ICE PALACE LEADVILLE COLORADO
Denver: W.H. Jackson & Co. Photo, [1896]. Hand color-tinted photograph, image: 9” x 3 ½”, mount: 15” x 9 ¼”.
Although Leadville was one of the largest boomtowns in Colorado, the mines were in decline by the 1890s and a plan to save the community in 1895 came in the form of an ice hotel and winter carnival. After months of fundraising and then building, the ice palace opened on January 1, 1896. It measured 450’ long by 320’ wide, with five-foot thick walls. Two octagonal towers rose 90 feet at the entrance on the north, where arched doorways led visitors inside. Smaller, 60-foot towers flanked the sides and the south wall. Inside there was a rink that would accommodate 1,000 skaters, along with two ballrooms, a restaurant, and a 20-foot wide promenade that led people down the middle of the place.
On its first day of operation, 2,500 visitors came by train, wagon, horseback, and on foot to see the gigantic wonder. For nearly four glorious months, visitors paid .50 cents for adults and .25 cents per child to walk past the ice sculpture of “Lady Leadville” at the entrance, and into the fantasy world of their dreams. It’s estimated there were 250,000 visitors.
Some edgewear and staining to the mount, with a small scuff to the photograph. Item #79679
Price: $200.00