DENVER (KDVR) — A new wrinkle has been added to the fold in the rumors about a new Denver Broncos stadium, when the organization, alongside Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, announced on Tuesday that the Burnham Yard is the preferred site for the team’s stadium.
In the future, the area might play host to a privately funded, multi-billion-dollar stadium with a retractable roof, but what has it been before the big announcement?
Before it was the desired spot for the Broncos’ stadium, before it was used by Union Pacific and even before Colorado was declared a state, Burnham Yard had been in operation, a site that functioned for more than 150 years.
The railroad yard is located in an industrial area near the South Platte River. It was established in 1871 when the company, Rio Grande Industries, acquired the land five years before Colorado became a state in 1876.
The railroad yard operated as part of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, commonly referred to as the “Rio Grande.” The yard itself was named after George Burnham, the CFO of Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, which supplied the yard with its first locomotives.
It would become a hub and integral part of Denver’s infrastructure, operating as a bridge between Denver and Ogden, Utah. In 1889, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad had the largest narrow-gauge system in all of North America, with an approximate 1,861 miles of train tracks spread throughout Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, according to the Utah State Historical Society.
The railroad was also integral in shaping neighborhoods that still exist in Denver today, the La Alma Lincoln Park and Baker neighborhoods. Thousands of people worked at the Burnham Yard, repairing and building locomotive equipment.
In 1918, the railroad crashed financially, and the federal government seized the yard in the period of World War I. That didn’t last long, and after three years, the new Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad was established in 1921, and acquired the Burnham Yard once more, according to Historic Denver.
Like much of the United States, Burnham Yard saw an increase in women working during World War II.
It operated as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad yard for nearly seven decades before its parent company, Rio Grande Industries, merged with Southern Pacific in 1988 as part of a deal involving well-known Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz.
That change also wouldn’t last long, and Southern Pacific quickly became Union Pacific Railroad after another merger in 1996. 20 years after that, in 2016, the Burnham Yard would no longer see work in its confines.
It was purchased by the Colorado Department of Transportation in 2021 for $50 million to expand Interstate 25.
That just about brings its story to the present day. Now, at the potential site of the newest Broncos stadium, construction is expected to be done by 2031.
Historic Denver is fighting to preserve some of the buildings located in the Burnham Yard that were created in the early 1900s.
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