It was deemed significant for its association with Barney Ford, an escaped slave who became a prominent businessman and a Republican Party leader in Colorado.

[1] The building is included by the National Park Service in lists of Underground Railroad-associated places,[2] for its association with Ford; the Colorado Territory was itself far from the Underground Railroad routes north from the slavery states in the U.S. South.

[3] Barney Ford was a black pioneer, civil rights activist, and civic leader.

[1] He became an abolitionist after meeting Henry O. Wagoner, a member of the Underground Railroad, in Chicago.

He invested in real estate and hotels in Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming and in 1854 he had the 14th highest income in the state of Colorado.