Barney Ford

At 80 years old, Barney Ford physical status not available right now. We will update Barney Ford's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Ford learned how to cut and style hair and then worked as a barber in Chicago. In 1851, he decided to seek their fortune during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855). To avoid slave hunters, Ford and his wife intended to sail from New York City, around Cape Horn, and then north to California. They sailed from New York and when they reached Greytown (now San Juan de Nicaragua), they decided to stay there. They opened a hotel for Americans called the United States Hotel and Restaurant, and they established other businesses. His 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. He had other businesses that were destroyed during storms or caught on fire.

Ford then worked on a ship owned by Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt as a steward for eight months. In 1851, Vanderbilt began developing a route of isthmus transit between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, through Nicaragua with a steam-boat sailing up San Juan River, warping her up the Castillo Rapids, and then placed on Lake Nicaragua. It was an alternative to the projected overland Panama Railway route (before the Panama Canal was built).

Due to restoration of slavery in Nicaragua, the Fords traveled back to Chicago. Ford ran a livery stable that was also an Underground Railroad station until 1860.

Ford participated in the Pike's Peak Gold Rush (1858–1861), by staking a claim in Breckenridge, Colorado in 1860. He was threatened and chased off by local people. He found out that as an African American, he was not allowed to file a claim. He hired a lawyer to do so, but instead he swindled the Fords.

He and his wife went to Denver and opened a barbershop and a restaurant on Blake Street. In 1862, he was able to buy the building for $673 (equivalent to $45,411 in 2021). The Great Fire of April 1863 spread throughout the business district of the city and destroyed his barbershop. He replaced the building with a new larger building to accommodate the People's Restaurant, a bar, and a barbershop. The businesses opened on August 16, 1863, and within 90 days he was able to pay off the $9,000 loan (equivalent to $198,073 in 2021) from Kountze Brothers Bank. He became the fourteen-highest earner in the city the following year, due to his income of $4,673 (equivalent to $80,962 in 2021). 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. Until 1871, he had a series of profitable business endeavors with some calamitous outcomes, such as fires and an unfortunate business partner.

By the 1870s, Ford had become one of the wealthiest men in Colorado. He purchased the Sargent Hotel in downtown Denver in 1872 and renamed it Ford's Hotel.

He built two Inter-Ocean Hotels, the first one was built in Denver at Blake and 16th Street and was completed in 1874. Designed in Second Empire style, it was the city's finest hotel at the time. He leased it to Howard C. Chapin. The second Inter-Ocean Hotel was built in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after which he faced bankruptcy due to losses at that hotel and other businesses as well as ramifications of the Panic of 1873.

The Fords lived in San Francisco, where he became aware of chop houses, and was inspired to move to Breckenridge, Colorado and he opened the Ford's Restaurant and Chop House in 1880. There was a silver boom in Breckenridge at the time. Ford restored his fortune due to the money earned from the restaurant as well as his investments. He built a five-room house in 1882 that ultimately became the Barney Ford House Museum. In 1890, Ford and his wife returned to Denver, where he managed his investments into "first-class income paying property".

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