What Denver Looked like in the late 19th Century Through these Fascinating Historical Photos

Founded in November 1858 as a gold miner’s settlement, Denver, Colorado grew rapidly from a rough frontier town into a thriving state capital. The city survived fires, floods, economic booms driven by silver and gold, and the devastating financial panic of 1893. These photographs capture Denver and the surrounding region during the late 19th century, showing its streets, buildings, railroads, and everyday people during one of the most dramatic periods of its history.

The Union Pacific Railroad Company shops in Denver, Colorado. Industrial buildings, a roundhouse, and a smokestack are near the railroad tracks.

Archer Canal in Denver, Colorado; shows an Alameda Avenue bridge and a business.

Eleven men stand in front of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway building at an unidentified exposition. The building was later moved to Palmer Lake (El Paso County), Colorado, and served as the railroad depot. The Victorian style building has a tower with decorative spindles, brackets, and front and side gables.

View of the first West Side High School at 5th (Fifth) Avenue and Fox Street in Denver, Colorado. Workers stand in front of the brick building.

A giant American flag is displayed for holidays on the Daniels and Fisher Store at 16th (Sixteenth) and Lawrence Streets in Denver, Colorado.

View of frame buildings, probably Denver and Rio Grande Railroad tracks, and telegraph poles beside the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs (Garfield County), Colorado.

Men sit on top of a train, on a timber sidewalk, or near a passenger train and Denver & Rio Grande Railroad tracks at a railroad depot in Creede (Mineral County), Colorado. Supplies and belongings stacked on the sidewalk include a mattress, wooden crates and trunks, and probably furniture. Smoke is above a passenger train. Rio Grande & Southern freight cars are on tracks nearby.

View of people, horses, and covered wagons on a dirt street in Denver, Colorado. Shows men, carriages, and wagons in front of the Planters’ House building, a two-story, frame hotel and stage stop at the corner of 16th (Sixteenth) Street and Blake Street in downtown Denver.

A giant American flag displayed for holidays on the Daniels and Fisher Store at 16th (Sixteenth) and Lawrence Streets in Denver, Colorado. Window displays show clothing and framed pictures.

View of the Union Pacific roundhouse in Denver, Colorado. The brick masonry building has a large smokestack. Another building and Union Pacific, Denver, and Gulf railroad cars are nearby.

Federal Mint building under construction at West Colfax Avenue and Delaware Street in Denver, Colorado. The two-story granite building has marble lunettes above arched and rectangular windows. A fence encircles the construction site, a bicycle leans against a wood frame building, and an American flag hangs from a pole. The second floor portion of the Mint is under construction and shows exposed support beams.

Federal Mint building at West Colfax and Delaware Street in Denver, Colorado. The two-story granite building has marble lunettes above arched and rectangular windows and a bracketed cornice. The roof is under construction and a crane is next to the building. Shows an American flag hung from a pole, a bicycle, and a wood frame building.

North Denver High School at 29th (Twenty-ninth) and Firth Court in the Highland neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. Shows a Second Empire style building with a central pavilion topped by a tower with roof cresting and porthole windows, arched door entrances, and eyebrow-like window heads. Children stand in the school yard. An adult stands in the entryway.

Rooftop view of the Post Office at 16th (Sixteenth) and Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver, Denver County, Colorado. Streetcars, pedestrians, and horse-drawn wagons are on the street. The Mining Exchange is in the distance.

The summer resort hotel at Cebolla on the Gunnison River (Gunnison County), Colorado. The hotel is a two-story brick structure and a one-story long log cabin structure. Tents and outbuildings are in the yard and a bridge extends over the river. Tracks of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad parallel the river.

View of the Masonic Temple (1889) Lodge #5 at 16th (Sixteenth) and Welton Streets in Denver, Denver County, Colorado. Shows an Italianate style building with tall arched windows, parapets, and rusticated stone trim.

View of the Ernest & Cranmer Building at 17th and Curtis Streets in Denver, Colorado. Shows an Italianate style building with tall arched windows, balustrade, roof finials, and an arched doorway with rusticated stone trim.

View of Haish Manual Training School located in the University of Denver Haish Building at 14th (Fourteenth) and Arapahoe Streets, Denver, Colorado. Shows an Italianate style building with tall arched windows, parapet, and rusticated stone trim. “University of Denver” appears over the arched doorway.

View of the National Mining and Industrial Exposition complex, which opened on August 1, 1882, at the corner of South Broadway and Exposition Avenue in Denver, Colorado. The multi-story building complex has towers with belvederes, rectangular and arched windows, a pedimented facade, hip and gabled roofs, and an arched entrance. Displays inside the complex exhibited mining and industrial equipment and resources from 1882 to 1884. The buildings were removed after the third exhibition ended in October 1884.

View of the Masonic Temple, Lodge #5 at 16th (Sixteenth) and Welton Streets in Denver, Denver County, Colorado. Shows an Italianate style building with tall arched windows, parapets, and rusticated stone trim.

View of a Denver & Rio Grande Railroad tipple in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company coal camp of Rouse (Huerfano County), Colorado. Shows freight cars on tracks, coal mine buildings, smoke, and smokestacks. Probably company houses are near the tipple. Buildings in town include frame houses and commercial buildings, the two-story U.S. Post Office with a central pediment, and the Osgood School with a domed cupola.

View of the Railroad Building on Larimer Street between 15th (Fifteenth) and 16th (Sixteenth) Streets in Denver, Denver County, Colorado. Shows an Italianate style building with arched windows, balustrade, and rusticated stone trim.

View from the Mining Exchange Building at 15th (Fifteenth) and Arapahoe Streets of streets and buildings in downtown Denver, Colorado. The Equitable Building, at 17th and Stout Streets, is in the distance.

Rooftop view of Denver to the southwest, probably from the Presbyterian church belfry at 17th (Seventeenth) Avenue and Sherman Streets. Shows the cable car power house at Colfax and Broadway, with a “Denver Tramway Co.” sign visible.

View of Larimer Street from 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, Denver County, Colorado. Shows the Pioneer Building, an Italianate style building with tall arched windows and balustrade. The Railroad Building is next door. A Denver Tramway trolley car, horse-drawn wagons, and pedestrians are in the intersection.

View of Larimer Street from 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, Denver County, Colorado. Shows the Pioneer Building, an Italianate style building with tall arched windows and balustrade. The Railroad Building is next door. Denver Tramway trolley cars, a horse-drawn covered wagon, and pedestrians are in the intersection.

A group of children, probably delivery boys and girls, pose outside of the Denver Post newspaper office on 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, Colorado.

View of the Jewish Club in Denver, Colorado. The Richardsonian Romanesque style building has towers with conical roofs, an arched entryway, and a dormer.

View of downtown Denver, Colorado. Prominent buildings include the Gettysburg Building, which housed a cyclorama, on Champa Street, the Charles Building, and the Arapahoe County Courthouse in the distance.

A group of graduating students pose with their teachers on the steps of East Denver High School at 19th and Stout Streets in Denver, Colorado.

Two men stand on narrow gauge tracks near a signal on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad near the Ben Butler Mine in Eagle River Canyon (Eagle County), Colorado. Shows a train on the tracks, tailings, a tram house, cables for buckets, telegraph poles, a tramway, and other mining structures on the cliff faces.

A man sits on a delivery wagon near the Summit Company building at the intersection of Ashland Avenue (later West 29th, Twenty-Ninth Avenue) and Gallup Street (later Zuni Street) in Denver, Colorado. Phone and utility poles line the street.

Men, women, and a boy stand on the platform of the frame Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company and Colorado Midland Railway Company depot in Rifle (Garfield County), Colorado. Tracks are beside the platform.

View of the Arkansas River from the edge of Salida (Chaffee County), Colorado. Shows Denver & Rio Grande Railroad tracks, the roundhouse, and turntable. The Sawatch Mountains are in the distance.

View of the coal breaker building at the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company mine at Floresta (Gunnison County), Colorado. Shows a trestle and tracks of the Ruby-Anthracite branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.

View of men and women in rowboats, in hats, suits, and dresses, on Palmer Lake, at Palmer Lake (El Paso County), Colorado. Shows a fountain, boat house, water tank, the Denver and Rio Grande depot, tracks, and the Judd Eating House. Painted on rowboats: “Martha”, “Minnie”, and “Inez.”

Men and a girl stand and pose beside the two-story brick Denver Fire Department building, Station (Steamer) #2, at 900 W. Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado. The building has arched windows and doorways with decorative keystones.

Two women in dresses sit on rocks near Denver and Rio Grande Railway narrow gauge tracks at Cumbres Pass, probably in Conejos County, Colorado. Shows log buildings with doors and sod roofs, a log lean-to, rock formations, and possibly the Rio Chama valley in the distance.

View of men and women in rowboats, in hats, suits, and dresses, on Palmer Lake, at Palmer Lake (El Paso County), Colorado. Shows a fountain, boat house, water tank, the Denver and Rio Grande depot, tracks, and the Judd Eating House.

Men pose beside a horse-drawn water tank and the brick Denver Fire Department Station (Steamer) #2 at 900 W. Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado. Firemen wear uniforms with double-breasted jackets and caps with insignia.

Men pose beside a horse-drawn water tank and the brick Denver Fire Department Station (Steamer) #2 at 900 W. Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado. Firemen wear uniforms with double-breasted jackets and caps with insignia.

Aerial view of the Finance building at Lowry Air Force Base, located in Denver, Colorado.

A man poses on the steps of the Chamberlin Observatory at Fillmore Street and Warren Avenue on the campus of the University of Denver, in Colorado. The Richardsonian Romanesque structure, designed by Robert S. Roeschlaub, is constructed from rusticated stone blocks and includes a central rotunda and domed roof.

Men in uniforms pose by a frame exhibition building with a deep porch, classic entablature, and a ticket kiosk.

Group portrait of men and women in Denver, Colorado, by a frame exhibition building with a deep porch, classic entablature, and a ticket kiosk.

A horse is tied to a doorway of the wood Express 201 building in Denver, Colorado. A sign above the doorway reads “Express 201 prompt attention to all orders 1556 Penna. Ave.”

A view of a multiple-story building at the intersection of 14th (Fourteenth) and Lawrence Streets in Denver, Colorado. Piles of wood and other construction materials are on the streets in front of the building. Shows other local businesses, utility poles, and trolley car tracks.

Rooftop view of the Masonic Temple at 16th (Sixteenth) and Welton Streets in downtown Denver, Colorado. The five-story rusticated stone building has arched windows and decorative trim. Pedestrians are on the street.

View of shacks and tents in a field next to the Northwestern Terminal Company railyard, between 16th (Sixteenth) and 19th (Nineteenth) Streets in Denver, Colorado. Shows mill and smokestack.

A view of a Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company brick building with three smokestacks, possibly the railroad shops in Denver, Colorado. The windows are arched and there is a star carved in stone above the door. Railroad car parts are in the field that surrounds the building. Railroad tracks run in front of the building. A man walks past the building.