Ghost Town Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado

We arrived in Monument, Colorado on August 6, 2025, for a two-week stay. I had a list of museums to visit but I'm not sure how many we will get to as this place is so crowded. But anyway, the first museum we went to was the Ghost Town Museum, which was created in 1954 to preserve a piece of Colorado’s Wild West heritage. It depicts the town as it was growing back in the 1800s when pioneers learned of gold in California, and the railroad was being built from east to west.

Today almost nothing remains of those exciting days of the old west – a scattered pile of lumber, a tumbled pile of rocks, an occasional wagon wheel, or a piece of equipment. The rip-roaring camps of 100 years ago have faded into memories. The term ghost town is somewhat of a misnomer as there’s nothing haunted or scary about these striking ruins of a bygone era.

Ghost Town Museum evolved from a desire to preserve this era for generations to come. Our “town” is an indoor collection of the very structures that were left to decay around the Pikes Peak region, all looking much as they would have 100 years ago. 

The museum is housed inside a historic stone structure. In 1899, the Colorado Midland Railroad constructed it as a maintenance building for the steam locomotives that hauled gold ore to the Golden Cycle Mill, once located across the street from the museum. The Roundhouse next door and the Ghost Town Museum are all that remain of the operations of the Golden Cycle Company, which closed the facilities in 1949.

Ghost Town Museum serves as a permanent example of Colorado’s Wild West towns. There are many hands-on activities for the young and old: Crank a butter churn. Operate an old-time arcade or nickelodeon. See a short film on the gold mining era. Pan for real gold in the seasonal panning areas! 

Cutter, ca 1800s

A cutter was used to deliver groceries in Leadville, Colorado. In the summer, wheels were substituted for runners.

I looked in the sheriff's window to see what was going on in there, and this is what I saw:

Butter Churn

Washing Machine (one woman power)

Commode

General Store

The owner of the General Store told what happened to three of his credit customers: 

The first one said, "I will pay you next week, if I live." He is dead.

The second one said, "I will see you tomorrow." He is blind.

The third one said, "I will pay you Saturday or go to hell." He is gone.

NO MORE CREDIT!

Sewing machine, model for 1854

JB Shannahan, Carpenter & Builder

Studebaker Spring Wagon

Two-headed calf born May 29, 1963, on Fred Dugan Ranch, Peyton, Colorado. The piece of slab sitting next too the calf was used to crush gold ore. It was pulled by a mule.

Inside the jail, this is who they have in jail. Look at all the money people have thrown in there. The women at the desk have no idea why people throw money in there. I asked them how often they clean it out, but did not get an answer. They did say that someone tried to pry a bar off and steal some of the money.

The long arm of the law is felt in the cramped, one-room jail, complete with a chamber pot, where long-ago wrong doers were held in custody. 

Print Shop

The Pikes Peak Bugle kept area residents informed of the area's goings on. The newspaper shop contains authentic type-setting equipment and an early printing press. 

Barber Shop & Hair Dresser

Apothecary

The museum begins at the General Store, packed with products and equipment typical of the time. Shelves and displays hold dishes and earthenware, shoes, clothing, bins for staples such as flour and sugar. It also features early household helpers like a knitting machine and carpet sweeper. In the store's window are small collections of Limoges and Wedgewood fine china, undoubtedly brought in to the area in wagons.

Apothecary

The Apothecary features powders, potions and sweets dished out from counter-top glass cabinets. Visitors can imagine weary travelers checking into the boarding house next door where the parlor is dominated by an early Chickering Baby Grand piano. 

Rooms for Rent

One of the earliest Victrolas

The piano shown in this photograph is a century old Chickering Square Grand Piano, in a lovely rosewood case. It is still in excellent playing condition.

Edison standard photograph

This cylinder record phonograph was one of Edison's first models, and it still plays. Edison invented the phonograph in 1876. His first recording was "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

This is a white satin gown of the 1890s

At Wells-Fargo and Co., a worker weighs miners' gold booty. An early Wells Fargo safe, gold scales and mail cubbies are among its artifacts. A sign asks customers "Please do not expectorate on the floor." 

Funny looking old phone

"It is a good representation of Colorado history and what pioneers brought with them during the Gold Rush and after," said owner Dave Harris.

The family-owned museum, opened in 1954, was the inspiration of Lois Akers, Mr. Harris' "grandmother-in-law," who was intrigued with the era and enjoyed collecting artifacts from it. The museum reflects life in mining towns roughly from the 1880s to 1910. A true preservationist, Ghost Town Museum evolved from a desire to preserve a piece of Colorado's Wild West history. Each building façade was single was single handedly saved from read Ghost Towns around the Pikes Peak region, re-built and preserved inside this building, looking today as they would have over 100 years ago.

In the saloon are mutoscopes, sort of early View-Masters, with entertainment of the era, and a gambling table, a rare survivor of the Pikes Peak Saloon Fire in Cripple Creek in 1896. 

Saloon before the fire

Fire Station

Hand drawn chemical hose cart

In the Old Fire House, notice the hand-drawn hose cart used to fight fires long ago in Colorado. Races between volunteer firemen pulling hose carts was a major sporting event in the 19th century mining era.

Bone Shaker wooden spokes, ca 1875

What is a bone shaker? The "Boneshaker" (1861 - 1871) used pedals and cranks to drive the front axle. An example from the American manufacturer Pickering and Davis is shown.

Photographs of three brothers, ca 1880

Colorado Springs Fire Department, State Champions 1882

The museum's main building was once the old machine shop for the Colorado Midland Railroad, which ran on tracks on what is now Highway 24. The building housing VanBriggle Pottery, now closed, served as the railroad round house next door. The Golden Cycle Mining Corporation mill operated across Highway 24 and treated gold ore from the Cripple Creek and other gold districts in Colorado. 

Concord Stagecoach

This historic coach first ran between Denver and Cheyenne in1868, then to gold mining camps for the next 40 years. It was pulled by 4-6 horses and carried 11 passengers plus driver and guard. "Coach" passengers sat on the roof or the outside rear seat. The middle jump seat held three people, the backs leaning against a leather strap hung between the door pillars, and leather curtains covered the windows. 

It was built in Concord, New Hampshire by the Abbot & Downing Coachworks Company, they were very rugged yet comfortable. The "Thoroughbrace" leather suspension helped to provide a smooth ride over rough terrain.

1903 Cadillac, One Cylinder

First model of Cadillac, 1903 motor no. 196. 8hp best seller among early cars. In 1903 the Cadillac cost $800 plus $100 for rear seat or Tonneau. The transmission was the same principal as today's automatic transmission. One-eye carbide headlight gave enough light to scare a horse. Entering by rear-end door more of an athletic feat than graceful act.

1907 Sears Motorgo

This two-cylinder, air cooled, 6hp direct from catalogue -- only mail-order automobile with wheels, leather dash, general appearance show it was offspring of the buggy  -- a real horseless carriage. It may have looked like a buggy, but it didn't fool horses -- they reared, snorted and ran away at the sight and sound of the Sears Motorgo.

Edison Dynamo, ca 1880s

One of Edison's first Dynamos, this direct current electricity generator was originally used  in lighting the city of Boston. Later it supplied power to Colorado Springs Street Cars.

Petrified Sequoia Tree

This petrified Sequoia tree was discovered in the late 1800s during the gold rush prospecting era. The area where this tree was found has since become a National Monument known as Florissant Fossil Beds.

Millions of years ago a forest of these huge trees grew readily in this region when it was a more moderate moist climate. The similarity in climate to where the trees grow today on the northern California coast is due to the fact that the Sierra Nevada mountain range had not yet formed. This left the Rocky Mountains as the first range to capture the moisture from storms off the Pacific Ocean. 

34 million years ago, great volcanic activity buried the trees and began the process of mineralization. Water passed through the ash transporting sediment and inorganic materials throughout the cells of the trees. All the living material was replaced with minerals, and the tree was preserved in stone forever.

The old tin shop, a few steps outside the main museum, now serves as a depiction of domestic family life in various rooms of the pioneer home. The home's resident mannequins are dressed authentically for the time, and visitors can view activity in the kitchen, nursery, dining room, sitting room, master bedroom and even an early bathroom. 

Little Girl's Room

Little Boy's Room

Parent's bedroom

Mt. of the Holy Cross, 14,005 ft.
15 miles southwest of Vail, Colorado

Saloon Blind

Placed in doorway of a saloon, so bar patrons could not be seen by "prying eyes."

American Bison

The American Bison once roamed the grasslands of North America by the millions. Bison herds covered a huge range from Canada's far northwest, south to Mexico, and as far east as North Carolina. 

Recognized as the National mammal of the United States, bison are the largest mammals in North America. They can run up to 40 miles per hour, jump nearly 6 feet and weigh over 2,000 pounds.

Native Indian Americans depended on the Bison as a major source of food, clothing, tools and weapons. They considered it a sacred animal. 

The combination of over hunting and disease led to herds of 60 million dwindling to roughly 325 by the 1880s. In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt created the American Bison Society in order to save it from extinction. This has led to the resurgence of bison, primarily in national parks, reserves, and private lands. The are are now an estimated 550,000 Bison living in all 50 states.

The Pianola

When set up against a piano (as we have done here) and pumped with the feet, automatic fingers strike the keys to play the keyboard. These were popular in the early 1900s. 

Jesse Woodson James 

Jesse James (September 5, 1847 - April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death.

Heavy Mountain Wagon

What is this?

This was a puzzle, trying to figure out what this is. It looks like something from the Crusades where they tortured people. But alas, that is not what it is. This is what it is: