The Hotel Colorado opened on June 10, 1893 to a program including a fireworks display, an orchestra in the ballroom, and dining at midnight for the 300 couples in attendance.

[3] The hotel quickly became a popular summer retreat, earning the nickname of "the little White House of the West" after extended visits by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

On September 16, 1925, live music and speech was broadcast by way of telephone from the hotel's ballroom to Denver radio station KOA.

[5] Actor Tom Mix, his wife and several production crew members stayed at the Hotel Colorado during the filming of The Great K & A Train Robbery in summer 1926.

[6]The screams of a woman are often heard throughout the hotel, believed to be of a chamber maid who was involved in a love triangle, and was murdered by one of her lovers.