A Boulder resident in the 1940s remarked that Pearl street is “a good place to buy a pair of socks.” I think this adage holds true today, and that Pearl offers Boulder exponentially more to go along with those socks. Pearl Street is supposedly named for one of the wives of the original 54 founders of Boulder. However, I have also heard whispers that “Pearl” was a madam of a brothel once located near what is now Pearl Street. The first explanation is more likely, though I find the second more provocative and appealing. If I had to describe Pearl Street, I would say it’s an intermingling... Read More

Up until 1858, few people from the East Coast had any interest in the area that would one day be the state of Colorado. It was not until the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush that settlers came to the region and laid the roots of the town that would become Boulder. Even though small amounts of gold were discovered in Colorado as early as 1850, they went largely ignored; the country was too caught up in the potential wealth to be had in the California Gold Rush. But when the gold of California was exhausted, heads began to turn towards Colorado–or what was then known as the Kansas Territory. The gold... Read More

Chief Niwot (which means “Left Hand” in English) was a leader of the Southern Arapaho tribe born around 1825. He spent a great many winters in Boulder Valley, particularly at Valmont Butte, which is considered a sacred site for the Southern Arapaho. In 1851, the United States signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie with the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Sioux, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara nations. In it, US government acknowledged that much of the land between Oregon and the Rocky Mountains belonged to these tribes and in return, the Native Americans would allow wagon trains... Read More