Get Ready to Explore the History of Pueblo

Here are some unique ways to experience this Colorado city's rich past.

By Brittany Anas on April 29, 2024

Rosemount Museum

Once a contender to be Colorado’s state capital, Pueblo has many interesting chapters in its history book. The region’s earliest inhabitants were Native Americans who hunted and gathered in the area. By 1842, “Fort Pueblo” was a booming trading post, and, three decades later, the arrival of a railroad connected Southern Colorado with the Front Range. Then, Pueblo’s steel mill opened in 1882, putting the city on the map as it proudly produced the steel that built the West. The history of Pueblo is rich and vibrant, and historic preservation is prized here.

Those who live and visit the area can connect with its rich past in numerous ways, including by visiting exhibits at El Pueblo History Museum or the Pueblo Railway Museum, exploring the archives at Steelworks Center of the West and reading about the region’s past at the Pueblo County Historical Society’s vast library.

Here are a few more ways to immerse in the history history of Pueblo, from an Airbnb stay in a historic, luxury mansion to forthcoming performances in a centuries-old junior high school that’s being reimagined. 

Jeff Adkins

Orman Mansion 

Originally built in 1889 as the home of James Orman – who served as Colorado governor at the start of the 20th century – the 10,000-square-foot Orman Mansion has been transformed into a luxury Airbnb. Built with rounded arches, castle-like turrets and red sandstone sourced from a nearby quarry, the Romanesque-Gothic beauty is a boutique stay located less than a mile from the Pueblo Riverwalk and the city’s historic downtown. 

“We want people to come to Pueblo and fall in love with the city,” says Joe Koncilja, a Pueblo native who, with his three brothers, purchased the mansion in 2022. “We’ve got 

these rich old buildings all throughout Pueblo, and the Orman Mansion is just a snippet of what the city has to offer.” 

Over the years, the mansion has served as a school district building and home to a medical practice. With plush jewel tone furniture and pops of patterns brought in with wallpaper and paint, the eight-bedroom mansion today can be rented through Airbnb or Booking.com. 

Keating Junior High School 

Nearly a century old, Keating Junior High School is recognized by state and national preservation organizations as a historic site. With Classical Revival and Renaissance architecture styles, the former school, which has been sitting empty, will be the site of an ambitious mixed-use project that includes apartments and a 600-seat community theater. There is also potential for creative studios. 

The theater is expected to open in the next couple of years, as a place for stage performances, TED Talks, Saturday matinee movies for kids and foreign film nights, says Corinne Koehler, chairman of the Keating Board, a nonprofit volunteer group. 

Preserving old buildings, Koehler says, helps set communities apart and makes them unique. In the case of the Keating school, the building has great bones with solid materials and high-quality workmanship. Plus, it’s fun to have former students and teachers come into the building and share their memories of their days spent at the school. 

Rosemount Museum

Rosemount Museum 

Locals and visitors can tour the grand 37-room Rosemount Mansion that was built in 1893 for businessman John A. Thatcher and his wife, Margaret, whose favorite flower was the rose. 

But in addition to tours, the mansion also keeps a busy calendar of fun events to engage the community, from Easter egg hunts on the lawn to trick or treating, classic car shows, a springtime tea party and popular Christmas festivities. 

Rosemount has one of the most intact original collections in the country, with more than 85% of the items in the house belonging to the original four family members who lived in it for a 75-year span, says Deb Darrow, the museum’s executive director. 

“The Thatcher family was also wise enough to keep important papers, letters, photos and more, so telling their story, and the story behind the artifacts, is quite easy and of course amazing,” she says. 

The Victorian mansion has been featured on A&E’s “America’s Castles” and the HGTV Series “Christmas Castles.”