The Molly Brown House Museum in Denver is a Tribute to Her Incredible Life

The Molly Brown House Museum is a testament and reminder of the great life of Margaret Brown. Visiting the house will take you back to the life Margaret and her husband led after they struck wealth in the mining business.

The Molly Brown House Museum is open at different times during different months of the year. It is open from January through May Tuesday through Saturday 10am-3:30pm and Sunday Noon-3:30pm, June through August Monday through Saturday 10am-3:30pm and Sunday Noon-3:30pm, and September through December Tuesday through Saturday 10am-3:30pm and Sunday Noon-3:30pm.

Tours of the Molly Brown House Museum begin on the hour and half hour. Children aged 5-12 may tour the museum for $4, seniors may tour for $6, and adults 13-64 may tour for $7 apiece.

Please note that the Molly Brown House Museum is not accessible for individuals in wheelchairs, as it is a historic location with no elevators.

The staff who give tours of the Molly Brown House Museum are knowledgeable about Margaret Brown's life and the historical time period in which she lived.

Margaret (Tobin) Brown was born in Hannibal Missouri into a poor family. When she was a young adult, she moved in with her brother in Leadville, Colorado, where some of her other siblings were also located. Her goal from the time she was a child was to marry a rich man so that she could provide for her father, and offer him comfort for all the hard work he had done to ensure the family was fed, clothed, and educated. However, Maggie fell in love with a poor man, J.J. Brown, and she decided it was better to be happy married to a poor man than miserable married to a rich one.

J.J. Brown worked in the mining industry, and quickly became well-known for his great ability to mine along with his intelligence. In the late 1800s, a group of miners decided to buy a number of mines and started a company, a company they wanted J.J. Brown to oversee. In addition, the price of silver plummeted and the price of gold skyrocketed in the late 1800s. J.J. Brown's decision to oversee the mining company turned out to be a good one as he helped the group of miners figure out how to keep the Little Johnny Mine from collapsing, where they found tons of gold.

The discovery of the gold in the Little Johnny Mine made the company, including J.J. rich. That's when the Browns decided to move to what is now known as the Molly Brown House Museum, located at 1340 Pennsylvania Street, Denver, CO 80203.

The house was originally built by a well-known architect at the time, William Lang, for Isaac and Mary Large. Over the years, the Browns made many changes to what was the original house, including adding a stone wall, which separated the grass from the sidewalk, enclosing the two back porches, almost doubled the size of the carriage house, lengthened the grand staircase from the second floor to the third floor, and switched the library and family parlor.

Not only was Margaret Brown known as a rich woman with a high place in society, she was also known for her work in charity and fundraising. She helped raise funds to improve the juvenile justice system and to finish a cathedral, for instance. Unfortunately, Margaret's fundraising and philanthropic activities often put her in the paper, a place J.J. was uncomfortable with his wife being. This, along with many other factors led to J.J. and Maggie signing a separation agreement quietly in 1909. Margaret reportedly received a cash settlement, $700 a month, and retained possession of the home on Pennsylvania Street in Denver.

Margaret boarded the Titanic in 1912, to return from Europe to the United States to see her grandson who was ill in New York. Remarkably, immediately, after the Titanic sank, she had survivors' families contacted at her expense, searched for blankets on the rescue shop for all who had to sleep in the hallways and dining room, and got wealthy passengers to donate money to the less fortunate passengers who had lost everything when the Titanic sunk. By the time they reached shore, she managed to raise $10,000 for less fortunate survivors. Her charitable actions following the sinking of the Titanic made her nationally known.

During World War I, Maggie traveled to France, along with several nurses to help rebuild area destroyed by the war, rebuild houses, distribute clothing, food, tools, and linen, create health education programs, create hospitals, and import livestock.

After Margaret Brown passed away in 1932, her children sold her home on Pennsylvania Street. It became a men's boarding house and a home for wayward girls before Historic Denver Inc. was formed, bought the house, and began to restore it to its original state.

If you are interested in learning about the Browns as well as life in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Denver, I encourage you to visit the Molly Brown House Museum, located at 1340 Pennsylvania Street, Denver, CO 80203.

Sources:

Molly Brown House Museum: Home:
http://mollybrown.org/index.asp

Molly Brown House Museum: Museum Information:
http://mollybrown.org/museuminfo.asp

Molly Brown House Museum: About Molly Brown: Timeline of Important Events:
http://mollybrown.org/timeline.asp