Denver no stranger to rough-and-tumble politics
But if you crave tawdry tales of back-room deals and naked political power, Denver's got that, too.
There's the City Hall War of 1894, when the state militia was poised to blow the building to smithereens because some political bosses wouldn't come out.
And there's the City Auditorium, site of the 1908 Democratic National Convention, whose extravagant construction costs helped grease the gears of a political machine.
Denver may be hip, healthy and a Mile High, but it's also had some political low points that will make for great historical slumming during this summer's Democratic convention.
"We have one foot in the wild and wooly West and one foot in a burgeoning Western metropolis," said State Historian Bill Convery.
The city has been rough-and-tumble from the start. It was founded in 1858, in what was then Kansas Territory, when William Larimer "jumped" a claim — took over land claimed by another would-be settler, Convery said.
Larimer named his new town after James Denver, governor of Kansas Territory. Colorado didn't become a state until 1876.
The 1894 "war" took place in Denver's original downtown, only blocks from the Pepsi Center, home of this year's convention. City Hall is no longer there, but a bell from the old building is mounted on a shady street corner.
The showdown started when reform-minded Gov. Davis Waite tried to fire three members of Denver's police and fire commission, which the governor then controlled, Convery said.
When they refused to give up their jobs, Waite called out the militia, which trained its cannon on the building. The confrontation ended peacefully after federal troops were called in.
Also near the Pepsi Center is the City Auditorium, completed just in time to host the 1908 convention. It's now the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.
At $600,000, the auditorium cost about three times what it should have. The extra cash helped Mayor Robert Speer pay for the patronage and kickbacks that kept his political machine cranking out jobs and public projects, Convery said.
The auditorium was denounced as a boondoggle and Speer was accused of building it for his own glory. His response is etched in the building's cornerstone: "The People of Denver by Popular Vote Commanded the Erection of This Building."
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