The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa has welcomed guests every day since it opened on August 12, 1892, which means there’s a lot of history living inside the walls of Denver’s famously right triangle–shaped hotel. In honor of the grand dame’s 120th anniversary year, we snuck a glance at the hotel’s private archives. In a small, tucked-away room lined with filing cabinets and a set of floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves, historian Debra Faulkner—one of only a handful of official hotel historians in the country—carefully pulled out original guest registers from as far back as 1893. In calligraphic scrawl, men often penned their signatures followed by “& wife,” and famous autographs, such as His Royal Highness Prince of Wales (aka King George V) and Margaret (Molly) Brown, emboss the pages. Sign up for a Brown Palace historical tour with Faulkner (Wednesdays and Saturdays at 3 p.m.) to learn more secrets about Denver’s most storied place to stay.

This article was originally published in 5280 October 2012.
Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer is an award-winning writer and editor based in Denver. You can find more of her work at daliahsinger.com.