A summertime staple will return as fall approaches when walking tours of historic Longmont resume. But anyone interested in partaking must register online ahead of time, as only eight people will be allowed on each tour in an effort to maintain proper social distance.
Hosted by the Longmont Museum’s curator of history, Erik Mason, tours will hit historic stops along Main Street and Third Avenue.
For 24 years Mason has worked among the archives of the museum, picking up endless tidbits and tales along the way.
“One surprising story that I cover on the tour is how JC Penney learned the dry goods trade here in Longmont before starting his own store chain in Wyoming,” Mason said via email.
The Main Street tour transports participants back to the 1870s and ’80s, when the first buildings were built before and after the fire of 1879. The Third Avenue tour includes elaborate homes built by some of Longmont’s first wealthy elite.
Mason packs a lot of information into each tour in hopes of giving everyone within the sound of his voice a better appreciation of the community.
“The only person to win gold medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics, Eddie Eagan, grew up in Longmont,” Mason said. “He was primarily a boxer, a sport he began learning while living in Longmont, and won gold in 1920. He never turned pro, perhaps because he sparred with Colorado’s greatest boxer, Jack Dempsey, who told him that boxing was not a smart way to make a living. After retiring as a boxer, he lucked into a chance to participate on the U.S. bobsled team at the 1932 Winter Olympics, and won gold again.”
Main Street tours will be at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15 and 10 a.m. Sept. 16. Third Avenue tours will be at 10 a.m. Sept. 22 and 5:30 p.m. Sept. 23. The tours have frequently sold out in the past. To register, click here. For more tour information, call the Museum at 303-651-8374.
Downtown historic walking tours also are available via a mobile app that features photographs, text and audio recordings that walk users through more than a dozen downtown locations from their smartphones. The text and audio for the walking tour app are available in both English and Spanish. It is free to use, and doesn’t require any downloads. Visit tourlongmont.
