Colorado Attractions

The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed by Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed during the 1890s from Colorado white granite, and opened for use during November 1894. The distinctive gold dome consists of real gold plate, first added during 1908, commemorating the Colorado Gold Rush. The building is part of Denver's Civic Center area. Tours are available, though the big attraction for tourists is standing above the words "One Mile Above Sea Level" engraved into one of the steps out front.

Set in the home of Dr. Justina Ford, Colorado's first Black woman doctor, this museum is dedicated to the contributions of Black pioneers in the Old West. Entrance Fee: $8 adults, $7 seniors, $6 children.

The Byers-Evans House Museum is a historic house museum in Denver, Colorado, USA. The museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 Am to 4 PM. Guided house tours are offered every hour on the half hour from 10:30 AM until 2:30 PM. Admission costs for the house tours are $6 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and $4 for children aged 6-12. Admission to the gallery is free. The Byers-Evans House Gallery participates in First Friday Art Walks on the first Friday of the month from 5 to 9 PM. Admission to the gallery for First Friday is free. The museum is administered by History Colorado.

Chamberlin Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by University of Denver. It is located in Denver, Colorado (USA) in Observatory Park. It is named for Humphrey B. Chamberlin, a Denver real estate magnate who pledged $50,000 in 1888 to build and equip the facility. The observatory building was designed by Robert S. Roeschlaub, with the astronomical aspects and functions designed by Professor Herbert Alonzo Howe after he visited many observatories in the east. It was modeled after the Goodsell Observatory at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and constructed from rusticated red sandstone blocks. The Romanesque structure includes a central rotunda and domed roof. Construction began in 1890. The 20-inch objective lens for the observatory's main refracting telescope was made by Alvan Clark & Sons, and the mount was built by George Nicholas Saegmull...

The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center. It is known for its collection of American Indian art, and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world. The museum has nine curatorial departments: architecture, design & graphics; Asian art; modern and contemporary; native arts (American Indian, Oceanic, and African); New World (pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial); painting and sculpture (European and American); photography; Western art; and textile art. Admission: $13 adults, $10 seniors/students, $5 youth (6-18), free for children 5 and under. Discounted rates available for Colorado residents. Free admission for eveyone on the first Saturday of the month.

The Denver Firefighters Museum is a museum in downtown Denver, Colorado, United States. A nonprofit institution 501 (C) (3), it consists of an 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) facility housing four galleries that explore the history of firefighting in Denver. Established in 1978, it is located in the 1909-built former Fire Station No. 1, a building that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The Denver Firefighters Museum maintains a collection of more than 30,000 artifacts, photographs and manuscripts. Main Level Gallery Six themes comprise this gallery that follows the process of fire. Communicating Fire—discuss how fire has been communicated through time from pulling alarm boxes and telegraph, to dialing zero and calling 911 today; Personal Protective Tools and Equipment—display of bunking gear, helmets, boots, and firefighting too...

The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets and commemorative coins. Coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark (not to be confused with the mark of the Dahlonega Mint). The Denver Mint is the single largest producer of coins in the world. Tours begin every hour on the hour.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a municipal natural history and science museum in Denver, Colorado. It is a resource for informal science education in the Rocky Mountain region. A variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities help museum visitors learn about the natural history of Colorado, Earth, and the universe. The 500,000-square-foot (46,452 m2) building houses more than one million objects in its collections including natural history and anthropological materials, as well as archival and library resources. The Museum is an independent, nonprofit institution with approximately 350 full-time and part-time staff, more than 1,600 volunteers, and a 25-member Board of Trustees. It is accredited by the American Association of Museums (AAM).

The Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys (DMMDT) is housed in the Pearce-McAllister Cottage, a historic house museum in Denver, Colorado, USA, administered by History Colorado. The museum was founded in 1981. In 1987, the museum opened at its current location in cooperation with the Colorado Historical Society within the Pearce-McAllister Cottage. The collection of the museum includes more than 10,000 objects dating from 1680 onwards.

The Molly Brown House Museum (also known as House of Lions) is a house located at 1340 Pennsylvania Street in Denver, Colorado, United States that was the home of American philanthropist, socialite, and activist Margaret Brown. Brown was known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" because she survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The museum now located in her former home presents exhibits interpreting her life and that of Victorian Denver as well as architectural preservation. The house was built in the 1880s by architect William A. Lang, incorporating several popular styles of the period, including Queen Anne Style architecture, for the original owners Isaac and Mary Large. They suffered financially from the crash resulting from the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 and were forced to sell the house. It was purchased by James Joseph Brown (J.J.), Margaret's ...

City Park is an urban park and neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. The park is 330 acres (1.3 km2) and is located in east-central Denver. The park contains the Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Ferril and Duck Lakes, and a boathouse. City Park is also the name of the neighborhood that contains the park, though the park is the vast majority of the neighborhood. To the immediate north of the park is the City Park Golf Course. City Park is the largest and most notable park in Denver. City Park itself is still the premier park in the city. Thousands of visitors continue to see not only the park itself but the cultural institutions contained within. The park holds a free summer concert series and a recently built interactive fountain attracts many people to cool off in the water. The park has boat rentals, both standard paddle-boats and some shaped like various water cr...

The Denver Zoo is an 80-acre (32 ha) facility located in City Park of Denver, Colorado, USA. Founded in 1896, it is owned by the City and County of Denver and funded in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). It was the most popular paid attraction in the Denver metropolitan area in 2005. The Denver zoo was started with the donation of an orphaned American black bear. With the construction of Bear Mountain, it became the first zoo in the United States to use naturalistic zoo enclosures rather than cages with bars. It expanded on this concept with Primate Panorama with its huge mesh tents and open areas for apes and monkeys, and Predator Ridge, which has three separate areas through which animals are rotated so that their overlapping scents provide environmental enrichment. The latest Asian Tropics exhibit (now under construction) will be divided into five ar...

The Denver Botanic Gardens is a public botanical garden located in Denver, Colorado in the Cheesman Park neighborhood. The 23-acre (93,000 m2) park contains a conservatory, a variety of theme gardens and a sunken amphitheater, which hosts various concerts in the summer. Woody Allen's 1973 movie Sleeper filmed some scenes at the gardens. Denver Botanic Gardens features North America's largest collection of plants from cold temperate climates around the world, as well as 7 diverse gardens that mostly include plants from Colorado and neighboring states. The world's first Xeriscape Demonstration Garden was created at the Gardens in 1986, and 2 years later its name was changed to Dryland Mesa. It was based on the "7 Principles" of Xeriscape, and includes drought-tolerant plants from the arid West and Mediterranean areas. The Japanese Garden is called Shofu-en—the G...

Elitch Gardens Theme Park, locally known as "Elitch's", is an amusement park in Denver, Colorado. It is owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties and operated by Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation. It is a seasonal park usually opening in late April and closing around Halloween.