Old Capitol Grill Building History
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The Old Capitol Grill is located in one of Colorado's most historic buildings. Built by W.A.H. Loveland, it was the first capitol building of the Colorado territory. The great brick building housed its first legislature sessions from 1866-1867. At that time Golden and Denver were engaged in a battle over which city would become the capital city. In 1867 Golden lost by one vote. Rumor has it that the vote was bought, and Denver acquired the status of state capital through bribery and skullduggery. Though allegations were never proven, Governor Roy Romer proclaimed Golden the territorial capital of Colorado once again in 1994, thanks to much hard work by our city leaders.
Colorado School of Mines also held some of its first sessions in the building, with Loveland as one of its first trustees. When Mr. Loveland became involved in the Colorado Central Railway, he located some of its first offices in the building. From 1868-1941 the main level of the building was used as a mercantile, dry goods store and grocery. The names of Golden men enlisted in the armed services were painted on its side. Nicholas Koenig also served as president of the Golden Board of Trade and as mayor of Golden. From 1941-1971 the building remained in use as the Golden Mercantile. During this time, and for at least the last twenty years of the Koenig proprietorship, the building was one of the largest grocery stores in Jefferson County. In 1971 the building was made into a restaurant called The Mercantile and has been a restaurant ever since.
The north side of the restaurant is in a building built in 1906 by the patriarch of the Coors Brewing Company, Adolf Coors. The building was part of Coors Statewide Distribution and housed a saloon owned by Charles Sitterle featuring Coors products.
The Loveland Building has gone through many facelifts over its 145 years, as you can see from some of the old photographs displayed inside the Old Capitol Grill. It was last remodeled in 1992-1993 to its present design. The exterior façade was restored to circa 1920. Since 1997, the Loveland Building has been home to the Old Capitol Grill. In Octo- ber of 2005, a roof fire caused major damage to the second floor offices and smoke damage to the restaurant. The Old Capitol Grill reopened its doors in November of 2006. When you visit the restaurant, please take a trip to our Cowboy room which features memorabilia dedicated to the staff, firefighters, construction workers and others who saved the historic building and restored the Old Capitol Grill to its original 1997 state.
