Local History
Glenwood Canyon
Brewing Company is located in the first floor of the
historic Hotel Denver, at 402 Seventh Street in downtown
Glenwood Springs. In the 1800's the town was called
Defiance, and Seventh Street was known as Riverfront. The
street began as a crude assembly of tents and dugouts, which
were replaced by various small buildings by the beginning of
the 1900's. Most of the businesses on the block were saloons
and brothels that served miners in the area. |
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Doc
Holliday |
The most famous
resident of Glenwood Springs was the noted gunfighter Doc
Holliday. He arrived in the spring of 1887, seeking to use
the local hot mineral springs to relieve his tuberculosis.
He resided in the Hotel Glenwood, which was once located at
the corner of Eighth Street and Grand Avenue. Doc Holliday
died only a few months later and was buried somewhere in
city limits. Although there is a tombstone for him in a
local cemetery, no one knows the exact location of his
remains.
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In 1904, the Denver &
Rio Grande Railroad built a depot on the riverfront,
bringing travelers and increasing the need for hotels and
restaurants. Although the brothels had moved away from
Seventh Street, there were still at least 14 saloons within
a one block radius. In 1906, Henry Bosco moved a bottling
company into the basement of one of those saloons, where the
Brewpub is now. He soon acquired the saloon above his
business and an adjacent saloon, then built the Star Hotel
in 1914. At the other end of the block, Art Kendrick opened
a rooming house and called it the Denver Rooms, to promote
Denver clientele. Also in
1914, William and Walter Wilhelmy
opened a brewery a few blocks away, near the corner of Tenth
Street and Pitkin Avenue. It was called the Home Brewing
Company and they planned to brew up to 15,000 barrels a
year. Unfortunately, Colorado passed a prohibition law that
went into effect on January 1, 1916. The brewery also
suffered a fire during its brief existence and all that
remains are some old beer labels.
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Diamond Jack |
The Prohibition was a
devastating blow to the downtown district, but Henry Bosco
and Art Kendrick made the best of it and added to their
holdings, expanding their hotels until they were adjoined.
By 1938, the properties were combined into what is now known
as the Hotel Denver. Also during Prohibition, Glenwood
Springs became a popular resort for several Chicago
gangsters, including Al Capone. The Hotel Denver was often
frequented by an associate of his named Jack Alterie,
nicknamed Diamond Jack. He was known
to carry a pair of chrome-plated pistols and once
shot and killed a man inside the hotel. Eventually
the authorities forced him to leave Colorado and he
was killed by rival gangsters. |
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| Fast forward to 1992,
the savings and loan crisis compelled the sale of the Hotel
Denver and it was purchased along with the former Rex Hotel
by locals Steve and April Carver. A series of unsuccessful
restaurants occupied the first floor until 1995, when the
idea of a brewpub was first considered. That summer, Steve
and April visited the Carver Brewing Company, a successful
brewpub in nearby Durango and met with the owners, Jim and
Bill Carver. Although the Carvers from Glenwood Springs and
Durango are not related, they quickly formed a partnership
and converted the existing restaurant in the Hotel Denver
into a brewpub. Construction on the project began in
January, 1996 and Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company opened in
March, 1996. |
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