History Colorado Center

Sand Creek massacre: Tribes, History Colorado to consult on exhibit while Collision is closed

When a wrong is almost 150 years old, righting it may not be quick. That's one of the many lessons of the Sand Creek Massacre, a stain on Colorado history that stretches back to November 29, 1864, when Colonel John Chivington led 700 troops on a raid of a peaceful Indian camp at Sand Creek, killing ... More >>

Reader: Barry Fey never lost Denver's love

Iron Man 3 compares villain's work to Sand Creek Massacre

Historian Ari Kelman was watching Iron Man 3 this past weekend with his son when he was startled by a familiar reference, one that seemed very out of context in a Hollywood blockbuster. Mandarin, the apparent arch-villain played by Ben Kingsley, was comparing his own act of terrorism in attacking a ... More >>

Union Station-booted model railroad club will make a stop at History Colorado

The Platte Valley & Western Railroad club started packing up its thirty-year-old model-train layout in the basement of Union Station last weekend, with no idea where the 2,000 square-foot display will eventually land. Union Station Alliance, the developer of Union Station, says it's "offered the ba ... More >>

Union Station: Model-train club packs up, new-home option isn't free

On Saturday, while thousands of freeloaders hopped on board the new West Line to ride light rail from downtown to Golden and back, members of the Platte Valley & Western Model Railroad club gathered in the dark basement of the shuttered Union Station and started dismantling the layout they'd initial ... More >>

Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver art ... More >>

History Colorado could shutter its controversial Sand Creek Massacre exhibit

Photos: Union Station's historic model trains still homeless -- but fans are stepping up

Since we broke the sad news yesterday that the two model-train layouts that have been in the basement of Union Station for decades -- eight decades, in one case -- will not be there when Union Station reopens in 2014, fans have been hopping on board to help find them a new home. And in the meantime, ... More >>

Best of Denver 2013 Readers' Poll: Meet this year's Arts & Entertainment winners

The 2013 Best of Denver is now on stands (and online), and in its 196 pages you'll find Westword's picks for the best arts events and institutions around town. Along the way, we asked you to nominate and then vote for your favorites in dozens of categories; halfway through the voting process, we ann ... More >>

Reader: There's more to Denver than A to Z

TBD Colorado collecting online opinions on transportation, education

When all the smoke clears over the gun debate, Colorado will still have other tough issues to tackle. What's the future of this state? That's what TBD Colorado wants to determine. Last year, the non-partisan nonprofit -- "No state dollars are being spent on TBD Colorado," its website promises -- h ... More >>

History Colorado: "A" should be for "Advertising"

History Colorado bills Denver A to Z as a "lighthearted and interactive exhibit" from Adrenaline to Zombies. Zzzzz. "Near and Dear" mountains for "N"? It's hard to come up with a smart alphabet-shtick variation; I try and fail in this week's column. And I already have a correction: "A" should be for ... More >>

TBD Colorado brings the discussion of this state's future home

As the Colorado Senate begins debating gun bills, the Capitol should be filled with enough opinions today to blow the dome right off. But you can shoot your mouth off on the future of this state without even leaving your couch or kitchen table: Starting today, TBD Colorado is bringing the discussion ... More >>

Best of Denver 2013 Readers' Poll: The first round of Arts & Entertainment finalists

For the first time in the thirty-year history of Westword's Best of Denver, we've split the Best of Denver Readers' Poll into two rounds, giving you the chance to look at the leading vote-getters and then vote again for your favorite galleries, theaters and entertainments in metro Denver. And the re ... More >>

Silas Soule's letter tells the true story of Sand Creek...but like the massacre, it was misplaced

With all its fancy production -- a soundtrack with barking dogs, gunfire, screams; misty quotes appearing and disappearing, mysterious red, white and blue lights illuminating artifacts -- the single-most stunning item in Collsion: The Sand Creek Massacre, 1860s-Today at History Colorado is a single ... More >>

A century and a half later, the wounds of Sand Creek are still fresh

Catch up on Colorado's past at the History Colorado Center

A little-known chapter of indigenous Colorado history will unfold tonight when the History Colorado Center's ongoing monthly lecture series presents "And Many Wore Moccasins: The Ute, Navajo and Blackfoot Nations and World War I," with Dr. Timothy Winegard of Colorado Mesa University. See also: - ... More >>

Photos: Denver diorama finds new home in History Colorado Center lobby

Lovers of the Denver diorama, rejoice! On Friday and Saturday, visitors to the History Colorado Center can watch the Lilliputian tribute to circa-1860 Denver being reassembled in the museum's lobby. The much-loved exhibit, which was crafted in the 1930s by federal work programs workers, was cut apar ... More >>

Beaujolais and Beyond, beer pairings and more on the calendar this week

The Rocky Mountain French American Chamber of Commerce will host the 14th annual Beaujolais and Beyond Food & Wine Festival at Infinity Park Event Center this Thursday, November 15. The fundraiser features more than twenty local restaurants, and participating chefs will take part in a culinary chall ... More >>

Architecture Design Film Series opens tonight with a celebration of midcentury modern style

Colorado-grown Design OnScreen, a non-profit working for the preservation of modern architecture through film, has been hard at work. Just back from the Biennale Architettura in Venice in late August, the organization is now hosting its fourth annual Architectural Design Film Series, a month of mo ... More >>

A love letter to the town (I mean city) of Brighton, Colorado

For much of my childhood, I led a double life. Okay, that's a super-dramatic way of saying that from age seven to age seventeen, I went between two households: one in Brighton and one in Denver. This wasn't because my parents were divorced (not yet), but because my best friend, who'd lived next door ... More >>

Sneak peak! Jennifer Goodland's Big Year Colorado photography gallery at Leela

Jennifer Goodland teaches Colorado history at Metropolitan State University of Denver, and she truly loves this state. On an unpaid sabbatical from teaching, since April she's been trekking across Colorado with the goal of photographing every town in this state. After photographing close to 400 plac ... More >>

Summer Guide 2012: Things to do June 21-27

We released our 2012 Summer Guide in June, including hundreds of events and opportunities to escape both in the city and in the great outdoors. Each Thursday, we'll roll out the best things to do this week, making it easier for you to plan your summer. Among this week's listings are the Westword Mus ... More >>

Rocky Flats Cold War Museum heats up with open hours -- and glowing souvenirs!

Colorado has dozens of museums devoted to unusual items -- bells, washing machines. Some are temporary, some permanent. But no museum promises to have the half-life of the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum, devoted to the plant that manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs just sixteen miles nort ... More >>

Photos: Lakewood Gulch art prank celebrates day drinking, off-leash dogs

Peter Miles Bergman is drawn to the unsanctioned. In 2004, the founder of art-prank society The Institute of Sociometry made his backyard into a faux parking lot to showcase how ridiculous it was that homeowners near the Broncos stadium couldn't sell parking or even to give it away. This year, Bergm ... More >>

Woof in Boots grand opening proves there's life after MMJ for Vincent Palozzotto

Last month, Vincent Palazzotto announced the shutdown of the Medical Marijuana Assistance Program, a nonprofit devoted to the rights of MMJ patients. But he's landed on his own two feet -- which is two fewer than the number boasted by most of his future clients. Tonight marks the grand opening of Wo ... More >>

Philip Anschutz opens his substantial collection of Western art to the public

Sucker Punch: The "Big Bitch" could bite fighting concert-goer

Video: Mayhem Festival clips capture events before assault

Reader: Michael Paglia's comments on the new History Colorado Center are getting old

You're not going to see Edie Winograde's "Battle on the Little Big Horn" at History Colorado, or any of the other pieces that graced the recent Appropriated: The Chronicled West at the Robishon Gallery, the show organized by husband-and-wife team Jim Robischon and Jennifer Doran, who pulled together ... More >>

Photos: Colorado firefighters at calendar tryout are body-licking good!

Friday night at the Exdo Events Center, the crowd went wild, repeatedly, as thirty men and three women auditioned for featured spots in the 2013 Colorado Firefighter Calendar -- and as you can see, one attendee's tongue got a real workout. Look below for a sampling of photos by Jim Wills from the ba ... More >>

Reader: History Colorado is dumb, dumb, dumb not to display dioramas

Colorado's archives include eighteen dioramas that were displayed at the old history museum -- but are nowhere to be seen at the new History Colorado Center. Is that dumb?

PechaKucha Night is back, bringing artists of all types together for creative conversation

Artists talking to each other about their work is nothing new, but PechaKucha Night's aim is to get artists from all different mediums in the same room to discuss their creative processes. Founded in Tokyo in 2003, the event has a rigid format that chapters all over the world follow: Presenters comp ... More >>

History Colorado Center to bring back Denver diorama: What about bloody buffalo hunt?

The most common question state historian Bill Convery hears about the new History Colorado Center is, "Where is the Denver diorama going to be?" That huge diorama depicts the Mile High City in 1860, complete with the old Rocky Mountain News building, an Arapaho Indian camp and, Convery says, "fantas ... More >>

Colorful Colorado sign lives on at History Colorado

My favorite artifact on display at the new History Colorado Center is an old "Colorful Colorado" sign right by the fabulous floor map of Colorado, riddled with bullet holes and sporting colored-in lettering -- vandalism, according to the highway workers who took down the sign. History, according to ... More >>

History Colorado Center: Are Coors bottles really part of the recycled floor?

"In the real world, nothing happens at the right place at the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct that." So said Mark Twain, and after the first historic week of the History Colorado Center, we have a quick correction: You may not be walking on Coors bottles.

Contemporary art with a Western edge fills Robischon

See more images from Appropriated: The Chronicled West

Reader: New History Colorado Center is world-class, and Michael Paglia is not

The criticism of Michael Paglia's review of the History Colorado Center, and his subsequent suggestions for "Ten shows the History Colorado Center should have opened with," are getting pretty colorful. Says Guest: I don't understand why you don't just open your own musuem! I'm quite irritated that ... More >>

New York Times on History Colorado Center: Does Colorado even have that much history?

This weekend the New York Times published a review of the new History Colorado Center, which started in a very New York-centric way: An East Coast visitor's first reaction, provincially enough, has to be skepticism: does Colorado even have that much history?

History Colorado

Michael Paglia loves the new History Colorado building -- but the exhibits inside it, not so much. And yesterday, as a followup to his original review of the place, he suggested "Ten shows the History Colorado Center should have opened with." Says Dana: These are brilliant ideas!!!! Love 'em!!! Ho ... More >>

Ten things to do for $10 this weekend, April 27-29, 2012

Whether you're an indoor- or outdoor-lover, a literature-aficionado or a film geek, this weekend is packed with something for everyone -- from a screening of His Royal Badness's 1984 classic Purple Rain to free admission at National Parks. And everything in our roundup is under $10! For a full calen ... More >>

Ten shows the History Colorado Center should have opened with

The brand new History Colorado Center opens on Saturday. Last week, in my column about the wonderfully-designed museum, I pointed out how poor the two debut shows, Colorado Stories and Destination Colorado, are. Rather than trying to elevate the discussion, the museum and History Colorado chief oper ... More >>

Open Door Policy

The new History Colorado Center is an architectural triumph

NBC's Education Nation to host Teacher Town Hall in Denver on Sunday night

On Sunday night, NBC's Education Nation, a traveling summit about innovations in education, will host a Teacher Town Hall in Denver. Moderated by NBC education reporter Rehema Ellis, the teacher-only event will feature a rotating panel of nine local educators picked for their expertise on topics suc ... More >>

Mayor Michael Hancock's Denver bucket list for 2012

​Denver has been threatened with doom many times -- when the transcontinental railroad threatened to skip the infant city, when numerous booms went bust, when the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant caught fire. Although the homegrown PeaceJam has debunked the latest doomsday scenario -- that th ... More >>

The History Colorado Center's beer-bottle floor will be revealed next spring

History Colorado Center: peek inside the museum during ULI's Civic Center Ramble tomorrow

​For the past two years, the History Colorado Center has been going up at 12th Avenue and Broadway, but the public hasn't been allowed to see inside the state's new history museum -- until now. Tomorrow from 2 to 6:30 pm, the Urban Land Institute Colorado, a land-use research and education org ... More >>

Meet Denver's hottest construction worker (sign)

This man wants to make sure you wear protection.​Say hello to the hunkiest construction-safety sign ever. It's the kind of sign that makes you proud to be an American, and it's hanging on the fence that surrounds the dirt hole at 12th Avenue and Broadway that will one day be the new History Co ... More >>

Digging into the future of Colorado History