Victor Lowell Thomas Museum

The Victor Lowell Thomas Museum is an original 1899 building that houses two floors of artifacts, books, exhibits and photographs depicting the life in Victor from its beginnings to the heyday of gold mining. The museum also displays memorabilia once owned by famous journalist, author and world traveler, Lowell Thomas.

Pan for real gold and gems open daily outside the museum and take a tour of the historic mining district.
The gift shop offers books, historic maps and postcards, prints, posters and gold ore rocks, as well as videos of Lowell Thomas’s life.

Exhibits

Victor’s history is one of exploration, ranching, gold mining and railroading.
In 1890 and 1891 prospectors discovered the rich gold ore that touched off the legendary Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Rush.

A multitude of pioneers rushed to this area to get rich quick, most of them ended up poor - either leaving in search of better fortune or staying to make Victor and the area home. Some, however, struck it rich and built a legacy of gold mining that begs to be told.

The Victor Lowell Thomas Museum features displays on the historic gold mining days as well the miners and pioneers, some of them millionaires, who made town famous.

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.