Museum of the Mountain West

"Where the west comes alive"

Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

fike_inset typewriter ichard E. Fike is the founder and Executive Director of Museum of the Mountain West. His knowledge and lifelong pursuit of having a museum was realized beginning in 1998 when he built the Museum of the Mountain West that was designated as a non-profit museum in 2005. The museum contains 28 historic buildings that have been donated by the community to be preserved and shared for the education of visitors from around the world in the importance of preserving our history. Richard is the author of numerous technical historical books and a western novel.

Museum of the Mountain West

mmw_state egyptian he Museum of the Mountain West, situated in Montrose, Colorado, was established in 1997 by Richard Fike, an archaeologist and historian of the region. Fike's founding vision was to preserve and present the rich history of the American West, particularly focusing on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through carefully curated exhibits and authentic artifacts, the museum showcases the daily lives and cultural contributions of pioneers, miners, and settlers in the region. With its dedication to historical accuracy and educational outreach, the Museum of the Mountain West serves as a significant resource for understanding and appreciating the enduring legacy of Western frontier life. Railroad artifacts include a movie star Union Pacific baggage car, Rio Grande stocks cars, and the original Montrose depot and outbuildings.

Click to see the Museum of the Mountain West plotted on a Google Maps page

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Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

May 2023 / RWH

Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

Article

Montrose Museum Receives Historic Property Designation

May 2018

A Montrose museum receives a state-level designation from the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.

The Museum of the Mountain West in Montrose was created back in 1997 and is filled with old-west artifacts collected by the owner over the course of 73 years.

The designation makes the museum considered to be a significant cultural resource deserving of preservation for the future education and enjoyment of those who visit.

“It’s a very significant honor to be on the state or national register of historic places. It gives us some benefits but it also brings in more people to see”, says Richard Fike the Director for the museum.

The museum also owns the old-western buggy repair shop that the heavy-weight world champion Jack Dempsey used to train in.

There was also an episode of the American Network Television series Ghost Adventures that was filmed at the museum.

WesternSlopeNow.com

May 2023 / RWH

May 2023 / RWH

May 2023 / RWH

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Railroad Artifacts

UNCOMMON or UNUSUAL rolling stock

Union Pacific #1227

baggage car / Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

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Union Pacific #1227 is a vintage wooden baggage car, later adapted for use in the 1969 filming of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Most of the railroad scenes in the production were filmed on the Silverton Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, now the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

May 2023 / RWH

Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

Montrose, Co / May 2023 / RWH

sundance2 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid" (Robert Redford), who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.

In 2003, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute ranked Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as the 73rd-greatest American film on its "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)" list, and number 50 on the original list. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were ranked 20th-greatest heroes on "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes & Villains". Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was selected by the American Film Institute as the 7th-greatest Western of all time in the AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008.

Wikipedia