Margaret Browns House

 This year while in Denver in October, we finally took in Margaret Brown's House.  The "Unsinkable Mollie Brown" was a fabrication invented in the 1930's after her death. Mollie was a slur for an Irish woman and Margaret's life was far more interesting and meaningful than that ridiculous tale conveys.   She was the daughter of Irish immigrants and was born in Hannibal Missouri. She met her husband  JJ Brown in Leadville Colorado.  After making their money in the mining business, Margaret and JJ moved to Denver and built this house.

 Margaret was a huge activist always supporting a cause.  She helped establish the first Juvenile justice system, campaigned for a woman's right to vote, survived the Titanic, ran for state senate and spearheaded the raising of money for the surviving Titanic widows and orphans.  She supported labor rights, historic preservation and many other humanitarian causes.

 

She was also the quintessential hostess who hosted grand events to raise money for those causes.  When we were there, her house was decorated with Halloween entertaining in mind.   It featured many vintage holiday decorations.

There was also an interesting bit about Victorian spiritualism.  Below is a picture made out of human hair - a popular keepsake in the Victorian era.

Embalming tools were also on display