Colorado and the Irish - A Match Made in Heaven

Colorado's Irish community has a rich history that began with the Gold Rush and continues today with one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the country. In between, Irish Americans have contributed mightily to Colorado's growth. 

Special Collections
Studio bust portrait of Catherine Smith Mullen (Mrs. John Kernan Mullen) in a lace blouse and dress with a banded collar and a necklace. Mrs. Mullen has short, wavy hair.
Perspective (aerial) of the modern style Mullen High School (Catholic) campus, 3601 South Lowell Boulevard, Fort Logan neighborhood, Denver, Colorado, ca. 1964. The perspective shows the location of the gymnasium, classroom and administration buildings in relation to the parking and lawn areas.
Sisters of Charity and boys from Mount St. Vincent's Home stand on the steps at the home of J. K. Mullen at 896 Pennsylvania Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The boys wear white shirts, bow ties, short pants, and armbands that read: "SVH."
View of the John Kernan Mullen house at Lawrence and 9th (Ninth) Streets in the Auraria neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The two-story brick house has a hip roof, chimneys, and covered porches.
View of the J.K. Mullen Home for the Aged (later the Little Sisters of the Poor Mullen Home) at 3629 West 29th (Twenty-ninth) Avenue in the West Highland neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. Shows a neoclassical style four story building with a cupola and a formal gated entrance with a wrought iron fence.
Portrait of John Kernan Mullen, Denver, Colorado business man and philanthropist, in a tuxedo and black tie.
View of St. Patrick's Catholic Church at 3325 Pecos Street, Denver, Colorado; Sells & Weber grocery store building advertises Uneeta Biscuit (3341 Pecos Street).
Holding prayer books with hands poised for prayer, This communion class (one Black student) in Holyoke, Phillips County, Colorado poses in white shirts and taffeta dresses. In vestments, a priest is in the back row; behind them are an altar with candles and flowers, and a likeness of the Virgin Mary.
View of St. Patrick Mission Church (1907-1910: Henry James Manning, Francis C. Wagner, architects; restoration 1979: Congleton Architect ) at 3325 Pecos Street in the Highland neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The mission style church has curvilinear parapets with copper domed towers, an arched entrance and red tile roofs.
A man and a woman dressed in costume for Saint Patrick's Day pose, probably Denver, Colorado. She wears a dress with ruffled sleeves, lace and satin bodice, and a tiara. He wears a hat and suit with satin and wide lapels.
A man and a woman dressed in costume for Saint Patrick's day pose for a photo. She wears a long patterned dress with ruffled sleeves, lace and satin bodice, and a tiara. He wears a hat, suit with satin and wide lapels, knickers and tights.
View of the James Joyce Society float in the Saint Patrick's Day parade stopped in front of the Denver City and County Building, Civic Center, Denver, Colorado. The float has a cut-out sign of a profile of James Joyce that reads: "Gallagher, Ulysses, page 135." A political sign in the distance reads: "Gallagher [for] Mayor." State Senator Dennis Gallagher is standing in front of the float.
View of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade at 16th (Sixteenth) Street and Broadway in the Central Business District, Denver, Colorado. Men and a woman in hats ride in decorated antique convertible cars. The Paramount Theater and Daniels and Fisher Tower are in the distance.
Group portrait of the Abbey Theatre Irish Players in Denver, Colorado; shows men and women in winter coats. The Broadway Theater entrance is in the background.
A cavalryman of the 6th Division of the U.S. Army poses on horseback in the foreground. He wears riding boots and gloves. Several trees are in the midground behind him, and a ridge is in the distance.
Men stand and pose near doorways at the wood frame Londoner Bros. store with a gabled roof and a false front in Leadville (Lake County), Colorado. Men wear hats, suits or vests, and stand beside store windows and a straw broom display on the wooden sidewalk. A painted sign reads "Londoner Bros. Groceries & Mining Supplies." A poster on the side of the building reads: "Barry & Fay in their new comedy, Irish Aristocracy." A woman wears a dress, a hat and holds a parasol on the street near the store.
Partial view of horses pulling a Coors beer carriage in the Saint Patrick's Day parade in front of the Denver City and County Building in Civic Center, Denver, Colorado. Signs on the carriage read: "Coors" and "Belgian Hitch."