Colorado’s rich western history has been thoughtfully preserved in museums and local landmarks across the Centennial State. Visiting these places gives folks a sense of what life was like for some of the state’s earliest settlers and pioneers and how things have evolved since then.
One of Colorado’s most interesting historical museums can be found in Cripple Creek. The two-story brick building on Bennett Avenue served as the Teller County Jail for nearly 90 years but now operates as a museum, showcasing the outlaws and lawmen of that time, as well as the history of a once-booming mining town.
From 1901 to 1991, the Teller County Jail housed men, women, and children who were awaiting trial at the nearby courthouse. Some of these juveniles were runaways too. The jail also served as a hold-over for felons and murderers en route to the prison in Wyoming and for mentally insane prisoners on their way to the State Hospital in Cañon City.
It closed as a jail because it lacked an exercise yard and other modern requirements set by the state. Nowadays, the museum provides a glimpse into how the inmates lived.
Many areas of the jail have been left as they were during the 1900s. For example, illustrations and signatures left behind by former inmates can still be seen in several of the cells.
In other cells, the museum replicated the living conditions that criminals experienced inside the Teller County Jail. In the beginning, there were four to six men in each cell. During the last years, it decreased to one person per cell…