Molly Brown House Museum Hosts Victorian Halloween Guardian Liberty Voice



Molly Brown (Margaret Tobin) was born on 18 July 1867,1 in Hannibal, Missouri, the daughter of John Tobin and Johanna Collins (2), both Irish immigrants. She had also become a founding member of the Denver Woman's Club, which advocated literacy, education, suffrage and human rights in Colorado and the US. Brown raised funds to build the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception as well as St Joseph's Hospital by the turn of the century.

The museum and historic mansion in downtown Denver is just getting more visitors since "Titanic" opened in theaters. It wasn't until the Broadway musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown”, came out in 1960 that she became known as Molly”, almost 30 years after her death.

Not to be outdone, James turned from silver mining to gold mining in an effort to combat the 90% unemployment rate that hit Leadville after the Silver Crash of 1893. Set in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, The Molly Brown House Museum is located in the Unsinkable Molly Brown's former home—a Queen Anne Victorian.

Born on July 18, 1867, in Hannibal, Missouri, Margaret Tobin was the second of four children born to John and Johanna Collins Tobin. Molly is often referred to as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, a nickname she was given after she rowed a lifeboat for seven and a half hours to reach safety after the sinking of the Titanic.

Not only is there a complete tour of the house and an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Molly Brown, (no pun intended, but it is a walking tour through the house, and there are stairs), but they even have an event room that you can rent out. For 85 years the Titanic, too, has been memorialized in many ways, perhaps none so opulent as the latest motion picture, in which Kathy Bates portrays Molly Brown.

Molly Brown went on to study acting and drama in Paris and New York and to work as a volunteer during World War I. J.J. Brown died in 1922, and Margaret and the children contended over the will. As we toured the museum, the architecture and interior design of the house caught my attention as it reminded me of the Denver Colorado Gilded Age cottages in New England that I had learned about in my American Humanities class.

So, next time you're looking for something to do while you're in Denver, I would definitely urge you to go visit the Molly Brown House. Margaret became a founding member of the Denver Woman's Club, part of a network of clubs which advocated literacy, education, suffrage, and human rights in Colorado and throughout the United States.

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