Born in 1867, Margaret (Molly) Tobin would rise from humble beginnings to celebrity status. Using her fame for philanthropic and political purposes, she would ultimately garner the title, “Unsinkable.” After…
In 1879, silver tycoon, Horace Tabor, purchased the richest silver mine of the time, an investment that brought in $2 billion by today’s standards. However, wasteful spending by him and…
Born in 1858 in Ohio, Jesse Fuller McDonald was a student of civil engineering and surveying. In 1879, he moved to Leadville to pursue a career in mining, though his…
Horace Tabor and his first wife, Augusta, moved into a two-story clapboard house in 1877. Just two years later, Horace declared their home’s location ideal for his new project—the Tabor…
Horace Tabor’s life story is a testament to hard work but also a great anecdote about short-sightedness. From a simple stone-cutter, he would grow to become one of the country’s…
No expense was spared when Horace Tabor built Leadville’s iconic opera house in 1879 for the hefty price tag of $40,000, making it one of the costliest structures in Colorado…
John Henry “Doc” Holliday was a dentist who suffered from tuberculosis. He moved to Tombstone, Arizona for its dry climate. There, he became a fierce gambler, befriended Wyatt Earp, and…
During its peak, Leadville was the second largest city in Colorado with 30,000 residents. Compared with today’s population of 2,600, it’s amazing to think about the sheer number of people…
Elizabeth McCourt, born in Wisconsin in 1854, was noted for being extremely charismatic and beautiful. In 1877, she married Harvey Doe. Together, they moved to Central City to work the…
Molly May, one of the most influential brothel owners in the west, was born in 1850. In her twenties, she traveled as a prostitute with a performance act from Cheyenne,…
Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith was a con artist, gangster, crime boss, and saloon and gambling hall owner who rose to fame while in Denver from roughly 1879 to 1892. Though…
One of the west’s most fearless marshals came from a vagrant, lawless background, which probably made him better prepared to handle the trouble that fell upon Leadville during the great…
