MP 256 – 257: Empire, Colorado

Empire is part of Colorado’s early mining history and the search for gold. Gold was found in Empire in 1860. The new settlement was first called Valley City and then the name was changed to Empire City in 1861. The first town government was under the Union Mining District. Clear Creek County was established in 1861 as part of the Colorado Territory. Colorado became a state in 1876.

Route Mile Marker X Y Longitude Latitude 1U. S. Highway 40 256 441232.97 4401511.83 -105.686079 39.761501 257 442797.50 4401328.87 -105.667799 39.759959

The map above was drawn in 1997 by Ken Clark as part of a grant from the Colorado Historic Fund. The map was included in a booklet called Tours of Empire. The author wrote that booklet as a “Walking Tour of Empire”. Because the booklet is no longer available, some of it will be included here. The numbers in the text refer to the locations on the map above.

1 Taken from the Colorado Department of Transportation’s website: http://apps.coloradodot.info/dataaccess/Highways/index.cfm?fuseaction=HighwaysMain

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There have been several Town Halls in Empire’s history. The first one was up North Main Street. The second was located east and north of the bridge over Clear Creek. The current Town Hall (2) was built in 1898. The first floor was designed for businesses, the most famous being the Hard Rock (as in a mining term) which started in 1934 and provided a café and sleeping dormitory for miners. On November 7, 2000, Election Day, the Hard Rock caught fire. The author was serving as an election judge and remembers the firemen taking turns to come in and vote at the tiny church across the highway, and give the waiting citizens an update on the fire. The fire damaged both the first and second floors. The upstairs which houses the town offices and meeting hall was completely restored after the fire and ready in time for the Christmas party on December 21, 2001. The Hard Rock opened again in March 2002. 1

As part of the restoration, accessible restrooms have been added.

In the park just south of the Town Hall is the Empire’s original school house (1). The small log building was built in the early 1860’s by John W. Peck (no relationship to James Peck of the Peck House). It served as the school house until 1897 when a brick building was built. Wonder what schoolchildren who visit today, think of this first school. It truly was a one room school.

Comfort note: There are few restrooms available to the public on the Auto Tour and even fewer accessible ones. In this park is one of Colorado’s cleanest restrooms. It is maintained by the Town of Empire. Once the author heard a woman visitor describe it as “One of Colorado’s Hidden Treasurers”!!

Accessible parking is provided below the highway, see map above, and a ramp leads from the parking area to the restrooms. In 2001, new sidewalks were added to the town, making access to the businesses much easier for persons with mobility impairments. An accessible restroom is also found at Jenny’s Restaurant.

1 The dates have been provided by Jennifer Cade, Empire’s Town Clerk.

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Also in this block, can be found the East Park Avenue Antiques, a tan single story building, built around 1884. The addition between the original building and the Town Hall was added as a post office in 1931.

The barn in the back of the building may have been built as early as 1875 according to a report made to the Colorado Historical Society.

Jenny’s Restaurant is located on the west side of Main Street. It was built around 1863 and has served as a bar, restaurant, poker parlor, feed and grain store, gas station and bakery. It was probably two buildings: the east half with a false front, being the oldest, faces South Main Street. The west half, also with a false front, faces Park Avenue or what is now US Highway 40.

Inside the building, the bar shows the scars of a bullet fired by a drummer who left a poker game in a huff. Today’s menu tells that Jenny’s was named for a mule that swallowed a stick of dynamite. It survived and worked for many more years. The restaurant was named in her honor.

Today, Jenny’s is known for great food and the signs “Nope” (closed) and by changing a letter: “Open” hanging over the front door.

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The photo above is used with permission from Leo Stambaugh. Across U. S. Highway 40 from Jenny’s is a two story turquoise house with cinnamon trim which is called the Avery House (5). It was built in 1864 and the front and side porch was added in early the 1900’s.

Gib (Gilbert) Avery, known as an early Empire postmaster, built the house. In the 1900’s a small stained glass window of green and yellow was added by H. F. Swanson who was the owner of the first automobile in Empire. On the east front of the property was the location of the original post office building. On the west side of the property, now where the Peck House wagon is located, was the large Hanchett’s “Red Barn” livery station. According to Harrison1, Hanchett, for reasons unknown, called his Middle Park customers, the “Afghanistans”, certainly confusing us today. Nothing remains of these two buildings.

The red arrow points to the roof of the Avery House and the black arrow points to the large livery stable (which may be difficult to see) that was just west of the house. The green arrow points to the Town Hall.

The post card photo was provided by the Guanella Family. Note the description on the right side of the card. The Railroad was operational around the 1880’s.

The photo on the left has been provided and used with permission from the Denver Public Library. It was taken in 1960 by Muriel Sibelle Wolle. It is thought that the photo was taken from the porch of the Peck House and shows the Avery House, much as it still looks today.

1 She quoted on page 346, an article in the Colorado Miner dated July 1885, written by the Trail Blazer (Henry De Witt Clinton Cowles): “I thought to drop you a line from old Empire, the gem of the Rocky Mountains, the Damascus of Clear Creek county, the Herat, the gate that opens into the Afghanistan of Colorado, the great Middle Park…”

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Stops # 6 and # 7 on “the Walking Tour” are Red Men Hall and the Mad Creek Bed and Breakfast.

Red Men Hall is a white two story building that was dedicated in November 1898 by the Improved Order of Red Men, Macinac Tribe #2 as their lodge. The large oval painting between the upstairs windows of an Indian with headdress is copied from an Improved Order of Red Men medallion. The outside of the building has changed little over the years, with the inside serving as a meeting hall, school classroom, newspaper office for the “Empire True Fissure”, art gallery and museum. It is now known as Glenbrook Gallery. Ben Dugan, in his book: “Images of America: Berthoud Pass” includes photos of the Hall and writes that it was also the new Bureau of Public Roads office in April 1921.1

The pretty blue two story Gothic/Queen Anne house with the purple trim has historically been called the Salmon House. It is thought that the house was built around 1879 by the Salmon brothers. Little is known about the brothers except that they served on the Empire Volunteer Fire Department in 1876. A more famous resident was J. Wilson Woodrow, mayor of Empire and cousin of Woodrow Wilson2, the twenty-seventh president of the United States. Today the house is known as the Mad Creek Bed and Breakfast where visitors enjoy its beautiful flower gardens.

1 Dugan, Ben M: Images of America: Berthoud Pass published by Arcadia Publishing Pages 56 and 76 2 Harrison, Louise C. Empire and the Berthoud Pass published by Big Mountain Press, Denver 1964 Page 360

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The Peck House is #8 on the Town of Empire Walking Tour.

The Peck House is a famous Colorado hotel and restaurant that opened in 1872. It was originally the home of James Peck, who was known as the “Emperor of Empire”. He owned the Atlantic gold mine which was located high on Silver Mountain which is behind the Peck House.

The Peck House was a stop on the Georgetown-Empire –Middle Park Wagon Road.

Peck built his home and then hotel in several stages. The original 15 feet by 30 feet home was constructed in 1862. The first addition, to the left side of the main door, was made in 1872. The second addition, to the right of the door, was completed in 1880. Other additions were made in 1955 and 1986.

The Peck House was also known as the Hotel Splendide when it was bought and restored by Margaret Collbran and Louise Harrison, the granddaughters of Adolph Coors, the founder of Coors Brewing Company, and Henry Collbran, one of the founders of the Midland Railroad.

Harrison’s excellent book, Empire and the Berthoud Pass, was written when the two sisters were often asked questions about the Peck House and Empire that they could not answer.

The Peck House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Peck House at Christmas has to be one of the most beautifully decorated hotels in the State. The photo above is from the Denver Public Library and used with their permission. Most of the names written on the photo are of members of the Peck family. The photo is dated: 1890 – 1905.

The photo on the right is provided by the Peck House.

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Information about the Shepard/Shepherd House and the King House can be found in the section for North Empire.

Stop # 11 at the time when the “Walking Tour” was written was known as Silver Mountain Antiques and the Empire Shop. Today the business on the west side is Serene Wellness.

The west side of the two story false-front building was the location of the Andre/Hanchett Store in the 1870’s. Local tradition has it that the original building was built in 1865. Silas Hanchett used the building as a grocery store and feed stable. It was here that the cattle drivers from Middle Park (now known as the Fraser Valley) stopped for supplies before heading over the Berthoud Pass.

The Empire Shop, or historically known as the Mint Saloon, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was selected because of its architectural significance representing a one story frame commercial building of the late 19th century.

The photo above is dated March 2, 1947 and is part of the photo collection found in the Grand County Historical Association Museum in Hot Sulphur Springs.

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Read more information on: The history of U.S. Highway 40 The road to North Empire South Empire Georgetown-Empire-Middle park wagon road in Clear Creek County

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