Tiny Town is a 1/6-scale miniature village in the foothills of Colorado, located in Jefferson County about 25 miles southwest of Denver off US Highway 285. It's one of those American roadside originals that predates the concept of a "themed attraction" by several decades and is more interesting for it.
The History
Tiny Town was built starting in 1920 by George Turner Sr., a Denver businessman who initially built a single small house as a playhouse for his daughter Ethel. The project grew into an obsession — by 1927, Turner had constructed over 100 miniature buildings replicating a functioning Western frontier town, all at exactly 1/6 human scale. The buildings include a working general store, a hotel, a schoolhouse, a church, a firehouse, a livery stable, and dozens of residences, all detailed with period-appropriate signage, window trim, and paint. The original steam railroad that runs through the village was installed in the 1920s and some of its rolling stock dates to that era.
The Tiny Town Foundation, a non-profit, has operated the site since 1987 following a period of neglect and storm damage. Restoration and maintenance are ongoing — some buildings date to the original 1920s construction, others have been rebuilt or added by volunteers over the decades. The result is a layered timeline of American folk attraction-building spanning a century.
The Steam Railroad
The steam railroad is the highlight for most visitors — particularly children. The 1/6-scale coal-fired steam engine runs a continuous loop through and around the miniature village on a track of approximately half a mile. Rides cost $2 and children under a certain height ride free; the locomotive is real, coal-burning, and produces a genuine whistle audible on the surrounding hillside. Sitting on an open-air car sized for children with your knees around your ears while rolling past a miniature frontier town is the kind of experience that is difficult to explain to someone who hasn't done it and instantly comprehensible to someone who has.
Visiting Practical Info
- Address: 6249 S Turkey Creek Rd, Morrison, CO 80465 (near the town of Morrison, also famous for Red Rocks Amphitheatre)
- Open: Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, weekends and some weekdays — check the official Tiny Town website for current season schedule as it varies year to year
- Admission: Modest (under $10 for adults, children free under a certain height) — one of the best-value outings from Denver
- Best paired with: Red Rocks Amphitheatre (10 minutes down the road), or a drive further into the mountains on Highway 285 toward Kenosha Pass
Why It's Worth Your Time
Tiny Town occupies a specific category of American attraction: lovingly made, impractical, personal, and non-commercial in a way that larger tourist destinations no longer are. It was built because a father wanted to give his daughter something extraordinary; it survived because volunteers decided it mattered. In a state increasingly crowded with raft tours, zip lines, and craft brewery experiences, a hand-built 1/6-scale frontier village with a coal-fired steam railroad is easy to overlook — and exactly the kind of thing that sticks in memory after the more obviously impressive things have faded.