What Ever Happened To A Denver Department Store’s Lavish Winter Displays?

Ryan WarnerRyan Warner
By Ryan Warner
· Dec. 20, 2018, 10:05 pm
Courtesy of Mark BarnhouseThe ski run outside the May D&F department store in 1964.
Courtesy of Mark BarnhouseA holiday window display at May D&F in the 1960s.
Courtesy of Mark BarnhouseA "Wonderful World of Winter" holiday display at May D&F in 1964.
<p>Couresty of&nbsp;Mark Barnhouse</p>A "Wonderful World of Winter" holiday display at May D&F in 1964.
Courtesy of Mark BarnhouseA close-up of the 1964 "Wonderful World of Winter" holiday display at May D&F.
Courtesy of Mark BarnhouseA close-up of the 1964 "Wonderful World of Winter" holiday display at May D&F.
Courtesy of Mark BarnhouseA close-up of the 1964 "Wonderful World of Winter" holiday display at May D&F.
<p><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Courtesy of&nbsp;Alan Golin Gass</span></p>The May D&F department store at night with holiday lights in the 1960s.
Bob Rhodes Collection.May-D&F 16th Street windows in hyperbolic paraboloid, at night.

Denver's bygone department stores had names like Neusteter's, The Golden Eagle, Gano-Downs and May D&F.

Each year at the May D&F store on 16th Street, the windows featured animatronic skiers, shoppers and holiday travelers. In the 1960s, when Jana Clark was a college student in Denver, she would always stop and admire those particular displays.

"They were just beautiful little scenes in each window as you walked around the outside of the building," Clark said. "I didn't grow up in a large city and we had nothing like it in the small town in Illinois."Graphic: Colorado Wonders logo

One winter, May D&F went beyond window displays and put up a ski ramp.

Decades later, Clark was curious about what exactly happened to the window displays. She posed her question through the Colorado Wonders project from CPR News.

Mark Barnhouse, author of "Lost Department Stores of Denver," helped us track down the answer.

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