For many visitors to the state Capitol complex in Denver, especially students and tourists, the Colorado History Museum is a must-see.
Unfortunately, the museum is simply too small to properly showcase Colorado’s legacy. It doesn’t really do justice to a Colorado saga that spans ancient Indian civilizations, dauntless pioneers, a brutal period of industrial warfare and the often-overlooked contributions of women, Latinos, African-Americans and Asians.
Shoehorned into a block (bounded by Broadway, Lincoln Street and East 13th and 14th Avenues) that also hosts the Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, the museum is only 140,000 square feet. Only a fourth of it is available for exhibits and, as a result, much of its collection is in storage. Worse, the museum’s environmental controls do not meet standards for preservation of artifacts – putting priceless items at risk.
The justice building north of the museum isn’t in much better shape. An Urban Land Institute study found both it and the museum to be undersized, poorly designed and plagued with health and safety concerns. Thus, the ULI urged building an expanded museum at a new site, demolishing the existing buildings and combining the state’s scattered legal functions into a new justice center at the existing site.
The Post likes the plan, providing the museum stays in the Civic Center area along with other historic and cultural attractions. We believe a number of nearby sites could accommodate the proposed new 240,000-square-foot facility. It likewise makes sense to consolidate the appellate courts in the proposed new 650,000- square-foot justice center, along with the attorney general’s office, state public defender’s office, and other legal agencies.
It’s up to the legislature to find a way to pay for this plan. The justice center’s $271 million cost would be paid for primarily by increased court fees – which many civil litigants would happily pay to reduce the costly delays that now plague court processes. The museum’s $112 million tab could eventually be paid for from proceeds from the state gaming tax, which currently funnels about $49 million a year into the state general fund.
Gambling was sold in Colorado as a way to support historical preservation, and this seems a good use of such funds.
