Denver's Booms and Busts: A Self-Guided Walking Tour

Overview

Denver has reinvented itself more times than almost any other city in the American West. On this audio tour, you'll trace its path from a gold-rush outpost to the capital of the Rockies, and hear how it survived a railroad bypass, a silver crash, and mid-century bulldozers. You'll start at Coors Field, then pass the Dairy Block, a 1920s milk-bottling plant turned boutique hotel and food hall, and Wynkoop Brewing, the brewpub that revived this neighborhood in the 1980s. You'll stop at Union Station, whose facade was Denver's answer to a railroad that almost bypassed the city. You'll continue down the 16th Street Mall, then reach Larimer Square, Denver's oldest block, saved from demolition when Dana Crawford bought it after her car broke down there in the 1960s. You'll finish at the Federal Reserve Bank, where a free museum lets you watch currency processed and sends you home with shredded cash. In 60 minutes, Denver tells you its own story: boom, bust, and back again.