A few years ago, while searching for foundational documents behind his city agency, Derek Okubo, former Denver director for Human Rights and Community Partnerships, came up empty at the usual sources, like the public library.
But during an office move, he discovered a box deep inside a closet that yielded a 1947 report typed on onion-skin paper. Commissioned by then newly elected Mayor Quigg Newton, it told the blunt, unvarnished tale of the city’s checkered history of race relations. It’s history like that — and so many other untold stories — that has fueled a push to create something that Denver oddly doesn’t have: a dedicated museum.
“That’s really unusual for cities of any size,” said Kendra Black, a former Denver city council member who now chairs the nonprofit board pursuing such a facility. “And there currently is no one place you can go in Denver to learn our history.”
Certainly History Colorado tells part of Denver’s story, as do other niche collections. But the big idea here is to create a space — and supporters have zeroed in on the McNichols Building on Civic Center park — that delivers the full sweep of local history. The effort behind the proposed facility, still in its early stages, has emerged as the nonprofit Museum of Denver.
“There are so many stories out there that are little known,” Black said. “And people need to know about them, to help us make better decisions as we move into the future.”
From defining Denver’s many and diverse neighborhoods to preserving watershed events like the demonstration of the Gang of 19 that helped write the history of disability rights, the proposed museum’s supporters — including a long string of former mayors — envision a space that would fill gaps in the local backstory.
There are so many stories out there that are little known. And people need to know about them, to help us make better decisions as we move into the future.
— Kendra Black, former Denver city council member and board chair of the nonprofit Museum of Denver
Okubo, who also serves on the nonprofit board, suggests that could mean recounting the 1978 protest, led by Wade Blank and 18 other activists, that blocked city buses at Colfax Avenue and Broadway and ultimately paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Or, on a less serious matter, it could illuminate the reason Metro State University of Denver teams are called the Roadrunners (students had to dodge traffic on busy streets around the Auraria campus and sprint to class between far-flung buildings).
He points to the creation and redevelopment of neighborhoods, the history behind ethnic enclaves like Denver’s Chinatown, Five Points and Sakura Square, a landmark court case for desegregation — those and a thousand other stories illuminate “how we became what we are today, and how that could possibly impact what we want to become.”
Awaiting request from the city
For now, the Museum of Denver remains an idea awaiting a green light from the city, in the form of an official request for proposals. Buoyed by Mayor Mike Johnston’s stated interest in the summer of 2024 in housing a museum in the McNichols Building, Museum of Denver got its 501(c)3 nonprofit status and hired a consultant to do a fundraising feasibility study. That led to a recommendation to hold off until securing a commitment to proceed with the project.
“If we’re not successful with that, hopefully we can find a different location,” Black said.
Denver Arts & Venues, the agency responsible for the McNichols Building, said it’s hoping to issue an RFP for the museum space by the end of the year, beginning a competitive procurement process.
If MOD is awarded the second-floor space, Black said, fundraising could begin in earnest. But in the meantime, the group is mulling the idea of a pop-up exhibit for next summer that would highlight neighborhoods in Denver and capitalize on the 250- and 150-year anniversaries of the nation’s and state’s founding. They would then maintain the scaled down pop-up at the McNichols Building while fundraising.
“We wouldn’t have the funds to remodel the space or have a lot of interactive video and stuff like that,” Black said. “It would be more like just a temporary thing that could be pulled together in a relatively short amount of time.”
The idea for a museum dedicated to the city’s history first took root in 2022, when a core group began talking about the possibilities. Black recalls chatting with folks like Andrea Malcomb of Historic Denver, Jason Hanson from History Colorado, former city council member Mary Beth Susman and Tommy Matthews of Tryba Architects, which had been hired during the John Hickenlooper administration to do a study on the potential of the McNichols Building.
Since then, Black explains, “we’ve sort of just done a road show,” meeting with various organizations and neighborhood groups, collecting supporters and creating an organizing committee and a nonprofit board. They began tracking down former Denver mayors, including Michael Hancock, Hickenlooper, Wellington Webb, Bill Vidal and Federico Peña, and compiling endorsements.
A piece of revitalizing downtown?
Members of the organizing group visited the dedicated museums of other cities and came up with a template: feature one permanent exhibit that would encompass the entire timeline of Denver, from the area’s native inhabitants to the present day. Then augment that with rotating temporary exhibits — possibly thematic, such as one Black saw in New York City’s museum that dealt with its history of protests.
Black says the board has talked about partnering with the Denver Public Library, which already has an extensive Western history collection.
Ultimately, the museum could be a centerpiece of a reimagined McNichols Building that currently hosts special events and temporary exhibitions while also housing some city offices. Visions for the structure have long included a restaurant that could open onto and enliven Civic Center park, and Black figures the museum could help fulfill that mission.
Black also notes that the building sits in the area’s Golden Triangle, which includes other museums, including the main History Colorado location, the Denver Art Museum and the Molly Brown House.
“You can imagine people coming downtown and maybe going to a couple of museums on a Saturday afternoon, or school groups could visit a couple museums on the same day,” she said. “Also, the city is looking to activate downtown Denver, not just Civic Center park, and so this is just one more thing that could bring people downtown.”