Topic
History and culture
Mining towns and railroads, landmarks and museums, festivals, food, and the local-color stories that make each corner of Colorado make sense.
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Local notes
More history and culture notes
502 sourced notes in this topic
History and culture
Gypsum is one of Eagle County's older incorporated towns
Down the valley near the county's western edge, Gypsum was incorporated in the early 1900s and kept a working, western character distinct from the resort towns upriver.
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Mancos got its name from a river, and built its main street beside it
The town of Mancos takes its name from the nearby Rio de los Mancos, and its historic commercial core grew southeast of the railroad siding, near the river.
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Monte Vista's downtown is a recognized historic district
The heart of Monte Vista is a listed historic district, which means its older downtown buildings carry recognition that can affect how they are changed.
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Penitente Canyon carries a name from valley religious history
The BLM-managed Penitente Canyon near La Garita is named for a Hispano Catholic brotherhood, and the surrounding area holds Indigenous rock art best treated with care.
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Salida's FIBArk river festival has run since 1949
FIBArk, short for First in Boating the Arkansas, is Salida's June whitewater festival on the Arkansas River, held since 1949 and one of the longest-running events of its kind.
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The Aspen Music Festival grew out of that same 1949 summer
The Aspen Music Festival and School traces its start to the 1949 cultural gathering in Aspen and grew into an enduring summer classical music institution.
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The Crested Butte heritage museum lives in an old hardware store
Crested Butte's heritage museum is housed in one of the town's oldest frame buildings, a former blacksmith shop and hardware store, and tells the area's mining and town history.
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The Elbert County Fair grew from an 1891 'Vegetable Day'
The Elbert County Fair traces back to an 1891 'Vegetable Day' in Elizabeth and moved through Elbert and Matheson before settling at the fairgrounds in Kiowa.
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The old Rio Grande depot in Alamosa, and what it is now
The historic Denver & Rio Grande Railroad depot on State Street in Alamosa, rebuilt after a 1907 fire and listed on the National Register, today houses the Colorado Welcome Center.
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The Pueblo Chile is a point of local pride and its own festival
The Pueblo chile grown on the farms around the city anchors the annual Chile & Frijoles Festival downtown, a community event run by the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce.
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The Ute Mountain Tribal Park protects cliff dwellings the tribe shares on its own terms
South of Mesa Verde, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe protects ancient cliff dwellings and pueblo sites in Mancos Canyon, where access is by tribal-guided tour only.
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Tigiwon Community House recalls the Mount of the Holy Cross pilgrimages
Above Minturn, the log Tigiwon Community House was built during the Depression era and tied to religious pilgrimages to view the Mount of the Holy Cross.
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Walk Old Town's brick blocks and you may be reading Disneyland's first sketches
Some of the Old Town Fort Collins buildings researchers tie to Disneyland's Main Street are still standing, so a slow walk down Linden Street is a way to see the references in person.
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A standard-gauge railroad once climbed over the divide to Aspen
The Colorado Midland Railway reached Aspen in the late 1880s by tunneling under the high country near Hagerman Pass, helping the silver town boom before the line was abandoned.
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Alamosa County sits inside a national heritage area
Alamosa County is part of the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, a congressionally designated region that honors the layered Indigenous, Hispano, and other cultures of the San Luis Valley.
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Avon's name came from 'Avondale,' not an English river
A popular tale says Avon was named for England's Avon River, but the town's own history credits early settler George A. Townsend, who liked the name 'Avondale' — a reminder to check place-name legends against the documented record.
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Colorado State University began as the state's land-grant farm college
Colorado State University in Fort Collins started in 1870 as Colorado Agricultural College, the state's land-grant institution, and that farming-and-research mission still shapes the city and county.
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Conejos County sits inside the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area
Conejos County is one of three counties in the federally designated Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, a recognition of the San Luis Valley's layered cultural and natural history.
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Cripple Creek's brick downtown was rebuilt after the 1896 fires
Two 1896 fires destroyed Cripple Creek's wooden business district, and the brick-and-stone Bennett Avenue you see today is the rebuild, now a National Historic Landmark.
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Denver Union Station was built to gather the railroads
Union Station opened in the 1880s to bring many railroads into one Denver depot, and after a long restoration it reopened in 2014 as a rail, bus, and train hub.
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Fort Uncompahgre near Delta marks an early trading post on the Old Spanish Trail
A reconstructed fur-trade fort on the edge of Delta interprets the Robidoux trading post and the Old Spanish Trail that crossed this part of the Western Slope.
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Huerfano County's vanished coal camps, treated with care
Names like Pictou, Rouse, Walsen, and Cameron mark places that were once busy coal camps in Huerfano County, and most are now quiet sites best understood through archival and official sources.
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La Junta is the Otero County seat and grew up as a railroad town
La Junta is the seat of Otero County and built much of its early growth around the Santa Fe Railway, which still shapes the town's layout and economy.
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La Plata County is named 'the silver' for its mountains and rivers
La Plata County takes its name from the Spanish word for silver, tied to the La Plata Mountains and the La Plata River, one of the streams that drains the county.
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