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Welcome

The Crested Butte Museum preserves, shares, and celebrates the history and traditions of Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley. Through engaging educational and cultural experiences, the museum connects people to the past, the place, and each other. We invite you to visit the museum to explore our exhibits, attend a historic walking tour of Elk Avenue, join an educational event, or experience the museum at home through our history at home recordings and more.

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Your Donations & Membership Help us Further Our Mission

Your support makes it possible for the Crested Butte Museum to create educational programming for all ages, preserve our historical collections, and maintain our exhibits. Together, we can inspire wonder in our past by preserving the history of Crested Butte and Gunnison Valley.

Museum Membership Benefits

Museum admission is free for you and 1 guest

Discounted rates for Museum events (including historic downtown walking tours!)

10% Off on All Museum Store Purchases

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Tomorrow, August 11th, join us at the Mallardi in

Tomorrow, August 11th, join us at the Mallardi in Crested Butte at 7pm for this theatre performance highlighting Molly Brown and other colorful Colorado characters. Molly Brown was a first-class passenger on the RMS Titanic, and assisted with evacuation, eventually inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. This musical will highlight a fictionalized account of Molly Brown's life and other Colorado contemporaries. Originally created and produced in 2005 by Elizabeth Bond, this program will take the audience on a magical musical march through Molly Brown's exciting life from her days in Leadville to her survival of the Titanic's sinking in 1912. This show will be great for all ages, purchase tickets using the link in our bio!

#coloradohistory #mollybrown #titanicsurvivor #coloradocharacters #coloradohistory #cohistory #historybuff #historyperformance #crestedbutte #crestedbutteevents #coloradotheater #coloradotheatre #theaterperformance #historytheatre #historytheater

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, August 10th, in the m

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, August 10th, in the museum garden to listen to the tunes of Floyd Bauler from 4pm-6pm! Free show with complimentary beer, wine, or soda. Donations suggested to benefit our local musicians and our non-profit history museum. We accept cash & credit card for donations. Check us out to kick off live music as a pre-show for music on the mountain. Don’t miss out!

#livemusic #crestedbutte #visitcrestedbutte #cbco #crestedbutteco #coloradomusic #floydbauler #singersongwriter #outdoormusic #crestedbuttecolorado #mountaintownmusic @mycbguide @cbchamber @visitcolorado @visitgcb @visitcrestedbutte @visit_crestedbutte @annabanaana @melindahulm @ash_does_stuff

Join us tomorrow, August 9th for the final tour in

Join us tomorrow, August 9th for the final tour in Duane's history series to learn about ski history in the Gunnison Valley. This tour will be a walking style tour throughout town and the lower loop. He will be joined by accordion aficionado Pete Dunda for some Polka music as well! This tour will begin at 8am with coffee with a light breakfast at the museum, and lunch around 12pm. The tour will end around 2 or 3pm. Signup using the link in our bio!

#cohistory #colorado #coloradohistory #crestedbutte #historybuff #crestedbuttehistory #cbhistory #statehistorian #coloradohistorian #cbcolorado #skihistory #mountainhistory

Oh how the times have changed, can you guess what

Oh how the times have changed, can you guess what year this photo was taken? Comment below with your answer.

This photo is a part of our Rademan Illuminations Collection.
#cbmuseum #coloradohistory #crestedbuttecolorado #crestedbutte #throwback

For the month of August, we are introducing music

For the month of August, we are introducing music in our beautiful garden on Wednesdays from 4pm-6pm! All events are donation based, pay what you can, and will directly benefit our non-profit museum and the musicians. First up, we have Shannon Redmon @shannonredmonmusic performing this Wednesday on August 3rd! Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic beverages will be complimentary with a suggested donation. No tickets will be sold, just show up and enjoy the music, and donate what you can to support local music and our non-profit organization!

#localmusic #coloradomusic #colorado #coloradohistory #historyinthemaking #localmusicians #supportsmall #supportlocalmusic #summermusic #summervibes #outdoorcolorado

Backpacking in Crested Butte's backcountry never g

Backpacking in Crested Butte's backcountry never gets old... What's your favorite trail? Comment below.

This photo is a part of our Rademan Illuminations Collection.

📸:David Sumner
#cbmuseum #backpacking #coloradohistory #crestedbuttecolorado #crestedbutte #throwback

Join us tomorrow at 11am for a hike to Copley Lake

Join us tomorrow at 11am for a hike to Copley Lake for some time in nature and mining history from our curator. Spots are limited, so sign up on our website today!

Link in bio to purchase tickets!

#history #historytime #historybuff #historytok #historytiktok #colorado #coloradoadventures #coloradohistory #crestedbutte #cbco #crestedbuttecolorado #cbhistory #coloradomining #mininghistory #crestedbuttehistory #hikingadventure #historyhike #hikingcolorado #hikecolorado

The sun is shining golden rays, the dirt under you

The sun is shining golden rays, the dirt under your wheel is smooth and peaceful, and the breeze is blowing just hard enough to slip through the cracks in your bike helmet making it the perfect day in Crested Butte.

Biking first started in Crested Butte around the 1970's. Folks utilized old mining roads and two track roads such as the road to Gothic, Kebler pass and Brush Creek. They started using their bike for everyday activity's, finding out that the two wheels navigated the uneven streets of Crested Butte faster then any car could.

Biking kept on evolving and people kept on riding, developing new slang for each bike such as the "klunker" a modified mountain bike that was popular in the 1990s.

Today biking is still embraced just as much with celebrations like the Grand traverse, and the Pearl Pass tour coming up in September.

Stop by The Crested Butte Museum Biking exhibit to learn more and get inspired by the many stories about the impact of biking in the valley.

You can also check out our newest oral history exhibit “Conversations…On Elk Avenue”, and learn stories about klunkers and more through Donnie and Kay Peterson Cook.

Jacob & Marija Kochevar were both born in Lipovic,

Jacob & Marija Kochevar were both born in Lipovic, Slovenia. They immigrated to the United States and ended up in Crested Butte. Marija was an herbalist and local healer for the immigrant community. Jacob was a skilled craftsman. If you walk down Elk Avenue or through town you might notice a few of his buildings still standing today.

Have you stopped in the Kochevars Saloon to grab a beer recently after work or while visiting? Look around and you will notice some historic objects that still are located in the saloon.

Jacob built the famous Kochevar's Saloon that still stands and operates on Elk Avenue. He built it with two other men in 1899 and ran it as a saloon and game hall till 1919. It has also been a brothel in CB's historic "Bordello district", bowling alley and a general store as cover during the prohibition years.

FUN FACT:
Butch Cassidy stopped in one day while he was fleeing from local authorities and a bounty hunter. In a rush to leave he left his gun which the Kochevar family still has today!

If you are interested in learning more about local architecture and history then please join one of our Historic Walking Tours with local historian Glo Cunningham on Wednesday and Friday mornings at 10 a.m.!

Call 970.349.1880 or sign up at www.crestedbuttemuseum.com

Photo descriptions:
1. Jacob Kochevar
2. Marija Kochevar
3. Kochevar building. Date unknown.
4. Kochevar building, Forest Queen buildng and view of town.
5. Old Timers enjoying a beer at Kochevars. L to R: ?,?,Pitzker, ?, Botsie Spritzer, Joe "Cheech" Sedmak, Joe Saya

All photos are property of the Crested Butte Museum. All rights reserved.

#CrestedButte #Colorado #Kochevar #architecture #coloradohistory #heritage #crestedbuttemuseum #historyiscool #saloon

It's that time of the year again, the "Granddaddy

It's that time of the year again, the "Granddaddy of Colorado Rodeos" is back in the Gunnison Valley! Cattlemen's Days is going on 122 years strong, keeping the long-kept traditions of ranching in the Gunnison Valley strong.
Interested in participating this year? Check out their full schedule on their website: https://cattlemensdays.com/.

#cattlemensdays #gunnisonvalley #coloradohistory #ranchinghistory #wildwest #gunnisoncolorado

Interpretive history mountain bike tour tomorrow,

Interpretive history mountain bike tour tomorrow, July 14th at 11am on the Lupine and Lower Loop trails to learn about the Ute people, the founding of Crested Butte, mining, and what came after.

Link in bio to purchase tickets 🎟

#history #historytime #historybuff #historytok #historytiktok #colorado #coloradohistory #coloradoadventures #bikecolorado #mountainbiking #mountainbike #mountainbikelife #crestedbutte #cbco #crestedbuttecolorado #coloradomining #cohistory

Need a break from hiking world famous trails like

Need a break from hiking world famous trails like Oh B Joyful or biking 401? Grab a morning beverage from the Daily Dose or the T-Bar or some delicious breakfast at Mcgills.

Meander around Elk Avenue and the alleys and observe the architecture, the colors and the overall aesthetic of each building. Each building has a plaque with the historiography of each building. Feel free to visit the museum on 4th and Elk and grab a self guided walking tour map! Or consider a walking tour with our lovely local historian Glo Cunningham on Wednesday and Fridays at 10am.

Crested Butte became apart of the National Historic District on May 29, 1974. This is one of the many reasons that our historic buildings have kept their beauty and integrity in the face of change and growth in our little corner of Colorado.

Interoperation of buildings:
(1)Daily Dose currently lives in the historic Elk Mountain Hotel from the 1800's
(2)T-Bar currently is located in the historic Grubstake building
(3)McGill's currently is located in the historic building where Stefanics used to operate
(4)Crested Butte Museum is located where the beloved Tony's Conoco gas station operated by old timer Tony Mihelich

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