Entry No. 16 — the Durango file — filed under: history
Ouray Alchemist Museum
“700-plus hand-blown bottles still holding their original drugs.”
Curtis Haggar spent fifty years assembling Colorado's largest pharmacy museum, then installed it behind a Main Street gift shop under a copper dome guarded by gargoyles. Inside: 700-plus hand-blown bottles still holding their original drugs, the state's oldest prescription (1867, opium and camphor), a Persian bezoar stone, and an actual Spanish fly in a bottle. He and his wife Nancy, both retired pharmacists, run the private two-hour tours themselves, narrating frontier remedies that would be felonies now.
The story
Stepping into 533 Main Street looks at first like entering a standard storefront, but pass the restored 1888 Aspen Drug fixtures and look up toward the copper dome on the roofline. Behind the gargoyles perched on the facade lies a five-decade obsession. Curtis Haggar, a retired pharmacist, spent fifty years amassing Colorado's largest private collection of medical and apothecary relics, stretching all the way back to 350 BC.
Unlike sanitized medical exhibits, this collection doesn't strip away the danger. Over 700 hand-blown glass bottles still contain their original 19th-century contents—potent powders, chemical tinctures, and raw compounds that would land a modern practitioner in federal prison. Haggar and his wife Nancy, also a retired pharmacist, personally walk you through an era when medicine was an unregulated frontier experiment, anchoring the narrative on items like Colorado’s oldest surviving written prescription from 1867: a heavy dose of opium mixed with camphor.
The cabinet of curiosities deepens into the genuinely bizarre the further you go. Tucked among the Victorian shelving sits an authentic Persian bezoar stone—a hard mass pulled from an animal's stomach once believed to absorb any poison—and a glass vial holding preserved Spanish fly. It is a dense, physical history of human desperation and quackery, narrated by two people who spent their careers understanding the exact chemistry behind every poison on the shelf.
What it's like
This is not a self-guided stroll where you flip through display cards. You must reserve ahead for a private, two-hour deep dive led by Curtis or Nancy Haggar. Leave young children behind; the rooms are tight and packed with hundreds of irreplaceable, fragile glass bottles. If you're coming up from Durango, the drive over the Million Dollar Highway via Red Mountain Pass sets the tone—pair your tour with a short walk north up Main Street afterward to soak off the unsettling medical history at the Ouray Hot Springs.
The move: Book the morning tour, let a real pharmacist talk you through two hours of frontier quackery, then go soak it off at the hot springs up Main Street.
📍 Before you go Entry is through the gift shop at 533 Main, past the restored 1888 Aspen Drug fixtures; look for the gargoyles and copper dome on the roofline. Tours are private, owner-guided, and run about two hours, so reserve ahead rather than walking in, and leave small kids behind because of all the fragile glass. From Durango you arrive via the Million Dollar Highway over Red Mountain Pass, which is half the date itself. Pair the tour with a soak at the Ouray Hot Springs at the north end of town.
- 📍 Ouray
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 533 Main St, Ouray, CO 81427
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Wiesbaden Hot Springs Vapor Cave — After two hours of frontier drug history, head two blocks over to sweat it out in an underground steam cave carved directly into the mountain by miners.
- Ouray Perimeter Trail (Tunnel, Troll & Four Waterfalls) — Trade the claustrophobic Victorian potion shelves for fresh air on a trail loop that cuts straight through a rock water tunnel above town.
- Ironton Townsite — Drive six miles back toward Durango to see the abandoned mining townsite whose residents once relied on the very remedies housed in Haggar's museum.
Good to know
How do I tour the Ouray Alchemist Museum?
Tours are private, owner-guided, and take about two hours. You need to book in advance rather than walking in off the street.
Can I bring children on the tour?
It is recommended to leave small children behind due to the sheer volume of delicate, antique hand-blown glass items on open display.
Where is the museum located?
At 533 Main Street in Ouray. Look for the copper dome and gargoyles on the roofline; entrance is through the gift shop inside.
What kind of items will I see inside?
Highlights include over 700 bottles still holding original drugs, Colorado's oldest prescription from 1867 (opium and camphor), a Persian bezoar stone, and apothecary artifacts dating back to 350 BC.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · gjsentinel.com · uncovercolorado.com
last checked: 2026-06-11