Baby Doe
She preferred “Lizzie,” but “Baby Doe” was the nickname that stuck. After divorcing Harvey Doe, Baby Doe and silver magnate Horace Tabor struck up a legendary romance. Their lavish wedding in 1883 caught national attention, but her dress made headlines. Shimmering creamy floral silk, a low neckline, short sleeves. A fitted bodice and a sloping bustle emphasizing her figure. And to finish the effect, a dramatic seven-foot train. The cost? In today’s dollars… a quarter million. And just like Baby Doe herself, the lavish dress was fashionable, daring, unforgettable. A few years after the silver crash, destitute and widowed, Baby Doe Tabor sold nearly everything they’d owned. But she kept the dress, in a trunk, in her one-room shack in Leadville, for over 30 years. And you can still see it, on the rare occasions it’s displayed at History Colorado — a remnant of Baby Doe’s riches-to-rags story.
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Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado. See more postcards.
