Margaret Brown lived most of her life in Denver. She was born in Missouri but moved to Leadville to find a rich husband. She met Jim Brown and married him right before he struck it rich in the gold mines. They moved to Denver - bought a big house - and Margaret set out to spend her husband's money.
In a classic case of a miner not wanting to leave the mountains - Jim returned to Leadville and the mines. They separated but never divorced. Margaret traveled all over Europe enjoying the high life and buying art for her homes - one in Denver and one in New York City.
She became famous for surviving the sinking of the Titanic on her way home from Europe in 1912. Legends of her leadership on a life boat inspired the making of a Broadway show and movie about, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." No one ever called her Molly and certainly not Unsinkable. That was part of the legend hatched by Hollywood.
She was a strong supporter of a woman's right to vote. She even ran for the US Senate three times - never winning. She also was an advocate of union formation for the miner's. She kept company with the famous Mother Jones - another legendary union organizer.
Denver has preserved her home - a large Victorian mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue. Today I took the tour - unfortunately - they would not allow me take pictures inside. The house is made of blocks of rhyolite - a very hard lava rock.
Margaret Brown looked a lot like my Mom except she had more expensive clothes. She was 5' 8" tall. She also enjoyed driving her electric Fritchle automobile all over town.
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