Irreplaceable Records in this Colorado Building Almost Destroyed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkmnBtB3iCw

One thing we can certainly count on in Colorado is the cold weather that takes hold across the state during the winter time.

However, sometimes the brutal weather conditions can wreak havoc as made evident just before Christmas this year when thousands of valuable documents were threatened by destruction ultimately caused by extremely cold temperatures.

The place where this happened is known as the Colorado State Archives.

What is the Colorado State Archives?

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The Colorado State Archives are thousands of valuable, and often irreplaceable documents that are housed inside Denver's Centennial Building at 1313 Sherman Street.

The archives consist of legislative records, marriage records, divorce records, prison records, and even records from past governors' administrations.

The records are kept in boxes that line the walls of three floors and are available to the public during business hours.

However, a freak accident nearly claimed many of these valuable documents.

What Happened at the Colorado State Archives?

Last week on Thursday, December 22nd, 2022, the Centennial Building experienced temperatures as low as negative 24 degrees, causing some of the water pipes to freeze and break.

What should have been a long, extended weekend, turned into mayhem for many employees at the archives who rushed to save the documents from water damage by moving boxes, opening them, airing them out, and even freezing some of the documents to save the information they contained.

Luckily, the efforts of these employees proved to be life-saving for many of these irreplaceable documents but the staff is still working on cleaning up the mess caused by all of the floodings.

Check out the Colorado State Archives building before and after the recent catastrophe: