The Molly Brown House Museum

1340 Pennsylvania St., Denver
303/832-4092
www.mollybrown.org [1]

HOURS: Sept.–May Tues.–Sat. 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m., Sun. noon–3:30;
June–Aug. Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m., Sun. noon–3:30

COST: $7 adult, $4 child, $6 senior

For being one of Denver [2]’s better-known residents, Molly Brown sure isn’t very well known. The Unsinkable Molly Brown is of course best known for surviving the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, but the story of how she made it off the ship while valiantly trying to help others is just the tip of the iceberg in her fascinating life story.

In 1886, at age 19, she married 31-year-old miner J. J. Brown—before he struck it rich. After the Browns became wealthy from a gold mine, they moved to Denver in 1894 and eventually bought the Pennsylvania Street house that is now the museum.

The Browns did some renovations on the house, which are still evident today. Even during Molly Brown’s lifetime the house was rented out and became a run-down boardinghouse. By the 1970s it was barely saved from demolition and then painstakingly restored to its Victorian period of glamour.

The Molly Brown House Museum can only be viewed during guided tours. Thirty-minute tours are given on the hour and half-hour. The carriage house out back is where visitors sign up for tours. This is also the museum’s large gift shop, filled with books and movies about Molly Brown and other Victorian-era items.

On the tours, visitors are led through the 1st floor, where rooms have been decorated to match photographs from when the Browns lived in the house. The tour then goes up to the 2nd floor and back through the kitchen before ending on the home’s back porch. Save time to watch a short movie about Molly Brown—included in the cost of the tour—and view artifacts on display on the porch.

Throughout her life, Molly Brown worked as a progressive social activist and was a tireless fundraiser and philanthropist. As visitors learn on the guided tours, the details of her full life are more than could be squeezed into a Broadway musical or Hollywood movie.

Tours do not include the home’s 3rd floor, but there are formal teas held there regularly.