Think of the Denver Railway Company as an early version of RTD. But instead of today’s light rail system, the vehicles that operated on the rail lines used horses as engines.
In 1867 the Denver Horse Railway Company received an exclusive charter to operate streetcars lines in Denver. They built their first line in 1871, which consisted of 2 miles of track running from 7th and Larimer to Curtis Park. The horses that pulled those cars needed a place for water, food and shelter at the end of a long day. In 1872 the company built a Horse Barn strategically located at the end of that first rail line at 33rd and Arapahoe with a two-story stable and hayloft in the center, an office and storage space behind the stable, and a two-track car barn at the corner.
As the company grew they became the Denver Railway Company, and their fleet of horses, mules and streetcars grew. Eventually the company grew to become the Denver City Cable Railway Company,
which operated on 50 miles of track, with 85 cars and 600 horses. As the name change implies, the company began to use cables to operate their cars and rely less on horses. However, other businesses still relied on horse power, and the building’s locations near downtown Denver continued to be strategic. George Turner, often known as the creator of Tiny Town, used it as a storage facility for his moving company, and the building still bears the ghost marks of that business.
In the 1990s the property was acquired by Denver Housing Authority, who had plans to demolish it and build housing, however they quickly realized the building’s long history, and worked with the city to Landmark the property. For the past decade, it has operated as the Posner Center, housing nonprofit offices in a refurbished interior space.
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Read more about the Horse Barn from the Posner Center.
Author Bio
Alison Salutz is the Director of Community Programs at HistoricDenver.