05/31/2026
A little piece of history in our little town.
Empire Town Hall. Photos taken in 1898 and 2016.
The current Empire Town Hall building is a historic two-story wood-frame structure completed in 1898 that features a distinctive green-and-white facade and a bell tower. Located on Main Street in the historic gold mining community of Empire, Colorado, the building serves as the municipal seat of government and has been a central fixture of the town's social history for over a century.
The 1898 Structure was uniquely designed from its inception to support both commercial and civic needs.
The 1st floor was intended for retail operations and has hosted a variety of commercial businesses over the decades.
The 2nd Floor was built with town offices and a large community meeting room. It serves as the local seat of government and the town's cultural and social hub.
The 1898 structure is actually Empire’s fourth town hall, following a turbulent history of previous municipal buildings during the 19th-century mining boom:
The 1st Town Hall was located midway between the main town of Empire and North Empire, serving as a combined courthouse and town hall.
The 2nd Town Hall was a brick-and-wood structure located near the bridge on Bard Creek Road. It famously collapsed when too many members of the local Masonic Lodge gathered on the second floor to dress in their formal finery before a funeral scheduled on the first floor.
The exact location of the 3rd Town Hall remains unknown, but local history indicates it was being used as a school classroom when it caught fire and burned to the ground.
The "Original" Hard Rock Cafe:
The town hall building is also famous for its connection to local mining culture. In 1934, a local restaurant and bar named the Hard Rock Cafe was established and shared space within the Empire Town Hall building. Decades later, the global Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chain issued a cease-and-desist letter to the small establishment over the trademarked name. The owners responded by proving their establishment was named in 1934 in reference to local hard rock mining long before the music-themed chain existed. The corporate chain ultimately dropped the matter. (Source: Google AI overview)
Original photo provided courtesy Denver Public Library Digital Collection
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