From ancestral Ute land to mining to a cultural hub, Aspen and the upper Roaring Valley’s past is vast! Below you’ll find a sneak peak at local history. For a more complete look into the area’s storied past, visit one of our sites, join us for a tour, program, or community event, or search the extensive archives.
Let the discovery begin!
The images featured in the timeline are from the AHS Collection unless otherwise stated.
Pre - 1879
Ute People
1879 – 1893
The Mining Boom
1893 - 1936
The Quiet Years
1936 - 1948
Aspen Rebounds
1949 - 1960
Mind, Body and Spirit
1961 - 1986
The Skiing Boom
1988 - Present
Modern Aspen
Pre - 1879
Ute People
The Ute people lived in this area before Spanish explorers arrived in North America. Their introduction of the horse enabled Ute tribes to expand their territory and increase their possessions. However, as settlers and miners encroached upon their lands, Ute territory began to diminish. By 1868, the Ute people were confined to the western side of the Continental Divide, and their territory continued to shrink with subsequent discoveries of silver and gold. In 1881, they were forcibly removed from this area and permanently displaced to reservations in Colorado and Utah.
Ute tribes hunted throughout the upper Roaring Fork Valley, often establishing summer campsites near ground-source springs (Ute Springs, near present-day Glory Hole Park at Ute and Original Streets a few blocks from the gondola, may have been a campsite).
Colorado becomes the 38th state.
In the “Meeker Massacre” or “Meeker Incident,” a band of Ute people revolted against the local “Indian agent,” Nathan Meeker, who had been trying to convert them to Christianity and force them to abandon their nomadic lifestyle to become farmers. Meeker and 10 other men died.
1879 – 1893
The Mining Boom
Aspen’s Mining Era – In 1879, rich silver veins were discovered in the Roaring Fork Valley, leading to the silver boom and Aspen becoming Colorado’s third-largest city. At its peak, Aspen produced one-sixth of the nation’s silver. For 14 years, the town continued to prosper. By 1893, two railroads served a community of approximately 13,000 residents, which boasted 14 newspapers, three schools, six firehouses, eight churches, 35 fraternal organizations, and a three-story brick opera house. However, in June of that year, the silver economy collapsed, plunging Aspen and much of Colorado into a severe depression. Silver mining continued on a smaller scale, the industry never fully recovered, and Aspen entered a long, slow decline
Hayden Geological Survey reports are released in fall of 1878 indicating promising geologic formations in the Roaring Fork Valley for the presence of silver prompting the first prospectors to cross difficult mountain passes, explore the area for silver and lay claims on what will become one of the richest silver lodes in history. Henry B. Gillespie arrives in Aspen to examine a claim and travels to Washington, DC to petition for a Post Office. He lays out a town and calls it Ute City. Prospectors discover the Independence Gold Lode on July 4 in what will become the mining camp of Independence.
B. Clark Wheeler and Charles A. Hallam, as agents and co-partners of David Hyman of Cincinnati arrive in Ute City. They purchase several mining claims. Wheeler surveys town site and renames it Aspen, forming his own town company. DRC Brown and H.P. Cowenhoven arrive after a difficult 3-week wagon trip from Leadville over Taylor Pass. The D&RGRR reaches Leadville. Stages are running from Leadville to Independence Gold Camp where 300 people now reside. Prospectors form the mining camp Ashcroft.
Pitkin County is established. The Aspen Times (owned by B. Clark Wheeler) is first published. Aspen Mining and Smelting Company is organized. First Aspen school opens. Independence Pass road is completed to Aspen. The remaining Ute people (except for Southern Utes) are forcibly removed from Colorado and relocated to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah as stipulated in the 1880 Ute Removal Act (approximately 1,465 Ute people were removed from their ancestral lands in what is now considered Colorado to reservations west of their range). Silver is discovered in the Molly Gibson Mine. First Clarendon Hotel is built. Volunteer fire department is established. Katie Cowenhoven marries DRC Brown. Horace Tabor comes to and invests in the Montezuma and Tam O’Shanter mines. Wagon road over Taylor Pass is officially opened. D&RGRR reaches Crested Butte. A telegraph connecting Aspen, Ashcroft, and Crested Butte is completed. Independence’s population reaches 500 and it is served by four grocery stores, four boarding houses, and three saloons.
The gold camp (Independence) has an estimated 1,500 residents, however, production drops drastically. The Farwell mines close and Mill shuts down.
Jerome B. Wheeler, half-owner of Macy’s Department Store, visits Aspen. Through various investments Mr. Wheeler injects much needed cash into the community.
Clarendon Hotel burns down. Ranching in valley takes hold with the help of the 1862 Homestead Act. Aspen Times 1884 Pitkin County map shows various ranch holdings around the area including the Stapleton ranch on Owl Creek, Carroll and Burke ranches on Brush Creek, Watson ranch on the divide, Koch ranch up Hunter Creek and McLain Ranch on what is now known as McLain Flats.
New Clarendon Hotel opens. Hydro-electric power is used in the mines. Electric Company turns on power to 40 stores. Soon after Aspen has public electricity available throughout the community. Aspen Water Company is organized. Aspen’s first telephone system is installed in the Spar Consolidated Mine. Henry Weber and H.P. Gillespie order the first pianos shipped to Aspen at a cost of $1,000. Wyatt Earp and a US Marshall arrest James Crothers in Aspen for a Wells, Fargo & Co’s stage robbery in Arizona in 1884 with a Mr. Chambers.
City water system is turned on.
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reaches Aspen in November. The mines can now ship low-grade ore to market more economically.
A second railroad, the Colorado Midland, reaches Aspen in February. The Wheeler Opera House opens. Jerome B. Wheeler builds a home for his wife in Aspen’s West End which is now headquarters for the Aspen Historical Society. A one-mile long tramway is operational on Aspen Mountain. Durant and Aspen mines are consolidated forming the Compromise Mine, ending years of expensive litigation. Only 100 citizens remain at Independence.
The Hotel Jerome opens in November with great fanfare.
Sherman Silver Act is passed, assuring a continuing market for silver. Population of Aspen reaches 8,000. Cable tramway from Tourtelotte Park to Aspen is completed.
Silver ore production exceeds that of neighboring Leadville. Aspen is the largest silver producing district annually in the nation with one-sixth of the U.S. total and one-sixteenth the world total. The Holden Lixiviation Works becomes operational (visit the site). The Pitkin County Court House opens.
Construction of the Silver Queen Statue for the Chicago World’s Fair is supported by the City. Davis H. Waite becomes Governor of Colorado on the “Free Silver” issue.
Aspen reaches a peak population of 10,000 to 14,000. Congress repeals the Sherman Silver Act, demonetizing silver. The Silver Panic follows, virtually halting the area’s mining industry and beginning an economic long downward slide. Women’s Suffrage in Colorado is enacted by popular vote (the first state where men voted to grant women the right to vote).
1893 - 1936
The Quiet Years
Aspen’s mining boom came to an end with the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893, leaving town with an uncertain economic future. Known as the “Quiet Years,” the period lasted from 1893 to 1936. Residents experienced many hardships and struggled to make a living. The area’s economy shifted from mining to ranching. Ranchers, who had previously supplied meat and vegetables to miners, began using trains to transport their produce to far-off markets. Aspen managed to survive as a ranching town, with a county-wide population of just 1,770 people by 1930.
Aspen reaches a peak population of 10,000 to 14,000. Congress repeals the Sherman Silver Act, demonetizing silver. Following the Silver Panic, Aspen’s population declines sharply and the main economy shifts to ranching. Women’s Suffrage in Colorado is enacted by popular vote.
A 2,350 lb. silver nugget is mined from the Smuggler. A few mines reopen on a limited basis, many are leased to local mining families. Overall silver production is less than half that of 1892.
Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph builds a phone line over Independence Pass, connecting Aspen to the outside world for the first time.
Street car line to be torn up on Main St.
In 1902, ranchers organized the construction of the Salvation Ditch, a 25-mile water system running from the Roaring Fork River east of Aspen to below Woody Creek. The ditch, completed in 1903, became the “salvation” of the land it watered and, along with later irrigation ditches, opened thousands of acres to cultivation.
The first Pitkin County Fair is held at the racetrack where Aspen Meadows is today. The racetrack held horse races, and later, car races, as well as serving as the Rodeo and fairgrounds. The first car, a Buick, arrived in Aspen on August 4, 1906, around 5 pm, according to the Aspen Democrat. Driven by Ted Cooper and Tom Flynn, it took them three days to get to Aspen via Glenwood Springs (and canyon) from Denver.
Telephone lines extended to areas including Snow Mass divide and Brush Creek residents.
Mining continues on a limited basis as the town becomes a supply center for local farmers and ranchers. Known for it’s high-quality potatoes, the Roaring Fork Valley provided delicate, light pink Peachblow potatoes to fine hotels such as the Brown Palace in Denver and in railroad dining car services including the new York Central Line. Potato production peaked in 1909 but continued to be an important cash crop until the 1940s.
Hallam Lake is sold to DRC Brown. De-watering of the flooded Smuggler, Molly Gibson and Free Silver mines begins, though the efforts were thwarted by defective pumps that had been under water for 12 years. Several ineffectual attempts were made to reach the pump, but the depth of water was too great to permit any work being done. The need for divers became very apparent. Merritt and Chapman Wrecking Company of New York was contacted and Messrs. Fred Johnson and George Peterson, divers, were sent to Aspen. The de-watering of the Free Silver shaft resulted in the production of more than two million dollars’ worth of ore.
Two fires within ten days gut the opera house third floor. Owner Boyce, of only a few weeks, is suspected of arson for insurance, but nothing comes of it.
James Morrison opened the doors of his new moving picture house, “The Isis,” in the Weber Block on Hopkins Avenue, September 1915.
The “Glory Hole” is created when the Durant Flume was turned into a City ditch and the increased water flow caused a sink hole. Colorado Midland Railroad goes bankrupt and operations cease. Flu epidemic forces closure of most of the town.
The Colorado Midland RR, bankrupt after WWI, returns to Aspen only to dismantle the line. Aspen designates Wagner Park as the town’s first park and baseball field, honoring Mayor Charles Wagner, who served from 1909 to 1927.
D.R.C. Brown, Sr., one of the original founders of Aspen, is escorted from Denver over Independence Pass and laid to rest in Aspen. He was also responsible for helping to get Independence Pass completed for automobile traffic in 1924.
Highland Bavarian Lodge on Castle Creek opens in December; one of first guests is Andre Roch, an avalanche expert from Switzerland contracted to survey the Aspen/Ashcroft area for the proposed ski operations during the winter/spring.
1936 - 1948
Aspen Rebounds
Tourism in Aspen began in the 1920s, but it was the introduction of skiing in the 1930s that sparked a significant economic boom for the area. The first ski resort, the Highland Bavarian Lodge, opened its doors in December 1936. To teach locals how to ski, they cut Roch Run on Aspen Mountain. From this single run and rope tow, Aspen Mountain developed into a world-class ski resort. During World War II, 10th Mountain Division ski troopers came to the area for training exercises. Many were awed by the potential of Aspen’s mountains and vowed to return.
Billy Fiske, Andre Roch, and Ted Ryan propose a ski area on Hayden Peak up Castle Creek; build Highland-Bavarian Lodge. They hire Andre Roch, Swiss avalanche expert, to layout ski runs and lifts.
Aspen Valley Ski Club begins. A six-passenger “boat tow”, powered by an old mine hoist and truck engine, is constructed at the base of Aspen Mountain and Roch Run is cut on the hill.
Elizabeth Paepcke travels to Aspen for the first time (via train to Glenwood Springs) for a skiing adventure with friends, while their Perry Park Ranch was flooded.
Aspen’s first national downhill and slalom championships are held March 8th-9th. Fritz Benedict visits Aspen for the first time.
The 10th Mountain Division, stationed at Camp Hale near Leadville, uses the Aspen area for training exercises. Friedl Pfeifer “discovers” Aspen during a reconnaissance in 1943, returning as often as possible with his wife and purchasing property at base of Aspen Mountain.
Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke, president of the Container Corporation of America, visits Aspen at his wife Elizabeth’s suggestion. The couple begins plans for a new cultural center. Paepcke meets with Friedl Pfeifer and plans for Aspen’s first ski lift. Aspen Ski School begins with Friedl Pfeifer as director.
Aspen Skiing Corporation is formed. Herbert Bayer is invited to Aspen by Walter Paepcke to help “rebuild” Aspen, starting with remodeling the Hotel Jerome. Why Aspen is filmed to promote area for skiing. The first Roch Cup is held in March. New runs and lift lines are cut and the sundeck is built during the summer, and Lift-1 unofficially opens December 14th.
Lift-1 is dedicated as the world’s longest chairlift. Refurbished Hotel Jerome opens. Herbert Bayer’s partially refurbished Wheeler Opera House reopens. Dick Durrance becomes Aspen Ski Corp.’s General Manager. A T-Bar on Little Nell is installed for beginner skiers.
Sardy Field officially opens for commercial flights. Walter Paepcke brings Stuart and Isabel Mace to Aspen. Ruthie’s Run is cut in anticipation for FIS races.
1949 - 1960
Mind, Body and Spirit
With the end of the war a fresh new outlook for Aspen emerged with the arrival in 1945 of Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke. The prominent Chicago couple brought vision, culture, a love for the outdoors and financial backing with them and infused modern Aspen with the idea that this was a place where mind, body and spirit could flourish.
Goethe Bicentennial Celebration with Dr. Albert Schweitzer as guest lecturer (his only visit to the US) is held in tent designed by Eero Saarinen. The success of the event gives birth to summer cultural institutions including the Aspen Music Festival & School, Aspen Institute, and International Design Conference. Stuart Mace opens Toklat at Ashcroft.
Aspen hosts the FIS World Alpine Championships, the first sanctioned international alpine competition in the U.S. World class skiers now recognize Aspen’s skiing potential. Ski racing stars like Norwegian Stein Eriksen and American Andrea Mead Lawrence built a life in Aspen after competing in the World Championships.
Aspen holds its first Wintersköl celebration in January as a way to toast winter during what was a quiet time in Aspen. First International Design Conference of Aspen (IDCA) held with the theme of “Design – A Function of Management.” The program grew and morphed over the next several decades.
Lift #3 built from Tourtelotte Park to Sundeck on Aspen Mountain (it was replaced in 1969 and reinstalled in Sunlight as the Segundo Chairlift in 1973).
Hotel Jerome gives the Bayer Blue “eyebrow” paint job under the direction of Elizabeth Paepcke and Herbert Bayer.
Lift #4 on Aspen Mountain is built from Little Nell to Bell Mountain (replacing the T-bar which was bought by Whip Jones for Aspen Highlands) and the Sundeck is enlarged by enclosing the deck and expanding the bathrooms and kitchen facilities.
Friedl Pfeifer opens Buttermilk Mountain with base restaurant designed by architect Jack Walls. Whip Jones opens Aspen Highlands. DRC Brown becomes President of the Aspen Skiing Corporation.
1961 - 1986
The Skiing Boom
In the 1960s and ’70s Aspen was again thriving, thanks in large part to skiing, the new “boom” industry, as well as new cultural and recreational attractions. The population rebounded, often resulting in tensions between conservative locals and newcomers, especially the “hippie culture.”
The City of Aspen’s municipal Golf & Tennis Club opens with the first golf tourney happening in September.
In 1962, Aspen begins to pave the downtown streets but by 1963, all downtown streets are paved in Aspen. The Brown Ice Palace opens for ice skating and hockey. The Aspen Historical Society is established. Aspen Ski Corp. acquired Buttermilk and merged the ski schools.
Herbert Bayer designs a new music tent, later named the Bayer-Benedict tent. The US Forest Service grants approvals of the Snowmass-at-Aspen Ski Area and the Ruedi Dam project.
The Woody Creek Improvement Association is formed. The Aspen Institute donates the Four Seasons Club land for the Aspen Music Festival School- now the Bucksbaum Campus, it was originally the Newman Mine up Castle Creek Road in the early 1900s.
Ceramic artist and Scripps College professor of ceramics, Paul Soldner, founds Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village. The site of the arts center is the historic Hoaglund Ranch where Hildur Hoaglund Anderson grew up and later ran the ranch with husband Bill Anderson. The ranch was bought in 1966 by the Janss Corporation and then deeded to the Snowmass Arts Foundation, a non-profit corporation who leased the space to the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Soldner wanted to create a space for people who had made a commitment to their particular craft as a profession, not just as a hobby.
Snowmass Ski Area opens with 5 chairlifts, 50 miles of trails, and a shelter restaurant at Sam’s Knob. Lift tickets are $6.50. Snowmaking machines introduced at the base on Aspen Mountain on Little Nell.
Elizabeth Paepcke establishes wildlife sanctuary (ACES) at Hallam Lake. The first official Aspen Alpine World Cup races are held on Aspen Mountain in conjunction with the Roch Cup.
Train service (by now only freight) to Aspen ends on Jan. 29th. Pitkin County Airport begins operating a control tower. The local City and County governments hire a full-time planner. The State Highway Dept. begins to plan a 4-lane highway 82 from Glenwood Springs to Aspen. The Funnel Chair is built at Snowmass. Citizens for Community Action formed, a group advocating for liberal policies and growth control.
Sam’s Knob restaurant is expanded and Cafe Suzanne is built at Snowmass. Hunter S. Thompson runs for Sherriff on the “Freak Power” ticket. Eve Homeyer begins term as first female mayor of Aspen.
Lift-1A starts running, replacing the original Lift-1 single chair on Aspen Mountain. Rubey Park is purchased as depot for a mass transit system.
Dwight Shellman and Joe Edwards elected as Pitkin County commissioners on a growth control platform. Colorado voters voted against funding the 1976 Olympics.
The first phase of the pedestrian mall is completed in downtown Aspen. The first Snowmass Village Rodeo is held.
The no-credit, all-fun college of the Rockies, also known as “Aspen State Teachers College” is founded.
The Town of Snowmass Village is officially incorporated.
Alpine Springs and Wood Run chair lifts open at Snowmass. Aspen Ski Corp. is sold to 20th Century Fox and Tom Richardson succeeds DRC Brown after his retirement as President of the company.
Aspen Art Museum opens in former hydroelectric plant building near the confluence of Hunter Creek and the Roaring Fork River. Aspen celebrates 100 years.
The “Rodeo Lot” at Snowmass is developed for day skiers.
Aspen Ski Corp. changes its name to Aspen Skiing Company. Snowmaking is used for the first time for World Cup races in Aspen.
Snowboarding is allowed on Aspen Highlands. The Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA) is established.
A restored Wheeler Opera House opens. Jerry Blann becomes President of Aspen Skiing Company.
Snowboarding is allowed on Buttermilk
The Silver Queen Gondola opens on Aspen Mountain—the longest single-stage gondola in the world.
1988 - Present
Modern Aspen
“At once rugged and gentrified, rural and urban, rich and poor, both beloved and despised, Aspen throughout its history provides provides a rich case study of ambiguities found in the biography of one place.”
– Edward Duke Richey, 1990, “Living it Up in Aspen: Post-War America, Ski Town Culture and the New Western Dream, 1945-1975”
Bob Maynard becomes President of Aspen Skiing Company. Snowboarding is allowed on Snowmass.
Ingemar Stenmark wins his 86th and final World Cup race on Aspen Mountain.
Harris Hall opens to critical acclaim. Whip Jones donates Aspen Highlands to Harvard University, which sells it to Gerald Hines, who becomes a partner with the Aspen Skiing Company, which assumes operations of Aspen Highlands.
Two Creeks base area at Snowmass opens providing quick access to the popular Elk Camp area.
The 50th Anniversary of the Aspen Skiing Company is marked with more than 3,000 employees and 4,700 acres of skiable terrain across four mountains and secures its status as a world-class winter destination. Pat O’Donnell becomes President and CEO of Aspen Skiing Company.
Snowmass celebrates 30 years of skiing. The Cirque lift opens giving Snowmass the nation’s longest lift-served vertical rise of 4,406 feet. The lift is built in an ecologically sound fashion to protect local animals and their habitat and is the first lift to be operated solely by clean, renewable wind power.
The World Cup returns to Aspen after a three-year hiatus. The Cirque run on Snowmass is renamed “Rocky Mountain High” in tribute to John Denver. Gulfstream 24-Hours of Aspen charity ski race set a new fund raising record of $1.2 million to support Kid’s Stuff (Silver Lining Ranch) and the Aspen Valley Ski Club. Highlands Cafe closes forever. Construction begins on new Highlands Village. Cloud Nine Cafe debuts on Aspen Highlands.
The 50th Anniversary of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The Sundeck on Aspen Mountain is demolished to be replaced by a new 21,600 square foot mountain-top restaurant. A new Cloud Nine lift is built on Aspen Highlands. A controversial roundabout is completed at the intersection of Highway 82 and Maroon Creek Road with hopes of relieving increased traffic congestion at Aspen’s entrance. There are 9 traffic lights between Mill St. in Aspen and the first light in Glenwood. A remodeled Isis cineplex theater opens.
The 50th Anniversary of the Aspen Institute. Aspen Music Festival and School dedicates new permanent music tent. The World Cup returns again to Aspen. Isis cineplex theater declares bankruptcy and closes.
We’ve stopped counting the traffic lights on Highway 82 from Aspen to Glenwood. The Isis cineplex theater reopens under new management. Snowboarding is allowed on Aspen. The Winter X Games is hosted in Aspen at Buttermilk for the first time (and still continues).
Aspen Drug ceases business after over 100 years of service to the community.
The original The Silver Queen Gondola cabins are retired to be replaced with larger cabins. Construction of the new Snowmass Base Village begins. Mike Kaplan becomes President and CEO of Aspen Skiing Company.
Fossils of mammoths, mastodons, a giant sloth and many other Ice Age animals and plants are discovered during the expansion of the Ziegler Reservoir in Snowmass Village. The City of Aspen passes a “Plastic Bag Ban.” The Merry Go Round is renovated on Aspen Highlands.
Cafe Suzanne is torn down and replaced by a new Elk Camp Cafe at Snowmass. Colorado voters approve Amendment 64 legalizing marijuana for recreational use and regulating sales and tax income. The vote marked an electoral first in the United States and worldwide. The Hotel Jerome undergoes significant renovations.
The commercial sale of marijuana to the general public began on January 1, 2014 at licensed establishments throughout the state, including several stores in Aspen.
The men’s and women’s FIS Ski World Cup Finals are held on Aspen Mountain, marking 50 years of World Cup racing in Aspen.
City of Aspen voters approve new Lift One corridor project at Aspen Mountain’s historic western portal. The project includes a history museum to be operated by AHS, in the restored Skiers Chalet Lodge.
The men’s FIS World Cup races return to Aspen Mountain.
AHS membership provides special opportunities to explore the area’s collective roots while helping ensure history is preserved and communicated for generations to come. Membership donations advance the educational programs, exhibits, extensive public archives, collections preservation, and historic sites that inspire a life-long interest in the Aspen and Snowmass community.
