Leadville City Hall

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Joseph Scott Mendinghall, 12/18/1975:
City Hall was constructed during the late 1890's. It is a 2½-story brick building with hipped roof on a stone foundation. There is an enclosed wood entrance with triangular pediment. The windows

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 27, 2025

2. Leadville City Hall Marker

The marker is on the right side of the front [northwest corner] building entrance.

on the first floor have semi-elliptical caps. City Hall houses all of the offices of the municipal government.
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The first Leadville boom took place in the early 1860's with the discovery of rich placer gold diggings, but the surface deposits were quickly exhausted. The second boom in the 1870's ushered in the silver era. One of the most spectacular strikes in Colorado mining annals, it began with a series of incredibly rich discoveries along California Gulch. Almost overnight the desolate pine flat just below timberline sprouted into a rowdy, rugged mining camp with the usual assortment of pine bough shelters, tent hotels, banks, grocery stores, beer gardens, and mine dumps. The extravagance and gaudy taste of the richest miners equaled or surpassed that of their counterparts in other mining camps.
In 1880, Leadville's population was estimated at from 25,000 to 40,000 and it was proud of its reputation as a wide-open mining town, with 100 licensed saloons and a dozen gambling houses operating around the clock. It has been estimated that the district produced some $136,000,000 in silver between 1879 and 1888.
Below the silver-bearing

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 27, 2025

3. Leadville City Hall (west/front elevation)

strata, quartz veins heavily seamed with gold were discovered, and in spite of the panic of 1893, which ended the silver boom, Leadville prospered again as a gold camp until the end of the century. Since that time, lead, zinc, manganese, and molybdenum have been mined in the district.
Leadville, today, is one of the largest of the old mining towns. The north side of the town has been developed with modern commercial and residential buildings. There remain, however, along the Harrison Avenue corridor, a number of historic structures. The Leadville Historic District encompasses a scattered group of distinctive and important historic buildings of the central architectural theme associated with late 19th-century mining towns of the West.

Excerpt:  The Leadville Historic District is in the mining town of Leadville, Colorado. The National Historic Landmark District includes 67 mines in the mining district east of the city up to the 12,000-foot level, and a defined portion of the village area. It was designated in 1961. Then, when the National Register of Historic Places

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 27, 2025

4. Fallen Police Officer Memorial

(mounted on the front wall of City Hall)
In Honor & Memory of Leadville’s Police Officers
Who Sacrificed Their Lives:Marshal George O'Connor 1878 • Officer John Carville 1880 • Sgt. Lauriston Stewart 1880 • Officer Samuel Townsend 1882 • Ex-Marshal Martin Duggan 1888 • Officer Chris J. Fahey 1934 • Officer Alvin Nelson 1949
and All Those Whose Names Have Never Been Determined.

(NRHP) program was started in 1966, Leadville's National Historic District was included in its first day's listings. The NRHP district was later expanded, adding a number of structures along the Harrison Avenue corridor.
City Hall:
Built as a federal building, it was used as a U.S. Post Office until 1973. There is a plaque on the front of the building which denotes fallen lawmen and an antique Leadville popcorn wagon is on display in the lobby.

Excerpt:  The Leadville mining district ranks as one of the country’s richest mineral regions. The first gold mining boom occurred in 1860, bringing approximately 10,000 miners to the area. The second boom began in 1878 with the discovery of extensive silver deposits. The fortunes of Leadville’s best known silver king, H.A.W. Tabor, crashed along with silver prices in 1893.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 27, 2025

5. Leadville Centennial 1878-1978

(mounted on the front wall of City Hall)H.A.W. Tabor • John Moore • William Nye • Walter Mehle • J. Carroll • James O’Neal • R.J. Frazier • Fred Parlin • R.T. Taylor • Dennis Reece • J.C. Cramer • Drayton Schaefer • G.E. Geegge • Kenneth Yeager • Eva Ann Fenske

This plaque commemorates 100 years of serving the people of Leadville

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 27, 2025

6. Leadville City Hall (southwest elevation)