Silverthorne grew up with the building of the Dillon Dam

Silverthorne is one of the younger towns in Summit County, and its story as a town is tied to concrete and earth rather than gold.

People lived in the lower Blue River valley before the dam, so the place did not appear out of nothing. But while older neighbors like Breckenridge and Frisco grew from mining, it was a construction project that set Silverthorne’s pace. In the early 1960s, Denver Water built the Dillon Dam, finishing it in 1963, and many dam workers made their homes in the Silverthorne area. A few years later, in 1967, Silverthorne incorporated as a town and kept growing as a year-round community.

Its location helped. Silverthorne sits at the first I-70 exit west of the Eisenhower Tunnel, where the interstate meets Highways 9 and 6. That made it a natural stopping point and, over time, a service and shopping hub for the whole county.

Why a newcomer should know this: it explains why Silverthorne feels more like a working town and less like a preserved mining village, and why so much of the area’s everyday shopping clusters near that exit. For the town’s story, see the Town of Silverthorne.