| Pre-1879 |
Ute Indian summer camps are located throughout the Roaring Fork Valley; Ute Springs, near present day Glory Hole Park, near the Gondola at Ute and Original Streets may have been a campsite. Colorado becomes a state in 1876. Custer and his troops are massacred at the Little Big Horn. Ute uprising at the White River Agency Ute Reservation, to be known as "The Meeker Massacre." Hayden Geological Survey reports are published indicating promising geologic formations in the Roaring Fork Valley for the presence of silver. |
| 1879 |
First prospectors, crossing difficult mountain passes, explore the area for silver and winter over to protect claims on what will become one of the richest silver lodes in history. Henry P. Gillespie arrives in Aspen to examine a mine and travels to Washington, DC to petition for a Post Office. He lays out a town and calls it Ute City. Prospectors are in Ashcroft. Prospectors discover the Independence Gold Lode on July 4 in what will become the mining camp of Independence. |
| 1880 |
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. |
| 1881 |
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 Indians (except for Southern Utes, ) are moved out of Colorado to Utah. Molly Gibson Mine is located. First Clarendon Hotel is built. Volunteer fire department is established. Katie Cowenhoven marries DRC Brown. Horace Tabor comes to Ashcroft 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. |
| 1882 |
Independence gold camp has an estimated 1,500 residents, however, production drops drastically. The Farwell mines close and Mill shuts down. |
| 1883 |
Jerome B. Wheeler, half-owner of Macy’s Department Store, visits Aspen. Through various investments Mr. Wheeler injects much needed cash into the community. |
| 1884 |
Clarendon Hotel burns down. |
| 1885 |
New Clarendon Hotel opens. Hydro electric power is used in the mines. Electric Company turns on power to 40 stores. Soon Aspen will have public electricity 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 Crowthers in Aspen for a Wells Fargo robbery in Arizona. |
| 1886 |
City water system is turned on. |
| 1887 |
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reaches Aspen. The mines can now ship low-grade ore to market more economically. |
| 1888 |
A second railroad, the Colorado Midland, reaches Aspen. 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. |
| 1889 |
The Hotel Jerome opens. |
| 1890 |
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. |
| 1891 |
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 Holden/Marolt Mining and Ranching Museum site). The Court House opens. |
| 1892 |
Construction of the Silver Queen Statue for the Chicago World's Fair is supported by the City. Davis Waite becomes Governor of Colorado on the "Free Silver" issue. |
| 1893 |
Aspen reaches a peak population of 10,000 to 16,000. Congress repeals the Sherman Silver Act, demonetizing silver. Following the Silver Panic, Aspen begins a long downward slide. Women's Suffrage in Colorado is enacted by popular vote. |
| 1894 |
A 2,350 lb. silver nugget is mined from the Smuggler. A few mines reopen on a limited basis, many are leased. Overall silver production is less than half that of 1892. |
| 1895 |
Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph builds a phone line over Independence Pass, connecting Aspen to the outside world for the first time. |
| 1899 |
Street car line to be torn up on Main St. |
| 1901 |
Jerome B. Wheeler declares bankruptcy. |
| 1903 |
Salvation Ditch is constructed. |
| 1906 |
Colorado Midland Railroad is bankrupt. |
| 1910 |
Hallam Lake is sold to DRC Brown. De-watering of the flooded Smuggler, Molly Gibson and Free Silver mines begins. |
| 1912 |
Two fires, within 9 days, gut the Wheeler Opera House. |
| 1913 |
Elk, being nearly extinct in the valley due to over hunting, are reintroduced near Smuggle Mt. |
| 1915 |
The Isis Theater opens. |
| 1917 |
Mining continues on a limited basis as the town becomes a supply center for local farmers and ranchers. Potatoes become the cash crop in the valley. |
| 1918 |
The "Glory Hole" is created when a stope in the A-J collapses. Flu epidemic forces closure of most of the town. |
| 1920 |
Rio Grande RR experiencing many accidents and delays. The Colorado Midland RR returns to Aspen only to dismantle the line. |
| 1924 |
Independence Pass Highway begun in 1911 is officially completed. |
| 1926 |
The Aspen Smelting Company suspends operations. |
| 1929 |
Black Tuesday—the stock market collapses. |
| 1936 |
Survey of Aspen/Ashcroft area by André Roch for Ted Ryan, Billy Fiske and Tom Flynn who then build the Highland Bavarian Lodge on Castle Creek. A six-passenger boat tow, powered by an old mine hoist and truck engine, is constructed at the base of Aspen Mountain. |
| 1941 |
Aspen’s first national downhill and slalom championships are held March 8th-9th. Fritz Benedict visits Aspen for the first time. |
| War Years |
The 10th Mountain Division, stationed at Camp Hale near Leadville, uses the Aspen area for training exercises. Many 10th Mt. veterans return after the war and help develop skiing at Aspen. |
| 1945 |
Chigago industrialist Walter Paepcke, president of the Container Corporation of America, visits Aspen and begins plans for a new cultural center with his wife Elizabeth. Paepcke meets with Friedl Pfeifer and plans for Aspen’s first ski lift. |
| 1946 |
Aspen Skiing Corporation is formed. Lift-1 unofficially opens December 14th. |
| 1947 |
Lift-1 is dedicated as the world’s longest chairlift. Aspen Ski School begins with Friedl Pfeifer as director. Refurbished Hotel Jerome opens. Herbert Bayer's partially refurbished Wheeler Opera House reopens. Dick and Miggs Durrance arrive in Aspen. Dick becomes Aspen Ski Corp.'s General Manager. |
| 1948 |
Sardy Field officially opens for commercial flights. Walter Paepcke brings Stuart and Isabel Mace to Aspen. |
| 1949 |
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. |
| 1950 |
Aspen hosts the FIS World Alpine Championships, the first sanctioned international competition in the U.S. World class skiers now recognize Aspen’s skiing potential. |
| 1958 |
Friedl Pfeifer opens Buttermilk Mountain. Aspen Highlands opens. DRC Brown becomes President of the Aspen Skiing Corporation. |
| 1961 |
The City Golf Course opens. |
| 1962 |
The City paves 14 downtown blocks. First condominium (Der Berghof) is built in Aspen. |
| 1963 |
All downtown streets are paved. The Brown Ice Palace opens. The Aspen Historical Society is established. |
| 1964 |
Herbert Bayer designs new music tent. The US Forest Service grants approvals of the Snowmass-at-Aspen Ski Area and the Reudi Dam project. |
| 1965 |
The Woody Creek Improvement Association is formed. The Aspen Institute donates land for the Aspen Music Festival School. |
| 1966 |
Ceramic artist Paul Soldner founds Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village. |
| 1967 |
Snowmass Ski Area opens with 5 chairlifts and 50 miles of trails. Lift tickets are $6.50. Freddie "The Fixer" Fisher dies. Snowmaking machines introduced at the base on Aspen Mountain on Little Nell. |
| 1968 |
Elizabeth Paepcke establishes wildlife sanctuary (ACES) at Hallam Lake. First official Aspen Alpine World Cup races are held on Aspen Mountain. |
| 1969 |
Train service (by now only freight) to Aspen ends on Jan. 29th. Pitkin County Airport begins operating a tower. City and County hire a full-time planner. The State Highway Dept. begins to plan a 4-lane highway 82 from Glenwood to Aspen. |
| 1971 |
Lift-1A starts running, replacing the original Lift-1 single chair. |
| 1973 |
The first phase of downtown pedestrian mall completed. |
| 1978 |
Alpine Springs and High Alpine open at Snowmass. |
| 1979 |
Aspen Art Museum opens in former hydroelectric plant building near the confluence of Hunter Creek and the Roaring Fork River. |
| 1984 |
A restored Wheeler Opera House opens. |
| 1986 |
The Silver Queen Gondola opens—the longest single-stage gondola in the world. |
| 1989 |
Ingemar Stenmark wins his 86th and final World Cup race on Aspen Mountain. |
| 1993 |
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. Stuart Mace dies at 74. |
| 1995 |
Two Creeks base area at Snowmass opens providing quick access to the popular Elk Camp area. |
| 1996 |
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. |
| 1997 |
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. |
| 1998 |
The World Cup returns to Aspen after a three-year hiatus. Cirque run renamed "Rocky Mountain High" in tribute to John Denver. Gulfstream 24-Hours of Aspen charity ski race set 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 for ever. Construction begins on new Highlands Village. Cloud Nine Cafe debuts. |
| 1999 |
The 50th Anniversary of the Aspen Music Festival and School. Sundeck is demolished to be replaced by a new 21,600 square foot mountain-top restaurant. New Cloud Nine lift built. 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 now 9 traffic lights between Mill St. in Aspen and the first light in Glenwood. A remodeled Isis cineplex theater opens. |
| 2000 |
The 50th Anniversary of the Aspen Institute. Franz Berko dies. Aspen Music Festival and School dedicates new permanent music tent. The World Cup returns again to Aspen. Isis cineplex theater declares bankruptcy and closes. |
| 2001 |
The Aspen Historical Society changes its name to HeritageAspen. We've stopped counting the traffic lights on Highway 82 from Aspen to Glenwood. The Isis cineplex theater reopens under new management. |
| 2002 |
Aspen Drug ceases business after over 100 years of service to the community. Miggs Durrance dies at 85. |
| 2004 |
HeritageAspen changes it name back to the Aspen Historical Society. Dick Durrance dies at 89. |
| 2005 |
Toklat Gallery moves from Ashcroft to Basalt |
| 2006 |
Isabel Mace dies at 87. The original The Silver Queen Gondola cabins are retired to be replaced with larger cabins. Construction of the new Snowmass Base Village begins. |
