Holden/Marolt Mining and Ranching Museum
United States · Americas
About
The Holden/Marolt Mining and Ranching Museum is located on the former Holden Lixiviation Works facility on the western edge of the city of Aspen, Colorado, United States. It consists of two remaining buildings from the facility, as well as the relocated McMurchy/Zupancis domestic buildings. In 1990 the property was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the only district in the city to be so recognized.
The museum is housed in the former sampling building, which was built in 1891 to process ore mined from the mountains around the city into silver through lixiviation. Within two years it had to be shut down when a change in U.S. government policy led to a huge drop in silver production and drove it into bankruptcy. The buildings remained standing and were eventually bought by a local rancher to expand. His family later sold them to the City of Aspen, which turned the property into an open space and leased the buildings to Aspen Historical Society, to operate as a museum.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.