In 1975, the Irby family of Sargents, Colorado donated this depot which was located on their ranch. It contains a wide variety of railroad artifacts and memorabilia, telegraph equipment, photographs, traveling trunks and a display of the stationmaster's quarters.

The tower was moved to the museum site from Mears Junction, Colorado. It was located on the east side of Marshall Pass and was filled with 50,000 gallons of water. The water was hand-pumped from a well or hauled from a nearby creek or spring. The tower was moved in 1971 and erected on site by the Bill Endner family.

"Cinder Ella" one of the most famous engines in Colorado history, was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia in 1882 and served the Gunnison area and other southern Colorado narrow gauge routes for over 70 years.  Only three of the original 150 ordered by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad still exist, with No. 278, on display crossing a trestle while exiting the Black Canyon near Cimarron west of Gunnison, and No. 223 being refurbished for display in Utah. "Cinder Ella" began the "celebrity" part of her career as the featured engine during the Denver & Rio Grande's 75th Anniversary Tour in 1945, travelling on the back of a standard gauge flatbed car with other historic rolling stock, pulled by their most modern engine in their fleet and making scheduled appearances all along their routes. In 1949 she again travelled on top of a standard gauge flatbed car, this time representing the D&RGRR at the Chicago Railroad Fair, where she was the only engine that pulled passengers around the shores of Lake Michigan on the make-believe Cripple Creek & Tin Cup Railroad, marked as the "Montezuma", to pay tribute to the first engine in the D&RGRR fleet. It was her Hollywood co-stars in the 1952 Paramount Pictures movie, "Denver & Rio Grande" that gave her the "Cinder Ella" nickname, as she truly was the "star" of the film, which includes a spectacular head-on collision between trains. Thankfully she had a stand-in for that scene! With the last of the coal mines closing in 1952, the D&RGWesternRR "abandoned" the over 300 miles of track in Gunnison County and she spent the next few years pulling in unused rolling stock from outlying rail stops and hauling the dismantling scrap trains. Her fire was extinguished for the final time on June 30, 1955, and after that she was placed on static display on the west end of Gunnison and at Legion Park before one final "celebrity" appearance. During the summer of 1959 she was hauled by semi-truck over Monarch Pass and put on display in Civic Center Plaza in front of the Colorado State Capitol and next to a Titan Ballistic Missile during the "Rush to the Rockies" Centennial celebration. She was moved to the museum grounds in 1964 and has had her bell rung by thousands of visitors since then. was built in 1882 by Baldwin Locomotive Works and was used for 73 years in the Gunnison area. Only 3 narrow gauge trains remain of the 150 C-16 model engines built. This engine has been on display at the Chicago Railroad Fair, "Rush to the Rockies Centennial" and in the film "The Denver and Rio Grande”--1951. The engine made its official final run on September 28,1954 from Sapinero to Gunnison. On June 30, 1955 this engine was used as a workhorse in pulling up the railroad tracks in the Gunnison area.

Caboose 0589 has a pretty storied history of her own and spent plenty of time following "Cinder Ella" around. During the Christmas holidays in 1950, Cinder Ella and Caboose 0589 were decorated with trees, antlers and huge wreaths where they hauled a pipe smoking Santa between Poncha Springs and Salida. In the 1970's, one of our museum volunteers was cleaning 0589 when she came across an old box of some still active detonating devices. The museum was immediately closed, and local law enforcement insured nobody came to any harm!

This small wooden cabin, now furnished to resemble a homesteader’s cabin, was built in the early 1900’s by Charlie Mergelman, an early Gunnison country rancher in the Iola area. Donated by the Moncrief family. Don't forget to read the story on the table about how the big cook pot got that big hole in it! (You may lose your appetite.) 

This area school was built in 1919 and was used as such until 1962. It was then used as a community building until it was moved to the Pioneer Museum in 2003. Beside school desks with inkwells, it also has law books, encyclopedias, elementary and other textbooks, a spinning wheel and clinometer. The flagpole and merry-go-round are also originally from the Doyleville School grounds.

This building served as a post office for one year while the main post office was remodeled in the town of Almont. Prior to this use it was a fisherman’s cabin at Three Rivers Resort.

The first Weather Port, just south of the Coleman Building, houses an unusual side dump box truck and two generators which originally came from Mt. Palomar Observatory in California and were slated for electricity production in Taylor Park.

Built in 1879, this is one of the original cabins constructed by Jack Howe to house the many miners and freighters who passed through the East River Valley as the mining rush began in earnest. Moved from “Jacks Cabin” in 1937, it has been a useful structure for more than a century. The cabin was a gas station until 1996 when it was moved to the Pioneer Museum. It is now furnished to resemble an early rural chapel.

The Endner Building was formerly located in Jorgensen Park west of the museum. It was donated by the City of Gunnison in 2008. This building houses a Tucker Snow Cat, carriages, a homemade tractor made from a Model A Ford and 4 Maytag washing machine motors.

The Chance building houses the majority of the over a thousand dolls in our collections. More can be found in other display buildings throughout our campus

The Iris Building is named for a gold mining town that was located in Saguache County, 14 miles southeast of Gunnison. The population reached 1,000 by 1894, but by 1903, was nearly a ghost town. This building displays model cars, trucks, trackers, trains, planes and aerospace.

This building was the ice skating warming house west of the museum and was donated by the City of Gunnison in 2008. The building is dedicated to John A. and Phyllis W. Jordan for their generous donation to the Pioneer Museum on September 12, 2008.

The building houses an extensive collection of military weapons, uniforms, posters, and intriguing memorabilia from around the globe, from the Civil War era through more recent conflicts. Much of the collection was donated by Don Fischer and family in 2009." The American flag dedication wall is a must see for veterans and their families. 

The second Weather Port, just south of the Coleman Building, houses seven vintage tractors which have been restored to near-new condition.

• Farmall Tractor1951 John Deere Model B On loan from Esty Ranch
• 1959 John Deere 530 NF On loan from Esty Ranch
• 1959 John Deere 530 WF On loan from Esty Ranch
• 1959 John Deere 430 On loan from Esty Ranch
• 1959 David Bradley Tractor Restored by Rob and Matt Coleman
• John Deere Model H Donated by Ron Bombard
• John Deer Model BR On loan from Robert G. Gydesen

The Miller Display Building features a rock and mineral collection as well as numerous mining and gold panning implements.

The Pole Barn houses many pieces of mining equipment, from way back when.

This building, donated by Tom Redden in 2011, houses memorabilia and regalia from the Gunnison Lodge #39 Independent Order of Odd Fellows including a coffin. The building also includes many artifacts from the Vashti Rebekah Lodge #43.

Cement mixer – used to pour concrete for the Ruland Senior School, later Middle School. This building was located at the entrance to Western State or just north of Museum.

Mine Drilling Compressor – this drilling compressor, built in the early 1920’s ran nine drills at one time. It was used at the Monarch Lime Mine at Garfield just east of Monarch Pass. The lime that was extracted Outside Displayfrom the mine was sent to CF&I in Pueblo to flux the steel or clean the steel.

Caterpillar Overshot Ore Tractor - only ten of these were made, this particular unit being used at the Keystone Mine. It also has been used to move snow.

Outdoor Displays on the east end of the museum grounds includes tepees, tractors and a collection of motorgraders including a 1925 motorgrader owned by the City of Gunnison.