Current Exhibition

Forty Years on the ’Fax

Colfax Avenue, 1926–1966

Take a nostalgic ride down Colfax, with stops at the quirky and memorable places that gave the street its worldwide reputation.

Colfax Street Sign — Colfax Avenue street sign, 1940s - 1950s

Highway 40 the Transcontinental Route — US Highway 40 in Colorado tourist booklet

The Apple Tree menu — Apple Tree Shanty restaurant menu, 1951

Kimberly Kronwall Exhibit and Loan Registrar, Collections — Kimberly Kronwall, History Colorado Exhibits & Loan Registrar

El Rancho Lodge Menu — El Rancho Lodge menu, mid-twentieth century

Matchbooks — Various matchbooks from The Colfax Museum collection

Trolley Tokens — Fare tokens from the Denver Tramway Corporation, 1920s-1950s

Johnny Barber — Jonny Barber, guest curator and Colfax Museum founder

Ashtray from The Lemon Tree — The Lemon Tree Lounge ashtray, 1960s-1970s

Julie Peterson, History Colorado Exhibit Developer & Public Historian

The mid-twentieth century was tourism’s heyday on Colfax Avenue. The main east-west thoroughfare through Colorado, “the ’Fax” beckoned visitors to the Rocky Mountain West. From its birth as US Highway 40 in 1926 until I-70 diverted traffic away from it in the ’60s, “America’s Main Street” boomed with tourist attractions. Hotels and motels, swanky restaurants and drive-ins, and all forms of shopping and entertainment—from amusement parks to nightlife—sprang up along a 26-mile stretch of pavement from Lakewood to Aurora.

See relics from the glory days of “America’s longest, wickedest street,” like neon signs from Across the Street Cafe and Sid King’s Crazy Horse Bar, matchbooks from hundreds of famous businesses, and menus, glasses, and dishware from restaurants Denverites dined in for decades. Guest curated by Jonny “the Velvet Elvis” Barber, Forty Years on the ’Fax features objects from the Colfax Museum collection. Having gathered prime pieces of Colfax history for over a decade, Barber opened his museum in 2017, only to shutter its doors a year later after a flood. History Colorado is thrilled to offer visitors a chance to see these treasures while The Colfax Museum finds its new home.