The Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund’s 2020 commemorative ornament is now available.

This year’s ornament honors the passing of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the constitutional right to vote. The U.S. Congress voted in favor of this amendment in 1919, and it was ratified in Colorado on Dec. 15, 1920.

Proceeds benefit the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund, which is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization established in 2008 to ensure the ongoing preservation and use of the Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion. The mansion is located in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood at 400 E. Eighth Ave.

The mansion was built in 1908 as a family dwelling. The Boettcher Foundation gave the property to the State of Colorado in 1959. Since, it has served as the Colorado governor’s official residence, as well as offering public tours and various education, civic learning and cultural programs.

Colorado has been home to women leaders well before the passage of the 19th Amendment. In the 1870s, Colorado became one of the first states to enact women’s suffrage via popular referendum, and Colorado women were granted the right to vote in 1893. Still, women’s suffrage addressed gender discrimination, but did not end other forms of disenfranchisement for women of color.

The 2020 commemorative ornament is the 12^th in a collectable series that features a new design each year. “All ornaments are made in the USA of the finest quality brass, screen-printed in exquisite colors and hand finished in sparkling 24-karat gold. They are packaged in a gift box with a hot-stamp of the image of the ornament created by Beacon Designs,” states a news release.

“We invite people to order ornaments now as gifts for family and friends, and we appreciate the support of the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund,” said Coco Criste, executive director of the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund, “especially during a year like 2020 when our normal fundraising events were halted due to COVID-19.”