The attraction’s origins
Tiny Town & Railroad occupies a site southwest of Morrison at 6249 South Turkey Creek Road. Denver moving-company owner George Turner began building miniature structures there in 1915 for his daughter, and the attraction opened to the public as Turnerville in 1920, according to Spotatrain. The park now contains more than 100 hand-built structures at one-sixth scale, including miniature versions of Colorado landmarks such as the Molly Brown House, Black Hawk’s Lace House and Georgetown’s Maxwell Mansion, KUNC reported.
A volunteer-run railway
A 15-inch-gauge miniature railway was added in 1939, and the site later took the name Tiny Town. The train now travels a 5/8-mile loop, while restored steam locomotives are maintained by an all-volunteer roundhouse crew, according to Spotatrain. After years of ownership changes and closures, the Northern Colorado Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management adopted the attraction as a civic project in 1987; volunteers established the nonprofit Tiny Town Foundation two years later, the same source said.
A special opening after the season
That volunteer operation extended beyond the normal calendar on Friday. Tiny Town had already ended its 2026 season, but nearly a dozen volunteers returned to open the gates and run the railway for Oliver, a 4-year-old train enthusiast from Texas, according to CBS News.
CBS News reported that Oliver’s visit came through Make-A-Wish after he was diagnosed with Stage 3 metastatic Wilms tumor at age 1. He underwent four chemotherapy treatments and is now in remission. The train ride gave his family a chance to mark that recovery without extending the account into details about his treatment that were reported only through the CBS story.
The organization behind the wish
Make-A-Wish Colorado says its chapter was founded in 1983 in memory of 7-year-old Jennifer Mazak and has granted more than 7,000 wishes to children across the state since then. The organization’s account says Mazak’s mother arranged for a local radio mascot to visit her during treatment, an experience that helped inspire the chapter. CBS News identified Make-A-Wish as the organization that arranged Oliver’s trip.
