Estes Park, Colorado Town of Estes Park, Colorado Panorama of Estes Park as seen from Lumpy Ridge Panorama of Estes Park as seen from Lumpy Ridge Location of Estes Park in Larimer County, Colorado Location of Estes Park in Larimer County, Colorado The Town of Estes Park / st s/ is a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States.
A prominent summer resort and the locale of the command posts for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park lies along the Big Thompson River.
Estes Park had a populace of 5,858 at the 2010 census.
The town overlooks Lake Estes and Olympus Dam.
Before Europeans came to the Estes Park valley, the Arapaho Indians lived there in the summertime and called the valley "the Circle." When three elderly Arapahoes visited Estes Park in 1914, they pointed out sites they remembered from their younger days.
A photograph at the Estes Park Museum identified the touring party as Shep Husted, guide; Gun Griswold, a 73-year-old judge; Sherman Sage, a 63-year-old chief of police; Tom Crispin, 38-year-old reservation resident and interpreter; Oliver W.
Whites probably came into the Estes Park valley before the 1850s as trappers, but did not stay long.
Griff Evans and his family came to Estes Park in 1867 to act as caretakers for the former Estes ranch.
Soon it was known as the first dude ranch in Estes Park, with guides for hunting, fishing, and mountaineering. Albert Bierstadt was commissioned by the Earl of Dunraven to make a painting of the Estes Park and Longs Peak region in 1876 for $15,000.
Lord Dunraven's 'land grab' didn't work, but he controlled 6,000 acres before he changed tactics and opened the area's first resort, the Estes Park Hotel, which was finished by fire in 1911. Landing at San Francisco, she came overland to Colorado, where she borrowed a horse and set out to explore the Rocky Mountains with a guide, the notorious James Nugent, aka 'Rocky Mountain Jim'.
William Henry Jackson photographed Estes Park in 1873. In 1874, Mac - Gregor incorporated a business to build a new toll road from Lyons, Colorado to Estes Park.
The improved road brought more visitors into Estes Park; some of them became full-time inhabitants and assembled new hotels to accommodate the burgeoning number of travelers. In 1884, Enos Mills (1870-1922) left Kansas and came to Estes Park, where his relative Elkanah Lamb lived.
That move proved momentous for Estes Park because Mills became a naturalist and conservationist who devoted his life after 1909 to preserving nearly a thousand square miles of Colorado as Rocky Mountain National Park.
Enos Mills' younger brother Joe Mills (1880-1935) came to Estes Park in 1889.
After some years as a college athletics coach, he and his wife returned to Estes Park and assembled a hotel called The Crags on the north side of Prospect Mountain, overlooking the village.
Many early visitors came to Estes Park in search of better health.
The Rocky Mountain West especially thriving those with pulmonary diseases, and in Estes Park some resorts catered to them, providing staff physicians for their care. In 1903, a new road was opened from Loveland through the Big Thompson River canyon to Estes Park, increasing access to the valley.
In 1907, three Loveland men established the first auto stage line from Loveland to Estes Park with three five-passenger touring Stanley Steamers.
By 1912, Estes Park had its own cyclic newspaper, the Estes Park Trail, which provided advertising for the small-town hotels and other businesses.
It was a year-round weekly by 1921. In 1949, Olympus Dam was finished, creating Lake Estes, giving the town it's chief source of drinking water.
Today, Estes Park's outskirts include The Stanley Hotel, assembled in 1909.
Olympus Dam, on the outskirts of the town, is the dam that creates Lake Estes, a lake which is the site for boating and swimming in Estes Park.
There are some hotels on the shore, including the Estes Park Resort.
In 1916 the Estes Valley Library was established by the Estes Park Women's Club.
Estes Park was also the site of the organization of the Credit Union National Association, an meaningful milestone in the history of American credit unions. Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous highway in the United States, runs from Estes Park westward through Rocky Mountain National Park, reaching Grand Lake over the continental divide. Estes Park sits at an altitude of 7,522 feet (2,293 m) on the front range of the Rocky Mountains at the easterly entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Lumpy Ridge lies immediately north of Estes Park.
Estes Park's humidity is typically low.
Climate data for Estes Park, Colorado Estes Park entrance sign Estes Park town/city center As of the census of 2010, 5,858 citizens , 2,796 homeholds, and 1,565 families resided in the town of Estes Park.
Three million tourists visit Rocky Mountain National Park each year; most use Estes Park as their base. Estes Park was home to a number of now defunct ski areas: Estes Park vicinity was also the home of other resorts and tourist attractions. Hundreds of Estes Park inhabitants were also isolated by the destruction of sections of Fish Creek Road and all nine crossings athwart Fish Creek.
The chief airport serving Estes Park is Denver International Airport, positioned 75 miles southeast.
In Colorado, it joins Estes Park to Loveland, Interstate 25, Greeley and Interstate 76.
US 36.svg US 36 begins at the close-by Rocky Mountain National Park, running to Uhrichsville, Ohio, passing through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
It joins Estes Park to Boulder, and Interstates 25 and 76, both near Denver.
Vrain Avenue in Estes Park and runs to Boulder, Lafayette and Brighton.
Estes Park's official sister town/city is Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Wendy Koenig, graduate of Estes Park High School, competed for the United States at the 1972 and 1976 summer Olympics. Smith, sheriff of Larimer County since 2011; former Estes Park resident.
William Ellery Sweet, 23rd Governor of Colorado, assembled a summer home in Estes Park in 1912, now used as a residence by his descendants.
Rocky Mountain National Park State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives.
Clement Yore, "Estes Park Region was Formerly the Playground of the Arapaho Indians," Estes Park Trail, January 27, 1922, p.
An account of unidentified Indians raiding white ranches for horses is given in Abner Sprague, "Roads and Trails," Estes Park Trail, December 8, 1922, p.
"Profile for Estes Park, Colorado, CO".
"Estes Park Colorado".
Estes Park Colorado.
Pickering, "This Blue Hollow": Estes Park, the Early Years, 1859-1915 (Boulder, Colo: University Press of Colorado, 1999), chapter 1.
Freudenburg, Facing the Frontier: The Story of the Mac - Gregor Ranch(Estes Park, Colo.: Rocky Mountain Nature Association, 2005), p.
Pickering, "This Blue Hollow": Estes Park, the Early Years, 1859-1915, pp.
"First Auto Stage Line to Estes Park Established Spring of 1907," Estes Park Trail, January 5, 1923, p.
Estes Valley Library "Rocky Mountain National Park - Park Area: Trail Ridge Road".
"Monthly Averages for Estes Park, CO (80517)".
"Does The Estes Park Real Estate Market Need More Regulations?".
Estes Park Home Search.
Census, Estes Park precinct, Larimer County, Colorado, August 1900.
Associated Press, "Rocky Mountain National Park sees more visitors" Nov 25, 2010 Denver Post Colorado Ski History: Hidden Valley (Ski Estes Park) "Estes Park vows to comebackfrom ravages of flood".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Estes Park, Colorado.
Estes Park travel guide from Wikivoyage Rocky Mountain National Park
Categories:
Estes Park, Colorado - Towns in Larimer County, Colorado - Rocky Mountain National Park - Tourism in Colorado - Towns in Colorado
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