History in Colorado

Discover 23 places to experience unusual history in Colorado.

Fruita, Colorado

Dinosaur Journey Museum

Explore a wealth of fossils in one of the most prolific dig sites in North America.

Sponsored by Visit Colorado

Antonito, Colorado

El Santuario de los Pobladores

Colorado's oldest church is now home to the largest handmade adobe labyrinth in the world.

Brandon, Colorado

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

The hallowed ground of one of the worst atrocities in United States history.

Lakeside, Colorado

Lakeside Amusement Park

One of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in the U.S. is an open-air museum of Art Deco and neon lights.

Columbine Memorial

Littleton, Colorado

Columbine Memorial

A memorial dedicated to the victims of the Columbine High School shootings.

Lindon, Colorado

Abbott Church

A tiny nondenominational church harkens back to the days of the first homesteaders in the region.

Fort Collins, Colorado

The Old Main Bell

After being lost for nearly a century, this historic bell finally returned home after its mysterious theft.

Tracks cut into soft volcanic ash.

Del Norte, Colorado

Penitente Canyon Wagon Tracks

Historic, 19th-century wagon wheel ruts cut into soft volcanic ash.

Virgin Wall at Penitente Canyon.

Del Norte, Colorado

Madonna of Penitente Canyon

A mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe painted on the rock wall by canyon's religious namesake.

Looking up the pass. The trestle seems a lot narrower than it is.

Winter Park, Colorado

Devil's Slide Trestles

These decaying bridges 1,000 feet high are a reminder of the skill it took to cross the Colorado Rockies by rail.

Tunnel 33, now collapsed.

Winter Park, Colorado

Rifle Sight Notch

This old train trestle and collapsed tunnel once allowed the railroad to negotiate the steep slopes of the Colorado Rockies.

The Four Mile House in the park.

Glendale, Colorado

Four Mile Historic Park

It's easy to forget what century it is as you wander this rustic homestead.

Opening of the cave.

Morrison, Colorado

Colorow's Cave

In the middle of a suburban Denver neighborhood is a cave that once provided solace for a prominent Ute chief and his family.

The plaque commemorating the creation of the American Board of Orthodontics.

Estes Park, Colorado

Birthplace of the American Board of Orthodontics

The start of the group that straightened the teeth of a nation.

The original Cornerstone

Pueblo, Colorado

Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo Museum

A mental health hospital dating back more than 139 years, now features a museum.

Baldwin #488 K-36 type narrow gauge engine in Chama, New Mexico yards

Antonito, Colorado

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

An antique narrow gauge railway line still running through the Colorado and New Mexico mountains.