Back to Colorado Postcards
Kevin J. Beaty
Stone lions outside the Molly Brown House, Capitol Hill, March 27, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Molly Brown

How did Molly Brown become “the Unsinkable?” Yes, she survived the sinking of the Titanic and helped other passengers get into lifeboats. But she was a buoyant presence in Denver long before that. Margaret Brown, as she was known during her life, advocated for public parks, established one of the first humane societies in the nation (the Denver Dumb Friends League) and she helped create a model for the juvenile court system. After the Titanic sank, she used her fame and wealth to help other survivors and improve conditions for folks from the Ludlow mine in southern Colorado to the battlefields of France in World War I. "Please don't say I'm a heroine,” she would tell people. "I did only the natural thing and not the heroic.” The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

The words "Colorado Postcards" overlaid on top of a sun beams

About Colorado Postcards

Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado. See more postcards.


More like this

Casimiro Barela and the Constitution

One constitution, three ways… Casimiro Barela wanted Colorado’s foundational document to be as comprehensible as possible. Born over the border in Nuevo México, Barela came to the territory as a young […]

Molly Goodnight

The modern Western “Lonesome Dove” drew inspiration from rancher Charles Goodnight’s legendary cattle drives. The Goodnight-Loving trail that stretched from Texas helped develop Colorado’s ranching industry in the late 1800s.