Barney Ford Building - Denver, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 44.991 W 105° 00.000
13S E 500000 N 4399993
A series of plaques as part of a walking tour of lower downtown (original) Denver
Waymark Code: WM39TB
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 03/02/2008
Views: 48
Barney L. Ford was a pivotal black leader in the early history of Colorado. Ford was a black pioneer, businessman, civic leader and politician who actively fought for African American civil rights in his state. The plaque reads as follows:
Barney Ford Building
1863, 1892
Although this building is said to be considerably altered, the basic structure of the first two stories is the original 1863 building constructed by Barney Ford for his People's Restaurant. The remarkable life of this pioneer is a tribute to the perseverance of minority pioneers. Ford was born a slave on January 22, 1822, in Stafford, Virginia, but escaped to Chicago, where he worked with the Underground Railroad helping other slaves reach freedom. An active civil rights leader, a prominent politician, and an ardent supporter of the admission of Colorado to the Union as a free state with suffrage for all men, Ford was also a brilliant businessman. This building is the site of Ford's first Denver restaurant, which he rented, then purchased from E. A. Rice for $673 on March 24, 1862. The original structure was destroyed in the great fire of 1863, which wiped out Denver's business district, but Ford borrowed $9,000 from the Kountze Brothers Bank (later the Colorado National Bank) and opened the People's Restaurant on August 16, 1863. Ford also had a barber shop and hair salon in the basement and a saloon on the second floor. He went on to open the Inter-Ocean Hotels in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Denver (16the and Blake Streets). He was the first African American to serve on a U.S. grand jury in Colorado and was nominated for the Territorial Legislature.
The red brick structure had a third story, added possibly in the 1890s. The original windows were of the narrow, arched cathedral style. The present windows are squared by the addition of concrete tops. The four decorative columns on the front may be the originals. Later uses for the site included hotel, saddlery, tool storage company, and restaurant.