The purpose of this cache is to learn a little about the history of Breckenridge. To complete the cache you will have to visit the locations below.
The posted coordinates take you to the Breckenridge Welcome Center. After visiting the sites ask the staff in the Welcome Center for the Geocache box, it is behind the counter. There are no DNFs for this cache, make the effort and give yourself credit.
1. Old Masonic Hall (N39 28.850, W106 02.764) Known as Abby Hall until the City of Breckenridge bought the building and reopened it as a multipurpose arts facility in 2015, the Old Masonic Hall was built in 1892, and originally owned by Dr. B.A. “Braz” Arbogast and was used as a grocery store and a doctor’s office. (Dr. Arbogast also served as the coroner, and school superintendent.) A local Masonic Lodge purchased the building in 1905 for $800. To attract and retain members, the Masons paid for their members’ funerals. In the days of being far from family, knowing your remains would be taken care of after your death was a comforting thought.
2. Sylvia the Ghost (N39 28.870, W106 02.765) Legend has it that the upper floors of this building, which used to be a women’s boarding house, are occupied by a ghost named Sylvia. She was a miners’ widow and was said to be a prospector herself, although for men and not gold. It’s said that even to this day she only appears to men, still in search of a husband.
3. The Denver Hotel (N39 28.880, W106 02.775) The Denver Hotel was a popular gambling location for Breckenridge’s prominent citizens. On August 11, 1898, Pug Ryan and his gang intended to rob the hotel safe, but as they entered the hotel one of the gang member’s gun went off, disrupting the plan. Instead the gang robbed the gamblers who were in the hotel of their cash, fine watches, jewelry and other valuables.
4. Barney Ford House (N39 28.844, W106 02.723) Barney Ford was an escaped slave who became a wealthy entrepreneur and civil-rights pioneer in Colorado. At statehood Barney Ford was ranked as the 14th richest man in Colorado. A stained-glass portrait resides in the House Chamber of the Colorado State Capitol.
5. Tom’s Baby (N39 28.898, W106 02.680) On July 23, 1887, Tom Groves discovered a gold nugget that weighed 13.5 lbs, the largest gold nugget ever found in the State of Colorado. He wrapped the nugget in a blanket and walked into Breckenridge cradling the blanket in his arms, earning the name "Tom's Baby". A few days later the nugget was sent to Denver and then disappeared for 85 years. In 1972, the Colorado State Historical Museum examined gold specimens that had been deposited in a Denver bank in 1926 where it found Tom's Baby, but over 5 lbs of the nugget were and are still missing.
6. Colorado House (N39 28.911, W106 02.686) Colorado House is one of the oldest buildings in Breckenridge. In 1894, this building was purchased by the Peabody family, who established a boarding house called the Colorado House, with a mercantile on the ground level and nine sleeping rooms upstairs. The Colorado House operated as a restaurant until the late 1970s, when it became Fatty’s Pizzeria.
7. Summit County Library (N39 28.902, W106 02.553) This building was built in the early 1920’s and served as Breckenridge’s K-12 School. It has the distinction of having the first indoor swimming pool in the state of Colorado. The building later became a firehouse and then the town hall, and the home to the Breckenridge campus of the Colorado Mountain College before becoming the South Branch of the Summit County Public Library.
8. Father Dyer Church (N39 29.029, W106 02.580) John Lewis Dyer (1812-1901), "The Snowshoe Itinerant," moved to Colorado in 1859 and was appointed an itinerant preacher to the mining camps surrounding Breckenridge. In the winter he would wear 10-foot Norwegian skis and hike through blizzards to reach remote mining towns, preaching in saloons, tents and on street corners. On 22 August 1880 Father John Dyer dedicated the new church, the first on the Western Slope, with his one and only sermon entitled, "Heaven, Hell, and Farewell". He retired after the dedication service. (Although he served again from 1885-87 as interim minister).