PHOTOS: The KKK once controlled Colorado’s statehouse and wielded amazing power

Courtesy of the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center

This April 1926 photo by Clinton Rolfe shows members of the Ku Klux Klan posing on a ferris wheel at the fairgrounds in Ca–ñon City, Colorado.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

Members of the KKK, in pointed hoods that cover the face and dark or white robes, stand around a tall cross in a boulder field on the summit of Pikes Peak in El Paso County, Colorado on July 4, 1923. They raise their arms in salute. Shows an American flag and the tops of automobiles.

Denver Post archive photo

Members of the Ku Klux Klan march in a parade on Larimer Street in Denver, May 31, 1926. They wear hoods and robes as spectators look on. Parked automobiles line the street. A sign on a building reads: "Western Clothing Co."

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

A Klan member at "Klan Day" at the races at Overland Park in July 1925. Ku Klux Klan members inspect the Miller Special race car owned by Ralph de Palma at Overland Park race track in Denver, Colorado. People crowd the bleachers. The driver, identified as Mr. Miller, wears a duster and holds a cap.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

This undated photo shows crosses burning at a Klu Klux Klan night ceremony held on Table Top Mountain in Golden. A row of men in white hoods that cover the face and robes encircles men in street clothes who kneel with their backs to the camera. Spectators sit in chairs outside the circle, some wearing white hoods.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

This photograph made between 1924 and 1925 shows a panoramic night view of men, members of the KKK, in pointed hoods that cover the face and dark or white robes who stand, or sit on horseback, on Table Top Mountain near Golden (Jefferson County), Colorado. Men in bandanna masks and street clothes kneel before a table with three hooded men; one holds an American flag. Many of the men salute.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

Two women and a man wearing hoods and robes, members of the Ku Klux Klan, stand near a burning cross at night in 1924 or 1925, probably in Denver.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

Governor Clarence J. Morely poses for a photo as he signs a document in the Governor's office. Morely served as Governor of Colorado from 1925 to 1927, he was known as the Ku Klux Klan Governor during the political peak of the Klan in the 1920's.

Denver Post archive photo

This 1925 group portrait shows men (with drums) and women in Ku Klux Klan costumes and Revolutionary era uniforms, in Denver.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

Members of the Ku Klux Klan kneel and stand around a U. S. flag in a ceremony on Golden Road near Denver on April 16, 1922. A cross illuminated by flashlights is nearby. The men wear hoods and robes.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

A cross burns at a night meeting of the Ku Klux Klan on Table Top Mountain near Golden in 1924 or 1925. Men in white robes and hoods encircle a group of men in street clothes who kneel in front of the burning cross. A container and cups on a tray sit behind rows of chairs.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

Ku Klux Klan members wearing hoods and robes light candles in metal cans buried in a dirt mound on May 7, 1940, probably in Denver.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

A burning cross and a man in Ku Klux Klan uniform and hood on Ruby Hill, in Denver, sometime in the 1920s.

Denver Public Library, Western History/Genealogy Dept.

Klansmen exchange documents with one another in front of a burning cross and an American flag as other members of the group watch at a rally of the Boulder Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Boulder County, ca. 1925.

Duane Howell, The Denver Post

Denver policemen protect a flag-waving member of the Ku Klux Klan at 16th Street and Court Place about 11:45 a.m., Sept. 14, 1979, during a Chicano march through downtown Denver, kicking off festivities for Mexican Independence Day, celebrated Sunday. One of the marchers was confronted by a policeman, left, as he attempted to approach the Klansman. Shortly after, the unidentified Klansman rolled up his sign and flag and left.

John Sunderland, The Denver Post

Fred Wilkins, the state organizer of the Ku Klux Klan, announces his resignation as head of that organization Aug. 10, 1980 to join the National Association for the Advancement of White People, a group that had been recently formed by the head of the national Ku Klux Klan. Wilkins said the Klan had suffered from a negative image and that the new group should be seen as a pro-white organization instead of an anti-black one.