J.S. BROWN MERCANTILE

When Edward W. Wynkoop came here in 1858, this was Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory. The governor of the territory, James Denver, named Wynkoop to be its first sheriff. A nice pay-back came when the city was organized here and Wynkoop proposed that it be named for the Kansas governor.

In 1860, a local newspaper published these nice words about Ned Wynkoop (as he was called): “Ned is considered by his personal friends a warm and genial companion, true as steel.” We like to think that the same could be said of the pub that bears his name.

Wynkoop spent five years as an officer in the army, rising to the rank of colonel. In 1864, he was an unwilling party to an act of betrayal and treachery. In his own words: “I congregated some 500 friendly Cheyenne Indians together, assuring them the protection of the United States; the consequence of which was they were attacked by a large body of volunteer troops… and nearly 200 of their women, children and old men were brutally murdered. The infamous massacre of Sand Creek will not soon be forgotten.”

J.S. and his brother J.F. Brown started their mercantile out of a wagon when they arrived from Kansas. In 1899 they built this stately building to serve as their offices and warehouse for their mercantile, which was considered the largest mercantile in the West. Architects Aaron Gove and Thomas Walsh designed this 19th century commercial building, one of the finest in an area commonly referred to as Warehouse Row.