Things To Do in Leadville

Experiencing Leadville's Past

A great many residences of successful mining operators, engineers, and financiers are preserved within the Leadville National Historic Landmark District, which stretches along 7 blocks of Harrison Avenue and part of Chestnut Street, where it intersects Harrison at the south end of downtown. A self-guided walking tour of this district, with map, is available free at the visitor center. An informative 30-minute video, The Earth Runs Silver: Early Leadville, is shown at the visitor center for free on request, and it provides a good overview of Leadville's place in American mining history.

Leadville has numerous historic buildings open to the public; allow 30 minutes to an hour for each of the following.

You'll discover Leadville's colorful past at the Heritage Museum, corner of Ninth Street and Harrison Avenue (tel. 719/486-1878), a historical museum loaded with exhibits on and artifacts from Leadville's early days, from mining dioramas to a scale model of the ice palace that Leadville residents created in 1896. There's also an art gallery displaying the work of local artists (most of it is for sale), and a gift shop with a good selection of books and mining-related souvenirs. Admission costs $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 62 and older, $3 for students 6 to 16, and free for children under 6. It's open May through October daily from 10am to 6pm, with slightly shorter hours at the beginning and end of the season.

At the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, 120 W. Ninth St. (tel. 719/486-1229; www.mininghalloffame.org), you'll find walk-through replica mines, models of mining machinery, and dioramas depicting the history of Colorado mining from coal to gold. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors 62 and older, $4 for children 6 to 12, and it's free for children under 6. Open May through October daily from 9am to 5pm, and November through April Monday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Peer into Horace Tabor's Matchless Mine, 1 1/4-mile east up Seventh Street, and tour the Baby Doe Tabor Museum (tel. 719/486-1229), where you'll see how Tabor's widow, Baby Doe, spent the final 36 years of her life, hoping to strike it rich once more. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, $4 for children 6 to 12, and free for kids under 6. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day daily from 9am to 5pm. Combination mining museum/mine tickets run $10 adults, $9 seniors, and $5 kids.

To get an up-close look at where a few fortunate miners were able to escape the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of the mines, if only for an evening, visit Healy House and Dexter Cabin, 912 Harrison Ave. (tel. 719/486-0487; www.coloradohistory.org). Healy House was built by smelter owner August Meyer in 1878 and later converted into a lavish boardinghouse by Daniel Healy. The adjacent rough-hewn log cabin was built by James Dexter and furnished in an elegant style. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors 65 and older, $3.50 for children 6 to 16, and free for children under 6. Open Memorial Day weekend through September daily from 10am to 4:30pm.

The Tabor Opera House, 308 Harrison Ave. (tel. 719/486-8409; www.taboroperahouse.net), is where Leadville's mining magnates and their wives kept up with cultural happenings back East. Opened in 1879, over the years it has hosted everything from the Ziegfeld Follies and the Metropolitan Opera to prizefighter Jack Dempsey (a Colorado native) and magician Harry Houdini (whose vanishing square is still evident on the stage floor). Visitors can explore the 880-seat theater, backstage, and the dressing rooms, or attend one of the musical or theater performances still held here. (Check the website for the current schedule and prices.) Admission to tour the opera house is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors 65 and older, and $2.50 for children under 13. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm.

Although opera and the other refinements of a cultured society may have been on the minds of some early Leadville residents, others were more interested in "pleasures of the flesh," and in the 1870s and 1880s Leadville was a pretty wild place, with a hundred or more saloons and a busy red-light district.