CENTRAL CITY — March is Women’s History Month, a time to examine how women have shaped their communities and expanded opportunities for those who came after them.

By the early 20th century, the gold boom that once made Central City one of Colorado’s richest mining towns had largely faded. 

Mines that had drawn thousands of prospectors and entrepreneurs in the 1860s and 1870s were quiet, and communities across the mountains were searching for ways to redefine themselves. For Central City, part of that future came through the arts, specifically with the revival of the Central City Opera.

One of the women who helped shape that revival was Ida Kruse McFarlane.

Ida Kruse McFarlane (1872–1940), educator and arts advocate who helped lead the effort to restore the Central City Opera House and launch the Central City Opera Festival in 1932.

Courtesy of the Central City Opera

The life of Ida Kruse McFarlane

McFarlane was born in 1872 in Central City, and grew up in the mining district during the years when Gilpin County’s economy revolved around gold. 

According to records preserved in the Ida Kruse McFarlane Papers at the University of Denver Special Collections and Archives, she later served as superintendent of schools in Gilpin County before pursuing a career in higher education.

McFarlane eventually became a professor of English at the University of Denver and later served as head of the university’s English department. 

Archival materials also show that she studied at Vassar College and remained active in Colorado’s literary and cultural life for decades.

Even while working in Denver, McFarlane maintained strong ties to the mining town where she had grown up.

By the late 1920s, Central City’s historic opera house on Eureka Street had been largely unused for years. Built during the height of the mining boom in the late 1870s, the stone theater had once hosted performers and audiences from across the region.

McFarlane believed the building could play a role in enriching the community.

Working with Denver arts patron Anne Evans, she helped organize the effort to restore the opera house and establish a summer music festival in Central City. Their goal was to create what they described as a living memorial to the pioneers who had built the mining communities of Gilpin County.

The interior of the Central City Opera House, originally built during the mining boom of the 1870s. The theater was revived in 1932 through the efforts of Ida Kruse McFarlane and Denver arts patron Anne Evans, launching what became the annual summer opera festival that continues today.

Photo by Mindy Leary

McFarlane maintained a home in Central City during the years she worked to revive the opera house. 

The "Frederick McFarlane House" at 217 Eureka Street, built in 1884, became a gathering place tied closely to the opera festival. According to historical records associated with the property, Ida and her husband, Frederick McFarlane, lived there after purchasing the house in 1930.

The home itself reflected the town’s layered history. Frederick was the son of Peter McFarlane, who had owned the Central City Opera House and operated one of Colorado’s earliest foundries. 

The residence later continued to host gatherings and visitors associated with the opera festival, including artists and cultural figures who traveled to Central City during the summer seasons. Now, it houses visiting artists and performers.

In 1932, the restored opera house reopened with a production of Camille, launching what would become the Central City Opera Festival. The festival soon began attracting visitors from across Colorado and helped preserve one of the state’s most significant historic theaters.

Contemporary newspaper accounts and later historical records describe the event as a turning point for Central City, transforming the former mining community into a summer destination for music and theater.

Restoring the building required both practical work and creative fundraising. 

According to the Central City Opera's history, McFarlane and Evans discovered that many of the original hickory chairs installed by former owner Peter McFarlane were still in usable condition. 

To help fund the restoration, they launched a campaign allowing supporters to “purchase” a chair in honor of an early Colorado pioneer. The buyer’s chosen name and the date that person arrived in Colorado were carved into the seatback. 

Many of the names remain visible today, including families long associated with the state’s early history, such as Roeschlaub, Boettcher, Bonfils, Tabor, Elitch, Elbert, and Gilpin.

A 1947 article in the Rocky Mountain News recalled that Evans and McFarlane recognized the potential of the long-silent theater and worked to restore it as the centerpiece of a summer festival. 

The newspaper described the project as a tribute to the pioneers who “in the midst of gold dreamed of more than gold."

McFarlane’s influence can still be seen in Central City today. A Celtic cross memorial dedicated to her stands along Academy Street (uphill from the Opera House), south of the Martin Foundry. 

A memorial dedicated to Ida Kruse McFarlane stands along Academy Street in Central City. Elements of the monument were salvaged from St. Aloysius Academy after the school burned in 1935.

Courtesy of the Central City Opera

According to the Central City Opera organization, elements of the monument came from St. Aloysius Academy, where McFarlane once studied. 

When the academy burned in 1935, the rooftop cross and ornate entrance gates were saved and later incorporated into the memorial as part of the town’s ongoing preservation efforts.

Right before her death, McFarlane had actually purchased the grounds of the former St. Aloysius Academy and envisioned the site as a scenic overlook above Central City, according to the Society of Architectural Historians’ SAH Archipedia.

She died in 1940, but the opera house she helped revive remains a major piece of Central City’s identity. The summer opera festival continues today, drawing audiences to the historic mountain town each year.

Her work represents another way women helped shape Colorado’s mountain communities. 

While earlier generations fought for access to education and civic leadership, McFarlane demonstrated how cultural preservation could help sustain a town long after the mines that built it had closed. And the fact that she did this during the Great Depression was a major feat.

What’s next

In the final installment of this series, the focus moves to another generation: Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex, whose 1975 decision to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples placed Boulder County at the center of one of the earliest chapters in the national debate over marriage equality.

Sources: Rocky Mountain News, June 29, 1947, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection; University of Denver Special Collections and Archives, Ida Kruse McFarlane Papers; Central City Opera historical materials, Frederick McFarlane House historical records; Thomas J. Noel, "St. Mary's Convent", [Central City, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012. Last accessed: March 6, 2026.