Estes Park () is a statutory town in southwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States census. Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor. A popular summer resort and the location of the headquarters for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park lies along the Big Thompson River. Landmarks include The Stanley Hotel and The Baldpate Inn. The town overlooks Lake Estes and Olympus Dam.
History Early history Before Europeans came to the Estes Valley, the Arapaho Native Americans 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. Toll, recorder; and David Robert Hawkins, a Princeton student.
In the 1850s, the Arapaho had spent summers camped around Mary's Lake, where their rock fireplaces, tipi sites, and dance rings were still visible. They also recalled building eagle traps atop Longs Peak to get the war feathers coveted by all tribes. They remembered their routes to and from the valley in detail, naming trails and landmarks. They pointed out the site of their buffalo trap, and described the use of dogs to pack meat out of the valley. Their recollections included a battle with Apaches in the 1850s, and fights with Utes who came to the area to hunt bighorn sheep, so all three of those tribes used the valley's resources.Clement Yore, "Estes Park Region was Formerly the Playground of the Arapaho Indians," Estes Park Trail, January 27, 1922, p. 7 and February 3, 1922, pp. 7-8. 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. 3.
The town is named after Missouri native Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859 in what was then the Territory of Nebraska. Estes moved his family there in 1863. One of Estes' early visitors was William Byers, a newspaper editor who wrote of his attempted ascent of Longs Peak in 1864, publicizing the area as a pristine wilderness.William Byers, "Ascent of Longs Peak," Rocky Mountain News, September 23, 1864, p. 2, quoted in James H. Pickering, "This Blue Hollow": Estes Park, the Early Years, 1859–1915 (Boulder, Colo: University Press of Colorado, 1999), chapter 1.
Griff Evans and his family came to Estes Park in 1867 to act as caretakers for the former Estes ranch. Recognizing the potential for tourism, he began building cabins to accommodate travelers. It became a dude ranch in Estes Park, with guides for hunting, fishing, and mountaineering;Betty D. Freudenburg, Facing the Frontier: The Story of the MacGregor Ranch(Estes Park, Colo.: Rocky Mountain Nature Association, 2005), p. 61. when Isabella Bird arrived in 1873, Evans already had nine men and women as guests.
The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a young Anglo-Irish peer, arrived in late December 1872 under the guidance of Texas Jack Omohundro, subsequently made numerous visits, and decided to take over the valley for his own private hunting preserve.Jane Rawlings, June 2023, "He Tried to Own Estes Park,"p. 2 of The Senior Voice Vol. 43, No. 7. 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 destroyed by fire in 1911.Freudenburg pp. 61-67.
Bird, the daughter of an Anglican minister, 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'. She wrote A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, a memoir of their travels, including the breathtaking ascent of Longs Peak, where she was literally hauled up the steep pitches "like a bale of goods."Isabella Bird, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (Sausalito, Calif.: Comstock, 1980), Letter 7, p. 87.
On June 19, 1874, Rocky Mountain Jim and neighbor Griff Evans (see above) had an argument. Having had bitter history with each other, Nugent and Evans hated each other and were deep personal rivals when it came to tour guiding tourists. The argument escalated until Evans blasted Jim in the head with his rifle. Evans then traveled to Fort Collins to file an assault charge against Nugent, but he was arrested and tried for first degree murder when Jim Nugent died on September 9, 1874, of the bullet wound. Evans was put on trial, but the case was soon dismissed due to the lack of witnesses to the shooting. On August 9, 1875, the Loveland court-house acquitted Evans of any charges in the case.
William Henry Jackson photographed Estes Park in 1873.USGS photo in Freudenburg, p. 56.
Alex and Clara (Heeney) MacGregor arrived soon after and homesteaded at the foot of Lumpy Ridge. The MacGregor Ranch has been preserved as a historic site. In 1874, MacGregor incorporated a company to build a new toll road from Lyons, Colorado, to Estes Park. The road became what is today U.S. Highway 36. Before that time, however, the "road" was only a trail fit for pack horses. The improved road brought more visitors into Estes Park; some of them became full-time residents and built new hotels to accommodate the growing number of travelers.Freudenburg, chapter 7. The Estes Park, Colorado Territory, post office opened on June 2, 1876.
In 1884, Enos Mills (1870–1922) left Kansas and came to Estes Park, where his relative Elkanah Lamb lived. That move proved significant 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. His advocacy is exemplified in his book Wild Life on the Rockies which includes his 1909 photo and description of the valley from Mount Olympus. He succeeded and the park was dedicated in 1915.Pickering, "This Blue Hollow": Estes Park, the Early Years, 1859–1915, pp. 220-235.
Enos Mills' younger brother Joe Mills (1880–1935) came to Estes Park in 1889. He wrote a series of articles about his youthful experiences for Boys Life which were later published as a book. After some years as a college athletics coach, he and his wife returned to Estes Park and built a hotel called The Crags on the north side of Prospect Mountain, overlooking the village. They ran that business in the summer while he continued his coaching career in winters at University of Colorado in Boulder.A Mountain Boyhood (New York: J.H. Sears, 1926, republished 1988 by University of Nebraska Press), introduction.
Many early visitors came to Estes Park in search of better health. The Rocky Mountain West especially attracted those with pulmonary diseases, and in Estes Park some resorts catered to them, providing staff physicians for their care.Pickering, This Blue Hollow, 127–128.
Recent history 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. The following year, Mr. Stanley built nine-passenger steam busses and opened a bus line between Lyons and Estes Park."First Auto Stage Line to Estes Park Established Spring of 1907," Estes Park Trail, January 5, 1923, p. 1.
By 1912, Estes Park had its own seasonal newspaper, the Estes Park Trail, which provided advertising for the local hotels and other businesses. It was a year-round weekly by 1921.Colorado Historic Newspapers, http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/Default/Skins/Colorado/Client.asp?skin=Colorado&AW=1364318345023&AppName=2 In 1949, Olympus Dam was finished, creating Lake Estes, giving the town its main source of drinking water.
Land was still being homesteaded in the area in 1914, when Katherine Garetson (1877–1963) filed on land near the base of Longs Peak. She built a cabin and started a business known as the Big Owl Tea Place. She proved up on her homestead claim in 1915, and left a memoir of her years there.Katherine Garetson, Homesteading Big Owl, 2d ed. (Allenspark, Colo.: Allenspark Wind, 2001).
In 1916 the Estes Valley Library was founded by the Estes Park Women's Club. It originally formed part of the old schoolhouse and contained only 262 printed works. The Town of Estes Park was incorporated on April 17, 1917.
Estes Park was also the site of the organization of the Credit Union National Association, an important milestone in the history of American credit unions.Creating CUNA ) In 1992, members of the modern American militia movement attended the three-day Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in Estes Park, which focused on "guns, resisting the federal government, and white supremacy".
Major flooding events Flood of 1982
The town suffered severe damage in July 1982 from flooding caused by the failure of Lawn Lake Dam, "after years of disrepair and neglect." The flood's alluvial fan can still be seen on Fall River Road. The downtown area was extensively renovated after the flood, and a river walk was added between the main street, Elkhorn Avenue, and the Big Thompson River.
Flood of 2013
Both U.S. Highway 36 and U.S. Highway 34, the major routes into town, were severely damaged. Hundreds of Estes Park residents were also isolated by the destruction of sections of Fish Creek Road and all nine crossings across Fish Creek. Damaged sewer lines dumped raw sewage down the creek and into the Big Thompson River.
Geography
Estes Park sits at an elevation of on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at the eastern entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park. Its north, south and east extremities border the Roosevelt National Forest. Lumpy Ridge lies immediately north of Estes Park.
At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of including of water.
Climate Estes Park has a humid continental climate (Koppen: Dfb). Summers are typically warm, sometimes hot, while winters are usually cold, with lows dropping into the teens and sometimes the single digits.
Historic ski areas Estes Park was home to a number of now defunct ski areas: Davis Hill Hidden ValleyColorado Ski History: Hidden Valley (Ski Estes Park) Leydman Hill Jump Old Man Mountain Estes Park vicinity was also the home of other resorts and tourist attractions.
Demographics
In August 1900, Estes Park had a population of 218 in 63 households. Many (73) were born in Colorado. Eighteen were born in other countries: Canada (4), England (4), Germany (4), Finland (3), and one each from the Netherlands, Scotland, and Ireland. Eighty had been born in midwestern states, and thirty from states in the northeast.U.S. census, Estes Park precinct, Larimer County, Colorado, August 1900.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Estes Park had a population of 5,904. The median age was 55.5 years. 14.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 34.5% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 90.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.1 males age 18 and over.
98.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.7% lived in rural areas.
There were 2,791 households in Estes Park, of which 17.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 49.9% were married-couple households, 17.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.