Local History
The strange story of the man who tried to build a utopian ‘Wall Street’ in the mountains above Boulder
In 1897, Charles W. Caryl set out to transform a small Fourmile Canyon mining community into a model city. His grand plans collapsed, but remnants of his Wallstreet venture remain today.
The history of Boulder’s Spruce Pool, born from an ice plant’s hot water
The pool opened in 1923, mixing hot water from the ice plant’s cooling process with colder city water and giving Boulder residents a year-round place to swim.
Boulder County’s starring role in the 1966 ‘Stagecoach’ remake
The 1966 remake of the iconic 1939 western “Stagecoach” featured Silver Lake, the Switzerland Trail and the Blue Bird Mine complex.
A century-old Boulder County war memorial is finally getting its due. Now the search is on for 1,500 families.
Colorado has formally recognized the long-forgotten “Road of Remembrance” as local groups search for descendants of the 1,500 World War I veterans it honors.
When Boulder welcomed road-trippers with free auto camps and roadside cottages
Beginning in the 1910s, Boulder catered to a new class of automobile tourists. A remnant of one early “auto camp” still stands today.
Boulder once had a railroad into the mountains. Here’s what happened to it.
The narrow-gauge railroad carried ore and supplies between Boulder County’s mining towns before reinventing itself as a mountain escape for tourists.
Who was Martha Maxwell? The Boulder naturalist who built a wildlife museum and made history
Boulder naturalist Martha Maxwell’s lifelike wildlife displays captivated museumgoers and scientists — and made her the first woman to have a North American animal named in her honor.
The U.S. Air Force once paid CU Boulder to study UFOs. Here’s what it found.
From flying saucer sightings to an Air Force-funded study at CU Boulder, the city played an unexpected role in America’s UFO history.
The mystery of Pearl Street: Nobody knows how Boulder’s most famous street got its name
Gold prospectors first arrived in 1858, with Boulder’s “original” streets mapped by 1910. But no one knows where the name “Pearl” came from.
How Colorado’s richest mining family ended up in a Boulder County cabin
After their silver fortune collapsed in the 1890s, Horace and Baby Doe Tabor moved north of Ward in search of gold and a fresh start.