Reporting by Nate Trela, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Colorado’s 150th anniversary as a state arrived on August 1, providing a good reason to reflect on its history.
Scattered throughout the state are landmarks and institutions that in many cases even predate Colorado as a territory. They highlight key players from different parts of Colorado history — the indigenous people, the first settlers from Mexico and from the eastern United States and the miners and suppliers during the state’s gold rush. Together, they drove much of Colorado’s transition into statehood.
Here is a guide to different historically significant places in the Centennial state, organized by region to make it easier to visit multiple places together.
Western Slope
Colorado’s western slope hosts the oldest settlements found in Colorado, along with the first modern ski resort and a restaurant that has stood since the gold rush. It’s also the most spread out segment of the journey.
Puebloan Cliff Palace
Location: Mesa Verde National Park, 34840 U.S. 160, Mancos
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America, consisting of more than 100 rooms made from sandstone, mortar and timbers. Evidence points to it being built and inhabited in the 12th and 13th centuries, making it the oldest standing structure in Colorado.
Gold Pan Saloon
Location: 103 N Main St, Breckenridge
One of several contenders for the title of Colorado’s oldest restaurant, the Gold Pan Saloon sits on a site that has housed a saloon since 1861. The first bar was a tented structure, and Eighteen years later a permanent bar was erected. The Gold Pan claims to have the longest continuous liquor license west of the Mississippi River.
The Mint Steakhouse
Location: 347 Blue River Pkwy, Silverthorne
Another contender for Colorado’s oldest restaurant, The building that houses The Mint was first occupied in 1862 by a bar called the Jack Ryan’s Saloon. The building sat in the village of Kokomo and moved three times, passing through Frisco and Dillon before being reassembled one final time in Silverthorne.
Howelsen Hill
Location: 845 Howelsen Pkwy, Steamboat Springs
Howelsen Hill is widely recognized as the oldest ski area in the U.S., and likely North America. The steep hill that caught the attention of a Norwegian immigrant more than 110 years ago became the training site for more than 100 Olympians.
Front Range
The Front range also has vestiges of the state’s mining heyday, as well as the state’s oldest university and continuously operating lodging — markers of its further absorption into the fledging United States.
Buffalo Rose
Location: 1119 Washington Ave, Golden
Another possible titleholder as the state’s oldest restaurant, a bar or restaurant has sat since 1859 on the site of the Buffalo Rose. It proclaims itself the oldest bar in Colorado — even though it is at least the ninth name for a bar on the site.
My Brother’s Bar
Location: 2376 15th St, Denver
The last candidate for Colorado’s oldest restaurant, My Brother’s Bar has been operating continuously in the same place for more than 150 years — a significant difference from other contenders. It opened in 1873 as the Highland House, trading hands and changing names several times. It became My Brother’s Bar in 1970.
University of Denver
Location: 2199 S University Blvd, Denver
The University of Denver was founded as the Colorado Seminary in 1864, six years after the city it would be named for. As the non-sectarian seminary struggled, it changed its name to the University of Denver in 1880. The name change coincided with the school moving from its original downtown home to its current location in south Denver.
Cliff House at Pikes Peak
Location: 306 Cañon Ave, Manitou Springs
The Cliff House at Pikes Peak was built in the winter of 1873 and added onto over three decades, according to History Colorado. The wood frame Victorian structure sitting on a stone foundation in downtown Manitou Springs began life as a stagecoach stop on the route between Colorado Springs and Leadville.
San Luis Valley and eastern plains
The San Luis Valley hosts several institutions that opened their doors where western and Mexican settlers and traders encountered each other along what was at one time an international border. It would be the busiest, but also very compact, leg of a Colorado history road trip.
Capilla de Viejo San Acacio
Location: Hwy 142 & County Rd. 15, San Acacio
Capilla de Viejo San Acacio, an old church in Costilla County, is the oldest continually used non-Native American religious space in Colorado, according to History Colorado. Records are fuzzy about the site’s exact history, but a log chapel was believed to have been the first building on the site. The adobe structure that still stands today was built as early as 1850, possibly in the middle of that decade, and has been modified since.
San Luis People’s Market and the town of San Luis
Location: 319 Main St, San Luis
Among the earliest western settlers of what today is Costilla County was Dario Gallegos, who opened a general store, something critical to permanent settlement in the San Luis Valley. That store, Now known as the San Luis Peoples Market, was owned and operated by eight generations of family in the same spot before being sold to a nonprofit in 2022. It is widely recognized as the oldest business in Colorado. And the town of San Luis is recognized by state officials as the oldest incorporated community in the state.
Garcia (unincorporated community)
Location: Garcia
This unincorporated community near San Luis might have a legitimate claim to being the first western settled community in Colorado, but because Garcia never incorporated, state officials don’t consider it the oldest.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish
Location: 6633 County Road 13, Conejos
The site of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Colorado’s oldest regularly operating church, was reportedly picked more than 150 years ago when a stubborn burro refused to move.
Bent’s Old Fort
Location: 35110 State Highway 194 E., La Junta
The furthest east stop on this Colorado history tour, Bent’s Old Fort was built in 1833 and was the only trading outpost at the time between Missouri and Mexican settlements. It was also the first permanent presence by non-native people in what is now Colorado.
Nate Trela covers trending news in Colorado and Utah for the USA TODAY Network, with an emphasis on consumer finance, legal issues and state laws.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan.
