40 Facts About Barney Ford

Barney Lancelot Ford was an escaped slave who became a wealthy entrepreneur and civil-rights pioneer in Colorado.

Barney Ford was particularly interested in establishing barbershops, restaurants, and hotels.

Barney Ford was a civil rights pioneer, proponent of education, and a supporter of the Underground Railroad.

Barney Ford lobbied for the right to vote and successfully argued that Colorado should not be admitted to the Union until all males were allowed to vote.

Barney Ford led the formation of school programs and buildings.

Barney Ford moved fairly regularly as an adult, doing business in Chicago, Breckenridge, Denver, Cheyenne, San Francisco, and enterprises in Nicaragua.

Barney Ford was inducted into the Colorado Black Hall of Fame and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.

Barney Ford has been remembered for his contributions to the state from its territorial days.

Barney Ford grew up on a plantation in South Carolina, where his mother was willing to accept the risk of personal harm to have Barney learn to read and write, perhaps instruction provided by an enslaved man.

Barney Ford has been said to have runaway when he was around 17 or 18 years of age.

Barney Ford drove mules and hogs from Kentucky to Columbus, Georgia for four years.

Barney Ford next worked on a cotton boat from Columbus, Georgia to Apolachicola, Florida as a second steward; he held that position for three years.

Barney Ford worked on a Mississippi passenger steamer that traveled between St Louis and Louisville and New Orleans from 1846 until 1848, when he went to Chicago.

Barney Ford was assisted along the way by conductors of the Underground Railroad.

Julia and Barney Ford are buried at Riverside Cemetery in Denver.

Barney Ford learned how to cut and style hair and then worked as a barber in Chicago.

Barney Ford's business was successful, until his hotel was destroyed during Nicaragua's war for independence or when an American Naval ship Prometheus bombarded the town the after Americans and American ships were attacked by Nicaraguans.

Barney Ford had other businesses that were destroyed during storms or caught on fire.

Barney Ford then worked on a ship owned by Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt as a steward for eight months.

Barney Ford ran a livery stable that was an Underground Railroad station until 1860.

Barney Ford participated in the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, by staking a claim in Breckenridge, Colorado in 1860.

Barney Ford was threatened and chased off by local people.

Barney Ford found out that as an African American, he was not allowed to file a claim.

Barney Ford hired a lawyer to do so, but instead he swindled the Fords.

Barney Ford replaced the building with a new larger building to accommodate the People's Restaurant, a bar, and a barbershop.

Barney Ford became the fourteen-highest earner in the city the following year, due to his income of $4,673.

Barney Ford acquired the nickname of "Black Baron of Colorado" by 1865, making his income from fortunate investments in mines, as well as successful restaurants and a barbershop.

Barney Ford purchased the Sargent Hotel in downtown Denver in 1872 and renamed it Ford's Hotel.

Barney Ford built two Inter-Ocean Hotels, the first one was built in Denver at Blake and 16th Street and was completed in 1874.

Barney Ford restored his fortune due to the money earned from the restaurant as well as his investments.

Barney Ford built a five-room house in 1882 that ultimately became the Barney Ford House Museum.

Barney Ford was known for his commitment to see that African Americans obtained freedom from slavery, their civil rights and freedom from racism.

Barney Ford operated a station in Chicago in the 1850s, with the ultimate destination of Canada where former slaves would live free.

Barney Ford befriended journalist Henry O Wagoner who worked for Frederick Douglass' newspaper.

When Colorado sought admission as a state in 1865, Barney Ford went to Washington, DC and lobbied to hold off admitting the state until all males could vote.

Barney Ford traveled to the District of Columbia again to fight for the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would give African Americans the right to vote.

Barney Ford was the first African American nominated to the Colorado Territory legislature.

Barney Ford served one term in the Colorado General Assembly.

Barney Ford was the first black man in Colorado to serve on a federal grand jury in 1872.

Barney Ford was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame in 2018.