now firmly progressive.
I would strongly recommend a visit.
Colorado 2025
- REVIEW | Lufthansa Airbus A380 in business class from Munich to Denver, return.
- DENVER | RiNo Art District – Coors Field – Lower Downtown – Union Station.
- REVIEW | Catbird Hotel in Denver’s RiNo Art District.
- REVIEW | Forney Transportation Museum in Denver.
- DENVER | 16th Street Mall.
- COLORADO | Boulder ft. Chautauqua Trail, Boulder-Dushanbe Teahouse and Pearl Street Mall.
- DENVER | Visit of the Colorado State Capitol.
- COLORADO | Denver Art Museum.