Healy House Museum

Healy House
Healy House Museum is located in Colorado
Healy House Museum
Healy House Museum is located in the United States
Healy House Museum
LocationLeadville, Colorado
Coordinates39°15′7.96″N 106°17′18.01″W / 39.2522111°N 106.2883361°W / 39.2522111; -106.2883361
Built1878
ArchitectAugust R. Meyer
NRHP reference No.70000164[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 25, 1970

Healy House Museum was the Leadville, Colorado home built in 1878 by mining engineer and city father August R. Meyer for his bride, Emma. It was purchased in 1888 by Daniel Healy (1857-1912), who operated a boarding house with his cousin Nellie Healy. An immigrant from Ireland, Healy served Leadville as a mail carrier and later assistant postmaster. He subsequently started several successful businesses and represented Leadville in Colorado's state legislature from 1903 to 1905.

After Daniel Healy had died in 1912, the house was given to his sister, nieces, and cousin Nellie Healy.[2] Nellie continued to live in and operate the boarding house until 1936.[2] She donated the house to the historical association in 1936 under the condition that the house be used to benefit the city.[2][3] In 1938, Clara Gaw Norton oversaw restoration work at the house paid for through grant money from the Boettcher Foundation.[2] Norton hoped to turn the Healy House into the city's first history museum.[2]

Healy House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Currently it is a Colorado State Historic Site and is operated as a Victorian era museum by the state under History Colorado, together with Dexter Cabin. The two are located within the Leadville Historic District, which is itself a National Historic Landmark.

The restored house serves as an example of the "Elegant Eighties".[4]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e Encyclopedia Staff. ""Healy House and Dexter Cabin."". Colorado Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  3. ^ "The Steamboat Pilot July 31, 1936 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection". www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  4. ^ Robert Fink (January 14, 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Healy House". National Park Service. with seven photos, including several from 1965 before the house was renovated