Gus’ Tavern, a one-time mill-workers-home-turned-saloon in Pueblo, has been forever etched in history by the Guinness Book of World Records.

It’s feat? Most beers sold per square foot.

This was just one of the tavern facts brought to light in a slide show

Tuesday in Nelson Hall by Tom Noel, University of Colorado at Denver professor, more aptly known in his Rocky Mountain architectural and historical circles as “Dr. Colorado.”

Noel showed a number of old photographs and spoke of the pioneering

and mining days of Denver, Boulder, Blackhawk and many of the smaller towns

in Colorado.

Noel focused on immigrant saloons. Christopher Columbus Hall, the first

Italian bar in the state, opened in the late 1800s by Siro Mangini.

“In those days, it was the Italians who did all the hard labor,” Noel said,

while showing a yellowed black-and-white photograph of a few thin, young, dark-haired entrepreneurs.

“The hall sat at 2219 Larimer St., where it still stands today…only now it’s called El Bronco.”

The Buckhorn Exchange at 10th and Osage has had every U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt as their guest, and incidentally was the first tavern in Colorado to have a liquor license.

A poor, blue-collar Swiss immigrant named Spalti who came to Colorado in

the mid 1800s was the subject of the “Horatio Alger Story” of the night.

As a hard-working and dedicated entrepreneur, Spalti trudged up into the hills

to cut down trees and dig for coal to bring back down and sell door-to-door

to the citizens of Denver.

He did so well that in 1877 he opened what he then called the Centennial Hotel at 1900 Market St. Still, Noel explained, he secured wood and coal for the people, and his business grew.

In 1879 Spalti put an addition on his hotel and was then referred by the

city board as not only a business man of wood, coal and hotel service, but also as

an initial holder of real estate.

In 1881, with further additions to his portfolio of investments, Spalti became a capitalist.

When he died in 1916, he was a respected citizen. Years of persistent research is what has built up Noel’s trove.

Noel said his current book Where Did the $125 Million Go? examines the tax dollars that come from Colorado’s Gaming Commission and to fund the renovations of historic landmarks and railroad centers throughout the state.