Now owned by the Pillar of Fire Church, the "Big Red Castle" started life in 1890 with dreams of becoming "The Princeton of the West" when New Yorker Henry T. Mayham received approval to build a Presbyterian university on his land atop a hill overlooking Denver, Colorado.
Architect E.B. Gregory designed and laid the cornerstone for the university's main building, which was to be constructed of gray stone from the Coal Creek area.