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Barney Ford’s legacy still a presence today

Contributed by: Colo. Historical Society on 2/16/2006

Editor's note: In recognition of Black History Month, each week in February a Colorado Historical Society Historian will share a story that highlights important people or events that shaped the state’s past. This story was written by Modupe Labode, Chief Historian. For more information about the Colorado Historical Society, visit www.coloradohistory.org .

Barney Ford was born into slavery, but made the west his home.  Like the society around him, he experienced his personal booms and busts, but was determined to create a life in which he could choose his destiny.

Ford was born in 1822 in Virginia.  His father was a white slave owner and his mother was enslaved, and according to the law of the time, Barney Ford was also a slave.  He grew up in South Carolina, and was later bought by an owner in Georgia. When Ford was in his mid-twenties, he was hired out to work as a slave on a Mississippi riverboat.   Barney Ford walked away from the ship in Quincy, Illinois, and made his way to Chicago and freedom.   It was in Chicago that he named himself Barney Lancelot Ford. 

Ford was active in the abolitionist movement, and worked on the Underground Railroad. He became acquainted with Henry Wagoner, an abolitionist.  In 1849, Ford married Julia Lyoni, Wagoner’s sister-in-law.  Barney Ford’s enterprising, restless nature shaped much of his life.  Ford and his wife traveled to Nicaragua in 1851.  They initially planned to make their way to California’s gold fields, but instead they opened a hotel and restaurant.  After three years in Central America, they returned to Chicago. 

When Ford heard about the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, he ventured west. However, when white men jumped his claim in Gregory Gulch, he had no legal recourse.  African Americans could own real estate, but the law in 1860 did not recognize the rights of blacks to file mining claims.   Ford faced similar hostility when he tried to stake a claim near Breckenridge, at French Gulch. Ford moved to Denver, where he established a barbershop; his wife and their son Lewis Napoleon joined him. 

Ford bought a building for his business in 1862, but the next year the barbershop was destroyed in the fire that wiped out much of the new city’s businesses.  After securing a loan, Ford rebuilt and opened an even bigger establishment—the People’s Restaurant—on Blake Street, which included a barbershop, restaurant and saloon.  An advertisement bragged that patrons could receive “the most choice and delicate luxuries of Colorado and the East.”

Barney Ford and his family were active members of Zion Baptist Church, and Ford, Henry Wagoner, and other African Americans fought for their civil rights, including the right of African American men to vote in the territory.  The family also protested against racial segregation in the schools.  Ford also made a name for himself in the city’s business and political community.  Ford was among the founders, in the 1870s, of the Dime Savings Bank, along with Jerome Chaffee, William Byers and former governor John Evans.  In 1874, he won the Republican Party nomination for a seat in the Territorial House of Representatives. Although he lost by 736 votes, he was the first African American to run for elected office in Colorado.

Ford was always alert to new opportunities. He opened a restaurant in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1867, and thrived on the new train traffic.  But when a fire destroyed this business, he returned to Denver.  He opened several more business, including the Inter-Ocean Hotel on the corner of 16th and Blake.  This elegantly furnished establishment opened in 1874.  In 1879, the Fords chased the silver boom to Breckenridge where they opened a chop stand and later restaurant.  Barney, Julia, and their three children—Louis Napoleon, Sadie and Frankie—made Breckenridge home during the 1880s.  Ford never lost his dream of making money from mining. He pooled his resources with two other men and invested in the Oro Mine in French Gulch in 1887.  Two years later, Ford and his partners sold the property for $100,000. 

The family retired to Denver in 1890, where they lived on High Street in Capitol Hill.  Eight years later, the Fords received the unusual honor of being listed among the city’s elite in the Social Year-Book.  Julia Ford died in May 1899.  He died in 1902 and was buried alongside his wife at Riverside Cemetery.

Barney Ford’s life is still visible. In Denver, the Barney Ford building at 1514 Blake was the home of the People’s Restaurant.  Built in 1863, the building has gone through many changes since Ford’s day, a stained glass window honoring Barney Ford is in the Capitol, and the Breckenridge cottage that the Fords built in 1882 is now open to the public as the Barney Ford House Museum.


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