Them’s Peaceful Words!
Ed WynKoop nearly died in a gunfight in 1860. He was set to duel with a local doctor when the match was interrupted by a Mrs. Cody, niece-in-law of the famous Buffalo Bill Cody. Her husband had died in a gunfight the previous year and she’d seen enough death. Wynkoop lived long enough to get a street and a brewery named after him.
Leave it to a woman to get between a man and his idiocy.
Where’s an Ark When You Need one?
Denver was nearly wiped up by flooding from Cherry Creek even before it could become a city. The first was in 1864, the same year Auraria, Highlands and Denver were incorporated into one city. Again Denver flooded in 1876, 1878 and 1885. It was sometime after the 1894 flooding that Cherry Creek was diverted and dammed. Since then, the city has moved on to other natural disasters such as blizzards, droughts and sports teams that choke during the playoffs.
Denver Firsts – Cheeseburger
Louis Ballast’s Humpty Dumpty drive-in gets bragging rights for the first cheeseburger. Ballast liked to experiment with different kinds of sauces on his burgers, searching for the perfect ingredient. One slice of cheddar later, and he had his manna from heaven. The term “Cheeseburger” was patented in 1935. What a cheesy guy!