James F. Bailey Assay Office Museum
6352 Fourmile Canyon Drive
Boulder, Colorado |
directions
Museum Hours
April 1 - October 31
10:00am to 2:00pm
Third Saturday of each month
Tours for groups of 12 or more people are available by appointment year
round.
To arrange for tours or for more information, please contact Tom McMichen at
(303) 776-8848 or
tmcmichen@bouldercounty.org.
The Board of County Commissioners
formally dedicated the
James F. Bailey Assay Office Museum on Oct. 23, 2006.
At the turn of the twentieth century, hard rock mining in Boulder County
was in full swing, and the area known as Wall Street played a prominent
role in this chapter of our community's history. The assay office was
the place where prospectors would take their ore samples to find out
whether or not they had potentially "struck it rich." So important was
the determination of the assayer that the results of their work could,
and often did, make or break a prospector.
Special Thanks
Boulder County would like to thank
local author Delores "Dee" Bailey for her help in making this museum possible.
Delores Bailey wrote the book Boulder County Miners -- A Tribute to
Those Who Left Their Mark in Colorado History, published in 1995.
Sales from her book helped raise money for the miner statute on Boulder
County's Courthouse lawn. The statue was installed in 1997.
The Bailey family owned
the Wall Street Assay Office from 1907 to 2001 when it was purchased by Boulder
County. James F. Bailey, (son of James E. Bailey), and his wife Dee
Bailey lived in the Wall Street Assay Office for more than thirty years. Jimmie and Dee had one daughter, Theda
Peterson.
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