Margaret Brown

“An Iraqi woman prepares to cast her voting ballot” courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  In the United States, the fight for women’s suffrage began in 1848 at a meeting in Seneca Falls, New York.[1] In 1869, Wyoming became the first territory to grant women the right to vote and in 1893, Colorado became the first state…

The Museum recently began the undertaking of compiling all of Margaret and J.J. Brown’s quotes. Along the way, we asked one of our Museum Specialists to write about the project and here is what she had to say: For the past few months I have been chipping away at what feels like an insurmountable task….

In the United States, Europe, and many other parts of the globe, St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, and Father Christmas bring gifts to all the good children on Christmas Eve. The book, T’was Night Before Christmas, was written by Clement Clark Moore in 1823. This was the first time St. Nick appeared in America in a…

Located about two hours southwest of Denver is the town of Leadville, Colorado. Leadville holds the title of the highest elevation of a city in the United States at an impressive 10,152 feet. Established in 1877 by Horace Tabor, propelled by a silver boom, Leadville became one of the fastest growing communities in the country….

Just 10 miles southwest of the Molly Brown House Museum, at Wadsworth and Yale, is the Browns’ summer retreat, built by J. J. Brown in 1897. The Molly Brown Summer House, which the Browns dubbed “Avoca Lodge,” was a peaceful getaway for Margaret and J. J. to escape the hustle and bustle of city life….

For our current exhibit, “Everyone but the Browns – Through the Years at 1340 Pennsylvania St,” we are revealing some of the untold stories about the other occupants of the house. We know that the Browns occupied the house fulltime from 1894-1910. After 1910, the Browns lived elsewhere across the country and traveled abroad, and…

Irish immigrants came to the United States in droves during the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1852) seeking a better life. Once they reached America however, they were met with discrimination and back breaking labor. Faced with the challenges of discrimination, the Irish fought hard to work their way up the socioeconomic ladder in America. The first-generation of immigrants did their utmost to pave a path to a better future for their children. Their efforts made it possible for second and third generation Irish to obtain positions that once had often been out of reach. Many Irishman helped lay down tracks for the growing railroad industry and built roads and ditches for the growing infrastructure of the United States. Margaret Tobin Brown’s own father, an Irish immigrant, was a ditch digger. The booming mining business brought many Irish to Colorado in the…

The following is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune, February 20, 2000: Did you know that the Titanic included black passengers? Joseph Laroche, a Haitian-born, French-educated engineer left France with his family in 1912. Like Margaret Brown, they did not intend to travel on the Titanic. Joseph Laroche was born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, and traveled to France to study engineering when he was 15. His wife, Juliette, who grew up in a prominent privileged family, met her husband when she was 15. However, they were not allowed to marry until Joseph finished his degree. They were wed in March of 1908. Laroche was unable to find “fair wages” in France as an engineer due to his race. He was bringing his family to Haiti where his family prospered. He had worked on the building of one of the early Metro…

“PASSENGERS SAFELY MOVED AND STEAMER TITANIC TAKEN IN TOW” (Christian Science Monitor, April 15, 1912) “ALL SAVED FROM TITANIC AFTER COLLISION” (New York Evening Sun, Monday April 15, 1912). “2,000 LIVES ARE SAVED OFF WRECKED TITANIC BY WIRELESS: VESSEL IS REPORTED SINKING.” (Denver Times, Monday evening April 15, 1912). These are just three newspaper headlines from Monday, April 15, 1912. In a world full of instant communication, it is hard to believe that for several days the true fate of the Titanic and all those onboard were not known by the public. Many confusing headlines, such as these, illustrate the lack of communication to the press from the rescue ship Carpathia and White Star Line. In fact, it was not until 6:16pm on Monday April 15 that the Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic, confirmed that it…

“I am a woman who has traveled all over the world, who has eaten with chopsticks and sat tailor fashion.” –Margaret Brown By the 19th century a new class of solo women travelers appeared in the United States and Europe. These women traveled not to accompany husbands but to please themselves, venturing beyond destinations considered…