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Palmer Lake, Colorado

Palmer Lake is a Statutory Town in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,636 at the 2020 census. Palmer Lake was founded by General William Jackson Palmer in 1871 and was incorporated in 1889.

Palmer Lake is one of three communities in the Tri-Lakes region between Denver and Colorado Springs. The three lakes are Palmer Lake, Monument Lake, and Lake Woodmoor. Located off Interstate 25 near two major metropolitan centers, Palmer Lake is a growing community on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.

Downtown Palmer Lake, though small, features restaurants and coffee shops on Colorado Highway 105. There is also a library, town hall, and a historical museum. The Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts, a nonprofit fine arts venue, features rotating art exhibitions and concert events with nationally recognized artists.

The town's water comes from two reservoirs in the mountains behind the town and from wells. Both reservoirs and Monument Creek, which flows out of them, are considered part of the town's watershed. The town's namesake lake dried up completely during the summer of 2012 due to Douglas County stopping the water supply. They have allowed Palmer Lake a third of the previous area for aesthetics but will not allow drainage to travel through as it used to be. The town's Board of Trustees held a firm stance against transferring water from the reservoirs to be stored in the lake, asking "Should our water supply be protected for the health and safety of all of our citizens, or should it be utilized for mostly aesthetic purposes?" Downtown businesses and resident morale suffered greatly due to the lack of any surface water within city limits. By 2014, the lake was nearly dry again

Library services for the city are provided by the Palmer Lake Branch Library, located at 66 Lower Glenway in Palmer Lake.

Geography
Palmer Lake is located at 39.11333°N, -104.905°W (39.113371, -104.904933).

The town is bordered by the Greenland Open Space Preserve to the north, Pike National Forest to the west, Monument to the south, and Ben Lomand and the I-25 corridor to the east. Palmer Lake sits at the north edge of El Paso County and offers sweeping views of the Rocky Mountain foothills.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.1 sqmi. 3.1 sqmi of this is land and 0.04 sqmi of it (0.65%) is water.

The town marks the top of the Palmer Divide, a ridge running from Palmer Lake eastward which separates the Arkansas River drainage to the south from the Platte River drainage to the north. The highest point of the divide is about 7700 ft above sea level at Vollmer Hill located in the Black Forest. At Monument Hill the elevation is about 7352 ft. It staggers along the county line between Douglas County and El Paso County. This divide separates the Denver metropolitan area from the Pikes Peak area. The town's namesake, Palmer Lake, is situated at 7250 ft.

Recreation
In the late 1890s, with the rising popularity of bicycling, Denver area cycling clubs promoted the creation of paths connecting urban areas with rural areas. In 1897, building on the 11-mile Denver-Littleton Cycle Path, created by the Denver Cycle Path Association, co-founded and headed by Governor Alva Adams and others, a new group raised funds and acquired rights-of-way for an extension to Palmer Lake, a 50-mile route. Some cyclists rode the 100-mile round trip, but many cyclists preferred to take their bikes on the train to Palmer Lake, a 2000' vertical gain, and ride mostly downhill to Denver.

Palmer Lake is adjacent to the 15 mi Santa Fe Regional Trail, which runs south through Monument to the southern boundary of the Air Force Academy and follows part of the old Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. One of the largest continuous trails in El Paso County, the graveled route supports a wide variety of activities such as biking, hiking and horseback riding. This 15-mile trail is one of the longest continuous trails in El Paso County where locals and visitors can enjoy biking, hiking and horseback riding year-round. In winter, cross-country skiers and snowshoers enjoy the pathway in the winter.

The fishing in Palmer Lake is decent when stocked. A solid winter freeze provides the only opportunity to get out onto the lake itself. There is a Winterfest in late winter each year, which features a supervised skating rink out on the pond. There is also a fishing derby each summer, sponsored by the chamber of commerce.

The two reservoirs behind Palmer Lake are accessible by a trail used by hikers, bicyclists, snowshoers and fishermen. The lower reservoir is fenced off from the public, but the upper reservoir has an open shoreline. The mountains behind the town have a matrix of trails connecting visitors and residents to canyons and ridges. Most trails are accessible to hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders. Visitors are advised to bring a map or a local guide when exploring the trails and should be aware of wildlife alerts and National Forest rules.

Palmer Lake Restoration Project
The Palmer Lake Restoration Project, Inc. – a Colorado non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation (a/k/a Awake the Lake and Awake Palmer Lake) – was formed by concerned local residents back in 1995 to try and work towards the restoration of the Lake and surrounding parks, which due to drought and budget issues had fallen into disrepair. Some progress was made, and the committee was inactive for a number of years until the prolonged drought cycle from 2002 through 2013, combined with State restrictions on what water could legally be artificially added to the lake, resulted in a completely dry lake bed in 2013. At that point, Awake the Lake was re-established (both legally and on the ground). Awake the Lake volunteers worked with Town staff and the Town’s own water attorneys, who legally changed certain water rights owned by the Town to create a viable source of supplemental fill to what is otherwise a natural body of water. The Town, however, lacked the funding, staff and know-how to push these issues, and as it is important that the Town of Palmer Lake actually have a namesake lake, Awake the Lake began in earnest its grassroots fundraising efforts, as well as a study of the Lake. Awake the Lake embarked on geotechnical, geologic, hydrogeologic and engineering studies to try and better understand what the natural means of fill of the Lake are, and how similar dry-ups might be prevented during future droughts; Palmer Lake does not currently have any source of surface inflow, nor any outlets, being a glacially formed lake not located on the channels of nearby Monument Creek, nor Plum Creek to the north. Awake the Lake simultaneously took advantage of the Lake being completely empty to remove non-native soils and silts that had built up in the bottom of the Lake over time, making it very shallow, and very sensitive to drought - the Lake simply held a lot less water than historically, making drought impacts that much worse. As part of those studies conducted by volunteer professionals, including cooperative efforts with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs' geology department, Awake the Lake learned that the lake does not fill from the “bottom up”—the Lake is not on top of a spring, but rather fills from shallow spring water inflows primarily on the western edges of the Lake. Awake the Lake also learned that the Railroads had, decades or perhaps a century ago, enlarged the Lake to the south for purposes of storing additional water for provision to steam engines, but also for creating a shallow area in the Lake where ice could be harvested during winter months. In order to ensure the Lake's legal status as viewed by the State remain as a “natural lake”, Awake Palmer Lake utilized the spoils obtained from removal of non-native soils and sediments as a means to fill the often-sedgey and shallow south end of the Lake and restore the Lake to its natural footprint. In 2015, upon completion of Awake the Lake's, the drought broke in earnest while the Town simultaneously completed their work in water court to change a senior water right to municipal uses that included supplemental fill of Palmer Lake, and Palmer Lake refilled. 2015 saw the wettest May in over 70 years, and the rains and spring activity naturally filled the lake by nearly 8 feet on the north end. On June 24, 2015, Palmer Lake began supplementing Lake levels with the Town of Palmer Lake's old industrial water rights, now changed, and the Town can now supplement the natural fill of the Lake with up to 8.4 acre feet per month, and up to 67 acre feet per year. Drinking and household water needs continue to have top priority over recreational and aesthetic uses. The Division of Wildlife began again stocking Palmer Lake with fish in the fall of 2015. Awake the Lake continues to study the Lake. including monthly data collection from a volunteer of monitoring wells constructed around the perimeter of the Lake, precipitation data, and Town water contributions, to try and better understand how the groundwater levels surrounding the lake are seasonally and drought affected, and how such fluctuations affect Lake levels. Awake the Lake continues to explore how the lone historical surface water inflow to the Lake at the northwest corner, which 30 years ago was blocked by the Railroad in their efforts to diminish flooding of their tracks, might also be restored. With the emergent Lake issues seemingly resolved, Awake the Lake turned its efforts towards improvements of parks and amenities surrounding the Lake, obtaining on the Town’s behalf a $350,000 matching grant from Great Outdoors Colorado for improvement of the “Rockin the Rails” parks, including improvements to parking facilities along Highway 105, and the centerpiece of the project: a pedestrian bridge across the railroad tracks connecting Town-proper to the Lake and its parks. The Rockin' the Rails park includes a disc-golf course, and where ultimately will include multi-use playing/ball fields for local youth.

Due to an error by a consultant to the Palmer Lake Restoration Project which made it appear as though the committee had not filed its tax returns for 3 consecutive years, in 2017 the IRS placed the committee on its “501(c)(3) status revoked” list, though tax returns had actually been timely filed, simply with an error as to the applicable Tax ID number. Awake Palmer Lake/Palmer Lake Restoration Project was advised by the IRS by letter dated October 31, 2019, that its 501(c)(3) stats had been officially restored, with such restoration retroactive to the 2017 revocation date. Awake Palmer Lake has been, is and remains a 501(c)(3) entity and all donations to the Palmer Lake Restoration Project/Awake Palmer Lake, both prior and future, remain fully tax deductible.

The volunteers with Awake Palmer Lake continue efforts to raise money through donations and event fees for the betterment of Palmer Lake and the parks and amenities which surround it, including the Rockin' the Rails Park. Events include progressive dinners through the Palmer Lake Restaurant Group, dinner dances/concerts, the annual Palmer Lake .5K - the "Race for the Rest of Us", and annual Try-Athalon, and other events.

Rockin' the Rails Park
On December 9, 2014, the public received notice that the Awake Palmer Lake committee had received a GOCO grant in the amount of $349,893 to be used for improvements around the Lake. The GOCO money is to be applied to what's being called the "Rockin' the Rails" Palmer Lake Railroad Park including a 90-foot overpass over the railway tracks, a disc golf course expansion, landscaped open space and restroom facilities on the park's west side. The bridge will consist of a flatbed railroad car raised 25 feet above the tracks with a staircase for pedestrians and a ramp on either side for bicyclists, wheelchairs and strollers. The park's overall themed will play up the town's history as a refueling stop for steam engines to be topped off with water between Colorado Springs and Denver. Both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads have approved the engineering plan for the bridge, and after several months of dirt work and retaining wall construction, actual work on the bridge span began in October 2019, with an anticipated completion date of no later than December 31, 2019.

Palmer Lake Star
In 1935, B.E. Jack and Bert Sloan proposed the construction of a large Star of Bethlehem on the side of Sundance Mountain in Palmer Lake. The five-pointed star, measuring 457 ft across and consisting of 91, 40-watt non-glare bulbs, is lit for the month of December and for other special occasions. Construction on the project was a community effort. The property on Sundance Mountain where the star was constructed was owned by Art and Reba Bradley, who donated the property to Palmer Lake in 1966. When Mrs. Bradley died in 1979, her estate provided funds to the Palmer Lake Fire Department for the maintenance of the star. In 1976, the star was completely rebuilt with new cable and steel pole in concrete as part of an American Revolutionary bicentennial project.

In February 2013, The Star of Palmer Lake was designated as a Colorado Historic site by History Colorado.

History
The earliest known area inhabitants were Native American tribes - the Mountain Ute, Arapahoe, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. The earliest recorded non-Native activity in the area was the Army's Major Stephen Long Expedition of 1820, which discovered the Colorado State Flower, the white and lavender columbine, somewhere between Monument and Palmer Lake. Many homesteaded ranches and farms straddled the El Paso-Douglas County line as early as the 1860s. David McShane is credited with being one of the first homesteaders, 1865, in the Town of Monument. Henry Limbach and his family were also early arrivals and had much to do with planning and developing of Monument which prospered as the commercial hub for the area on arrival of the railroad.

Critical role and a refuge
General William J. Palmer came west after the Civil War to found the city of Colorado Springs and start the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, a 3 ft narrow-gauge line, in 1871. He purchased the land known as the Monument Farms & Lake Property. Palmer Lake was critical to the railroad because the steam trains chugged up to the Palmer Divide summit and had to fill up with water from the lake to head down the Divide. The lake was the only natural water supply available in the area. Passenger trains stopped in town for 10 minutes to take on water, or for a fee of $1.00 roundtrip from Denver, passengers could take the train to Palmer Lake for a day of picnicking, fishing, and boating or hiking.

Dr. William Finley Thompson purchased land and plotted the town of Palmer Lake in 1882, intending it as a health resort & vacation community. Thompson was an oral surgeon originally from Randolph, Ohio, who practiced in the Midwest and in London. He built the Queen Anne Victorian mansion Estemere in 1887 for his family, but by 1890 was facing bankruptcy and fled from his creditors. Prior to the automobile, Palmer Lake was a popular destination for people from Denver and others wishing escape the heat of city summer temperatures. The Rocky Mountain Chautauqua - a people's vacation university - was popular between 1887 and 1910, hosting programs in music, art, drama, religion, and nature. The Rockland, a 61-room hotel, provided amenities for visitors, including a petting zoo.

Beginnings of agriculture and the Air Force Academy
Historical industries in the area included fox farms, sawmills, angora rabbit farming, and dry-land potato and grain farming. Laborers also harvested ice from Monument and Palmer Lakes, and this industry continued until 1941. In 1894 there were over 20000 acre under cultivation, but in 1895 a potato blight infected the soil and potato farming eventually stopped. At that time, Monument was famous for holding an annual "Potato Bake", a fall celebration where a free feast would be held just across the tracks from Front and Second Streets.

The land surrounding Palmer Lake and Monument remained largely ranch and farmland until the Air Force Academy was opened in 1958. Woodmoor, a township south of Palmer Lake and east of Monument, was originally planned to be an area where the staff of the Air Academy and other military retirees could take up residence. The land still kept to its ranching heritage until Colorado Springs growth spawned housing developments starting about the mid 1980s. Most growth along this part of the I-25 corridor has occurred since 1990.

The area has a remarkable history including events associated with the "wild west." Raids, scalpings and saloon shootings are part of this history. There were several forts in the area where settlers or travelers could take refuge until trouble passed. One of these is the "McShane Fort" located just off Highway 105, close to the railroad overpass bordering Monument and Palmer Lake. Law enforcement apprehended and executed murderers in the Palmer Lake/Monument area. The area was also home to five gold mines, although gold was never found. The area has an extensive historical heritage.

Transportation
Palmer Lake is served by Colorado State Highway 105. It runs directly through the town.

title: Palmer Lake, Colorado


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United Productions of America

United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio and later distribution company founded in 1941 as Industrial Film and Poster Service by former Walt Disney Productions employees. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures such as the Mr. Magoo series. In 1956, UPA produced a television series for CBS, The Boing-Boing Show, hosted by Gerald McBoing Boing. In the 1960s, UPA produced syndicated Mr. Magoo and Dick Tracy television series and other series and specials, including Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. UPA also produced two animated features, 1001 Arabian Nights and Gay Purr-ee, and distributed Japanese films from Toho Studios in the 1970s and 1980s.

Universal Pictures currently owns the majority of the UPA library after their acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016. The theatrical shorts library, however, is still handled by Sony Pictures Entertainment through the Columbia Pictures film label.

Origins
UPA was founded in the wake of the Disney animators' strike of 1941, which resulted in the exodus of a number of long-time Walt Disney Animation Studios staff members. Among them was John Hubley, a layout artist who was unhappy with the ultra-realistic style of animation that Disney had been utilizing. Along with a number of his colleagues, Hubley believed that animation did not have to be a painstakingly realistic imitation of real life; they felt that the medium of animation had been constrained by efforts to depict cinematic reality. Chuck Jones' 1942 cartoon The Dover Boys had demonstrated that animation could freely experiment with character design, depth, and perspective to create a stylized artistic vision appropriate to the subject matter. Hubley, Bobe Cannon, and others at UPA, sought to produce animated films with sufficient freedom to express design ideas considered radical by other established studios. In 1941, Zack Schwartz, David Hilberman, and Stephen Bosustow formed a studio called first Industrial Film and Poster Service, where they were free to apply their new techniques in film animation. Finding work (and income) in the then-booming field of wartime work for the government, the small studio produced a cartoon sponsored by the United Auto Workers (UAW) in 1944. Hell-Bent for Election was directed by Chuck Jones and was produced for the reelection campaign of FDR. The film was a success, and it led to another assignment from the UAW, Brotherhood of Man (1945). The film, directed by Bobe Cannon, advocated tolerance of all people. The short was innovative not only in its message but in its very flat, stylized design, in complete defiance of the Disney approach. With its new-found status, the studio renamed itself United Productions of America (UPA).

Initially, UPA contracted with the United States government to produce its animation output, but the government contracts began to evaporate as the FBI began investigating Communist activities in Hollywood in the late 1940s. No formal charges were filed against anyone at UPA in the beginnings of McCarthyism, but the government contracts were lost as Washington severed its ties with Hollywood.

Columbia Pictures and success
UPA entered the crowded field of theatrical cartoons to sustain itself and gained a contract with Columbia Pictures. Columbia had historically been an also-ran in the field of animated shorts, and it was not satisfied with the output of its Screen Gems cartoon studio. The UPA animators applied their stylistic concepts and storytelling to Columbia's characters The Fox and the Crow with the shorts Robin Hoodlum (1948) and The Magic Fluke (1949), both directed by Hubley. Both were nominated for Academy Awards, and Columbia granted the studio permission to create its own new characters. UPA responded, not with another "funny animal", but a star that was a human character, a crotchety, nearsighted old man. The Ragtime Bear (1949), the first appearance of Mr. Magoo, was a box-office hit, and UPA's star quickly rose as the 1950s dawned.

With a unique, sparse drawing style that contrasted greatly with other cartoons of the day, not to mention the novelty of a human character in a field crowded with talking cats, mice, and rabbits, the Mr. Magoo series won accolades for UPA. Two Magoo cartoons won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons): When Magoo Flew (1954) and Magoo's Puddle Jumper (1956).

UPA scored another hit with Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), based on a record by Dr. Seuss. Gerald McBoing-Boing won UPA the Academy Award in 1950; UPA cartoons would receive a total of fifteen Oscar nominations between 1949 and 1959. In December 1950, UPA announced plans for a feature-length film based on the work of cartoonist and humorist James Thurber. The film was to combine live action and animation and was tentatively titled Men, Women and Dogs, but it was never completed. (Only one of the Thurber pieces intended for this feature, The Unicorn in the Garden, was eventually released as a short subject.) Shorts such as The Tell-Tale Heart and Rooty Toot Toot featured striking, sophisticated designs unlike anything offered by competing studios. The "UPA style" began to influence significant changes at the other major animation studios, including Warner Bros., MGM, Famous Studios, and even Disney, ushering in a new era of experimentation in animation.

Turning to television
In 1955, Steve Bosustow secured a CBS contract for UPA to produce a television series (The Boing-Boing Show aka The Gerald McBoing Boing Show), which premiered in December 1956. Supervised by Bobe Cannon, this production offered an array of styles and brought then-new talent to the studio, such as Ernest Pintoff, Fred Crippen, Jimmy Murakami, Richard Williams, George Dunning, Mel Leven, Aurelius Battaglia, and John Whitney, among others. However, audiences did not embrace UPA's experiment in television entertainment; as a result, the show vanished from the airwaves in 1958. Further, as the major Hollywood studios began cutting back and shutting down their short film divisions in the late-1950s and early-1960s, UPA was in financial straits, and Steve Bosustow sold the studio to a producer named Henry G. Saperstein. Saperstein turned UPA's focus to television to sustain the studio. UPA adapted Mr. Magoo for television and produced another series based on the comic strip Dick Tracy. UPA was forced to churn out cartoons at a far greater quantity than the studio had done for theatrical releases or even the CBS television series. Despite this however, quality was languishing, and UPA's reputation as an artistic innovator faded.

UPA's style of limited animation was adopted by other animation studios, especially by television cartoon studios such as Hanna-Barbera Productions. However, this procedure was generally implemented as a cost-cutting measure rather than an artistic choice that UPA originally intended. A plethora of low-budget, cheaply-made cartoons over the next twenty years effectively reduced television animation to a commodity, partly popularizing the notion of animation as being made only for children rather than a medium for any age group to enjoy (with the exception of shows like The Flintstones), and notoriously going against UPA's original goal to expand the boundaries of animation and create a new style for the medium.

One bright moment in the UPA television era came with Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962), which inspired the format of Magoo's next television endeavor, the 1964 series The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. Christmas Carol captures the spirit of Charles Dickens's 1843 book and is considered a holiday classic, ranking alongside A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

UPA produced only two full-length feature films in their tenure: a 1959 feature starring Mr. Magoo entitled 1001 Arabian Nights, directed by ex-Disney animator Jack Kinney; and Gay Purr-ee in 1962, written by Chuck Jones and his wife Dorothy and directed by a friend of Jones, Abe Levitow.

Abandoning animation and Toho
Saperstein kept UPA afloat in the 1960s and beyond by abandoning animation production completely after the animation studio closed permanently in 1970 and sold off UPA's library of cartoons, although the studio retained the licenses and copyrights on Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing and the other UPA characters. This led to UPA contracting with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises studio to produce a new animated series called What's New Mr. Magoo? in September 1977.

Columbia Pictures retained ownership of UPA's theatrical cartoons. The studio's TV cartoon library was licensed by Classic Media in New York, and then in 2007 merged into Entertainment Rights in London.

In 1970, Saperstein led UPA into a contract with Toho Co., Ltd. of Japan to distribute its "giant monster" (see kaiju and tokusatsu) movies in America. Theatrical releases, and especially TV syndication, of the Toho monster movies created a new cult movie market for Japanese monster movies, and long-running television movie syndication packages such as Creature Double Feature exposed the Toho movie monsters to young American audiences, who embraced them and helped them maintain their popularity throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

When Toho began producing a new generation of monster movies in the late 1980s, beginning with Godzilla 1985, UPA capitalized on its Toho contract and helped introduce the new kaiju features to the Western world.

Because of its long association with Toho, UPA is better known to cult-movie fans today as Toho's American distributor rather than a pioneer of animated cartoons, but the legacy of UPA is an important chapter in the history of American animation. UPA continued to license the American library of Godzilla movies through to 2017 when the rights were transferred to Janus Films. UPA's contract with Toho also resulted in Saperstein producing Woody Allen's first feature film, What's Up, Tiger Lily?.

Henry Saperstein died in 1998. On January 1, 2000, UPA shuttered its operations, with the assets sold by the Saperstein family, which would later result in the founding of Classic Media by May 2000. On July 23, 2012, DreamWorks Animation purchased Classic Media for $155 million and, as a result, UPA is now owned by DreamWorks Animation, which would be acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016. Although DreamWorks Animation (and later, Universal Studios) now owns the ancillary rights to most of the UPA library, UPA itself (with DreamWorks Animation/Universal) continues to hold the licensing rights to Mr. Magoo, and Saperstein was executive producer to Disney's unsuccessful live-action feature Mr. Magoo in 1997.

Some theatrical feature films are owned by other third-party companies. For example, Warner Bros. Discovery currently owns Gay Purr-ee and The Walt Disney Company owns the 1997 Mr. Magoo film adaptation.

DVD releases
Classic Media/Sony Wonder began issuing the Mr. Magoo TV cartoon series on DVD in 2001, beginning with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (which received a Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in 2010). In 2011, Shout! Factory (with Classic Media) released the Mr. Magoo: The Television Collection set which contained all Mr. Magoo television productions (except for Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, for which the DVD copy from the 2010 Blu-ray release was issued by itself). In 2013, Shout! (with Sony) released the Mr. Magoo Theatrical Collection containing all the Mr. Magoo theatrical shorts and the full-length feature 1001 Arabian Nights (which was also released through Sony's MOD program in December 2011). The set was originally set for release on February 14, 2012 but then delayed to June 19, then December 4, then delayed to sometime in 2013. It was delayed so that the shorts could be restored from high quality sources (plus newly discovered elements added).

The Jolly Frolics Collection was released on March 15, 2012 through Turner Classic Movies' website. Extras included audio commentaries and an introduction by film critic Leonard Maltin.

Legacy
UPA Pictures' legacy in the history of animation has largely been overshadowed by the commercial success and availability of the cartoon libraries of Warner Bros., MGM and Disney. Nonetheless, UPA had a significant impact on animation style, content, and technique, and its innovations were recognized and adopted by the other major animation studios and independent filmmakers all over the world as UPA pioneered the technique of limited animation. Although this style of animation came to be widely used in the 1960s and 1970s as a cost-cutting measure, it was originally intended as a stylistic alternative to the growing trend (particularly at Disney) of recreating cinematic realism in animated films. UPA was also a central influence on the foundation of the Zagreb School of Animated Films in the 1950s. Animators in Yugoslavia were heavily impacted by UPA's work on The Four Poster (1952), a live-action film with animation directed by John Hubley, in his final project at UPA.

Both Gerald McBoing-Boing and The Tell-Tale Heart were inducted into the National Film Registry.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: United Productions of America


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Ramah, Colorado

Ramah is a Statutory Town in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The population was 111 as of the 2020 census. According to tradition, the name is derived from India.

History
The area was first settled in a place called Old Zounds, which was 27 miles southeast of Kiowa. The post office, called O.Z. because the applicant just used the initials, existed until at least 1881. The post office was moved from Old Zounds to nearby Ramah in 1889.

Ramah began as a small railroading town along the Rock Island Railroad in the late 1800s. It was incorporated on July 18, 1927. During its peak, it was home to several hundred residents. Eventually, by the mid-1900s, the railroad was shut down, and Ramah suffered, since the railroad connected it to Colorado Springs, forty miles to the southwest. Despite its decline, Ramah continues to exist, with ranching as the mainstay of its economy.

Geography
Ramah is located at 39.12194°N, -104.16583°W (39.121838, -104.165824).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.2 sqmi, all of it land.

title: Ramah, Colorado


text:
Stratmoor, Colorado

Stratmoor (commonly known as Stratmoor Hills) is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of the Stratmoor CDP was 6,518 at the United States Census 2020. The Colorado Springs post office (Zip Codes 80906, 80910, and 80911) serves the area.

Partial annexation by the City of Fountain
A portion of the Stratmoor CDP was annexed by the City of Fountain in 2014. Specifically, the area annexed was a 60-acre parcel just to the west of Interstate 25 at Exit 135 and north of South Academy Boulevard. The annexed land now includes a Walmart store, a Sam's Club, and a strip mall.

Geography
The Stratmoor CDP has an area of 6.874 km2, including 0.055 km2 of water.

Demographics
The United States Census Bureau initially defined the Stratmoor CDP for the 1980 United States Census.

Education
The Harrison School District 2 serves Stratmoor Hills.

title: Stratmoor, Colorado


text:
Woodmoor, Colorado

Woodmoor is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of the Woodmoor CDP was 9,536 at the United States Census 2020. The Monument post office (Zip Code 80132) serves the area.

Geography
The approximate center of Woodmoor is 1.5 miles due east of the center of Monument, Colorado.

The Woodmoor CDP has an area of 15.781 km2, including 0.160 km2 of water.

Common Areas
The Woodmoor Commons have been somewhat of a mystery since there were no signs designating those areas for common use and no maps available to all Woodmoor Residents which designate the location of the common areas. In 1994, the Woodmoor Improvement Association rounded up volunteer residents to hike the areas, name them, build and install signs to the bigger areas, and prepare the first Guide to the Woodmoor Commons. Additionally, Woodmoor has numerous bridle trails in both North and South Woodmoor.

Demographics
The United States Census Bureau initially defined the Woodmoor CDP for the 1980 United States Census.

title: Woodmoor, Colorado


text:
Elizabeth, Colorado

Elizabeth is a Statutory Town that is the most populous municipality in Elbert County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,675 at the 2020 United States Census, a +23.34% increase since the 2010 United States Census. Elizabeth is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.

History
Elizabeth was originally a saw mill camp. The town was later named after a family member of John Evans, a territorial governor.

The town has had a post office since 1882 and was incorporated in October 1890.

Geography
Elizabeth is located in western Elbert County at 39.36°N, -104.6°W (39.359954, -104.600063).

At the 2020 United States Census, the town had a total area of 5.178 km2, all of it land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,434 people, 496 households, and 380 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,670.6 PD/sqmi. There were 513 housing units at an average density of 597.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 94.00% White, 0.07% African American, 0.84% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 3.49% from other races, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.00% of the population.

There were 496 households, out of which 47.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.3% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.2% were non-families. 16.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.27.

The population breakdown was 33.3% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 36.5% from 25 to 44, 16.4% from 45 to 64, and 4.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $49,596, and the median income for a family was $51,902. Males had a median income of $38,875 versus $25,066 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,902. About 7.8% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.

Media
Elizabeth is home to the weekly newspaper the Meadowlark Herald, which is also the only newspaper wholly owned and published in Elbert County. The Elbert County News, The Ranchland News, The West Elbert County Sun, and The Prairie Times also publish Elbert County news and distribute widely in the county.

Elizabeth is also the hometown of author and stand-up comedian Sam Tallent

Infrastructure and transport
Colorado State Highway 86 bisects the town, leading east 7 mi to Kiowa and west 15 mi to Castle Rock. Denver is 40 mi to the northwest via Franktown and Parker. The town lays in between the Gold Creek and Box Elder Creek (locally known as the Running Creek). No public transport exists in Elizabeth.

A group of three separate unmarked turf airstrips exist to Elizabeth's southeast, though has no commercial service. Elizabeth is located equidistantly to Denver and Colorado Springs, with both cities' primary airports, Denver International Airport and Colorado Springs Airport, serving as the closest major air gateways to Elizabeth.

title: Elizabeth, Colorado


text:
Kiowa, Colorado

Kiowa is a home rule municipality town and the county seat of Elbert County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 725 at the 2020 United States Census.

History
The town was named for the Kiowa people. Settled in 1859, it was originally named "Wendling" after an early settler. It was called "Middle Kiowa" from the 1860s until 1912, when it was incorporated and the word "Middle" was dropped. It became the county seat of Elbert County in 1874. Kiowa suffered from major flooding in 1935.

Geography
Kiowa is located in western Elbert County at 39.34417°N, -104.46278°W (39.344207, −104.462714), on the east side of Kiowa Creek, a north-flowing tributary of the South Platte River. Colorado State Highway 86 passes through the town, leading east 44 mi to Limon and west 23 mi to Castle Rock. The town of Elizabeth is 7 mi west on SH 86.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Kiowa has a total area of 2.3 km2, all of it land.

Religion

 * Kiowa Creek Community Church
 * Majestic View Church
 * Nazarene Church
 * Graceway Bible Church
 * Our Lady of the Visitation Parish
 * Save the Cowboy

title: Kiowa, Colorado


text:
Ponderosa Park, Colorado

Ponderosa Park is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Elbert County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of the Ponderosa Park CDP was 3,334 at the United States Census 2020. Elbert County governs the unincorporated community. The Elizabeth post office (Zip Code 80107) serves the area.

Geography
Ponderosa Park is located on the western border of Elbert County. It is bordered to the southeast by the town of Elizabeth. Colorado State Highway 86 forms the southern edge of the CDP, leading east 9 mi to Kiowa, the county seat, and west 7 mi to Franktown. Castle Rock is 13 mi to the west, and Denver is 37 mi to the northwest.

The Ponderosa Park CDP has an area of 37.770 km2, all land.

Climate
This climate type is usually found in the outskirts of true deserts in low-latitude, semiarid regions. It has a cooler, wetter winter resulting from the higher latitude and mid-latitude frontal cyclone activity. Annual precipitation totals are greater than in tropical and subtropical desert climates. Yearly variations in amount are not as extreme as in the true deserts but are nevertheless large. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "BSk". (Tropical and Subtropical Steppe Climate).

Demographics
The United States Census Bureau initially defined the Ponderosa Park CDP for the 1980 United States Census.

title: Ponderosa Park, Colorado


text:
Simla, Colorado

Simla is a statutory town in Elbert County, Colorado, United States. It is 48 mi northeast of Colorado Springs. The population was 601 at the time of the 2020 United States Census.

History
Simla was founded in 1909 by a man with the name of Altman. Simla was named because the daughter of a railroad official was reading a book about India when she came across the name, Simla. Settled in the 1880s, Simla was incorporated in 1912. The first newspaper was started in 1911. It was a center for the shipping of the area's potato harvest each year.

Simla received national attention when it became the place where the first so-called "English Variant" of SARS-COV-2 (Covid-19 virus) was diagnosed in the United States.

Geography
Simla is located in southern Elbert County at 39.14083°N, -104.08278°W (39.140746, -104.082836). It lies to the south of Big Sandy Creek, an east-flowing tributary of the Arkansas River. U.S. Route 24 passes through the town, leading southwest to Colorado Springs and northeast 24 mi to Limon.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Simla has a total area of 1.4 km2, all of it land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 663 people, 233 households, and 171 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,222.3 PD/sqmi. There were 261 housing units at an average density of 481.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 94.27% White, 0.45% African American, 1.96% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 1.21% from other races, and 1.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.62% of the population.

There were 233 households, out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.2% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.24.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 32.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 16.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $31,382, and the median income for a family was $31,953. Males had a median income of $28,250 versus $21,458 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,099. About 10.3% of families and 17.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.0% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

Big Sandy High School
Big Sandy High School in Simla has a tradition of athletic success. The Simla Cubs have won 11 team state championships: 5 football, 2 boys basketball, two girls basketball, two girls volleyball, and one boys track and field, as well as several individual state champions.

Notable athletes from Simla include Glenn Morris, gold medal winner of the 1936 Olympic decathlon, as well as Barry Helton, former professional football player in the NFL.

title: Simla, Colorado


text:
Brookside, Colorado

Brookside is a Statutory Town located in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 236 at the 2020 United States Census.

Geography
At the 2020 United States Census, the town had a total area of 1.227 km2, all of it land.

Demographics
Brookside is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.

As of the census of 2000, there were 219 people, 85 households, and 62 families residing in the town. The population density was 507.5 PD/sqmi. There were 88 housing units at an average density of 203.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.35% White, 0.46% Native American, 0.46% from other races, and 2.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.96% of the population.

There were 85 households, out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.5% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were non-families. 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $34,688, and the median income for a family was $40,833. Males had a median income of $33,333 versus $26,875 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,841. About 13.8% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.6% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.

title: Brookside, Colorado


text:
Cañon City, Colorado

Cañon City is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 17,141 at the 2020 United States Census. Cañon City is the principal city of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and is a part of the Front Range Urban Corridor. Cañon City straddles the easterly flowing Arkansas River and is a popular tourist destination for sightseeing, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing. The city is known for its many public parks, fossil discoveries, Skyline Drive, The Royal Gorge railroad, the Royal Gorge, and extensive natural hiking paths. In 1994, the United States Board on Geographic Names approved adding the tilde to the official name of Cañon City, a change from Canon City as the official name in its decisions of 1906 and 1975. It is one of the few U.S. cities to have the Spanish Ñ in its name, others being La Cañada Flintridge, California; Española, New Mexico; Peñasco, New Mexico; and Peñitas, Texas.

History
Cañon City was laid out on January 17, 1858, during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, but then the land was left idle. A new company "jumped the claim" to the town's site in late 1859, and it put up the first building in February 1860. This town was originally intended as a commercial center for mining in South Park and the upper Arkansas River.

1860s to 1900
In 1861, the town raised two companies of volunteers to serve with the Second Colorado Infantry during the American Civil War. This regiment fought in skirmishes in nearby New Mexico and as far east as the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and Missouri before ending its organization in 1865.

In 1862, A. M. Cassaday drilled for petroleum 6 mi north of Cañon City, close to a known oil seep. Cassaday struck oil at the depth of 50 ft, and he completed the first commercial oil well west of the Mississippi River. He drilled five or six more wells nearby, and he refined kerosene and fuel oil from the petroleum. Cassaday sold the products in Denver.

A number of metal ore smelters were built in Cañon City following the discovery of gold at Cripple Creek in 1891.

Historical designations
The Cañon City Downtown Historic District is an historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Geography
Cañon City is located in eastern Fremont County. It sits primarily on the north side of the Arkansas River, just east of where the river exits from Royal Gorge. It is bordered to the south by the unincorporated community of Lincoln Park. Via U.S. Route 50, Pueblo is 39 mi to the east and Poncha Springs is 62 mi to the west. Colorado Springs is 45 mi to the northeast.

At the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total area of 32.127 km2 including 0.032 km2 of water.

Climate
The city's nickname, "the Climate Capital of Colorado", derives from the combination of unique geography and 5300 ft elevation protecting the city from harsh weather conditions. The average daily high temperature in January is 14 F-change warmer in Cañon City than in Grand Junction, even though the elevation of Cañon City is higher.

The average minimum temperature in January is 20 F. During July, overnight lows are 59 F on average. Cañon City has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification 'BSk').

Neighborhoods

As Cañon City has grown, the city has both annexed surrounding communities and developed new subdivisions to create the city that exists today.

 * Dawson Ranch
 * Eagle Heights
 * Fireman's Bluff
 * Four Mile Ranch
 * Gold Cañon
 * Meadowbrook
 * Orchard Park
 * South Cañon, a historic neighborhood located on the west side south of the Arkansas River
 * Sunrise Mesa
 * Western Meadows
 * Wolf Park
 * Five Star Mobile Home park

Parks and recreation
Cañon City is home to many city-owned parks, as well as parks owned by the Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District.

City-owned parks

 * Centennial Park, commonly known as "Duck Park"
 * Denver & Rio Grande Western Park, commonly known as "Depot Park"
 * Greydene Park
 * Magdalene Park
 * Margaret Park (originally Margarette Park)
 * Mountain View Park, home of the city's skate park
 * Red Canyon Park, a 500 acre park located 10 mi north of the city
 * Royal Gorge Park, home of the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park
 * Rudd Park
 * Temple Canyon Park
 * Veterans Park, known for Entertainment in the Park concerts during the summer

Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District
The Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District, commonly called the Rec District, was created in 1965 to better serve the community's recreational needs with parks, the R.C. Icabone Pool (a public swimming pool), a dog park, an archery range and a ropes course along with a rec district office with a community room.

The following parks are operated and owned by the Rec District:
 * John Griffin Park, located near the Sell's Avenue Trailhead of the Riverwalk
 * Harrison Park, the former playground of the former Harrison Elementary School which had been relocated to a newer, larger school building housing both elementary and middle school students
 * Pathfinder Regional Park, a joint-managed park located in the county between Cañon City and Florence
 * Rouse Park

In addition, the city maintains the Tunnel Drive Trail, a four-mile long out-and-back trail that follows the course of an old irrigation canal. The trailhead is located at the west end of Tunnel Drive, just inside the city limits.

The Guy U. Hardy Award for Service to Outdoor Recreation was created in the name of Guy U. Hardy to recognize people in the community who "help preserve, protect and advocate for providing outdoor recreation opportunities." Hardy had a significant impact on outdoor recreational opportunities in the Royal Gorge area.

Demographics
As of the 2020 census, there were 17,141 people residing in the city. The population density was 1,312.1 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 95.4% White, 1.0% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.1% Asian, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 10.2% of the population. There were 7,448 households, out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them. The average household size was 2.05.

The age distribution was 22.6% under the age of 18 and 24.6% who were 65 years of age or older. Women represent 52% of the population.

The median income for a household in the city was $46,464. The per capita income for the city was $25,232. About 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line.

Law
Along with a police department, sheriff's office and detention center, and a municipal court, Cañon City is home to the courts for Fremont County and the 11th Judicial District of Colorado. It has been described as "America’s cheeriest prison town".

Government
Cañon City is governed via the Council–manager government system. The city council consists of seven members who are elected from districts. The mayor is elected by the entire city.

Economy
The area being situated along the Arkansas River has allowed for soil suitable to orchards, ranching, and farming, but has largely grown to rely on the large number of state and federal prisons in the area, as well as to tourism, education, manufacturing, medicine and many other sectors.

Major employers
Cañon City depends on the Colorado Department of Corrections and federal prison system, and its tourism industry which includes the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, Red Canyon Park, The Abbey winery, and various other attractions. The major local employers include downtown shops, the entrepreneurial TechSTART initiative that attracts major technology-based entrepreneurs, and Centura Health (owner of St. Thomas More Hospital and the Progressive Care Center).

Prisons
Prisons have served an important significance to both Cañon City and the surrounding areas of Fremont County, as well as to the state of Colorado. The Museum of Colorado Prisons has been given the role of preserving and presenting the past of the state's corrections system. Colorado Department of Corrections operates the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City. In addition to several correctional facilities near Cañon City in unincorporated areas in Fremont County, Colorado State Penitentiary, the location of the state death row and execution chamber is in Fremont County. Other state prisons in Fremont County include Arrowhead Correctional Center, Centennial Correctional Facility, Fremont Correctional Facility, Four Mile Correctional Center, ADX Florence, and Skyline Correctional Center.

On October 3, 1929, a riot at the prison claimed 13 lives.

The Colorado Women's Correctional Facility near Cañon City in unincorporated Fremont County was decommissioned on June 4, 2009.

Tourism
From Cañon City's Downtown Historic District located in the heart of the city to the Royal Gorge Bridge, there are many places to see and visit in the area.

Media
Cañon City is home to a daily newspaper, called the Cañon City Daily Record; an FM radio station, Star Country 104.5 FM; and a long-running AM radio station, known as KRLN NewsRadio 1400 AM.

Transportation
Transportation in the Cañon City area consists of cab service, shuttle bus service, and a downtown wagon ride. The Royal Gorge Bridge trolley had also been used during special events (it was destroyed in the Royal Gorge Fire, but it was reserved for use by the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. Jeep tours and Segway tours are also available to explore local parks such as Red Canyon Park or scenic places such as Skyline Drive.

The town is served by the Fremont County airport (1V6) which is 6 miles to the East and currently has no scheduled passenger service. Within an hour's drive is the Colorado Springs airport with daily service by major airlines.

Major roads and highways
The area is served by one state and one U.S. highway with a mix of city and county roads to navigate the city or connect to neighboring areas.

State and national highways

 * U.S. Highway 50 - named Royal Gorge Boulevard from 1st Street to 15th Street in downtown Cañon
 * State Highway 115 - connects the city to nearby Florence and Penrose, ending in Colorado Springs

City and county roads

 * 4th Street - connecting Downtown with South Cañon, Oak Creek Grade, Prospect Heights, and Capitol Hill
 * 5th Street - serves as a north-south connector from Downtown north, allows traffic from Skyline Drive to return to U.S. 50
 * 9th Street - serves as a carrier of CO 115 from the roundabout to the junction with U.S. 50, heads north and ends at Washington Street
 * 15th Street - main route north to the hospital, a fire station and a small cluster of businesses
 * Orchard Avenue
 * Raynolds Avenue/Ash Street - runs from center of East Cañon to CO 115 via a county road, changes to a gravel road and becomes Chandler Road
 * MacKenzie / Four Mile Lane - routed to connect from CO 115 as a carrier of CR 20 until the city limits, at Hwy 50, heads north as Four Mile Lane

Bus service

 * Cañon City is part of Colorado's Bustang network. It is on the Alamosa-Pueblo Outrider line.

Scenic routes

 * Skyline Drive, major scenic route overlooking Cañon City that was originally built by local inmates at the Territorial Prison

Railroads

 * The Union Pacific Railroad mothballed the Tennessee Pass line in 1997. In 1998 Rock and Rail LLC was formed, and began operating on the former Union Pacific track between Cañon City and Parkdale. It also operates between Pueblo and Cañon City on lines purchased from the UP Railway. The tourist line Cañon City and Royal Gorge Railroad also operates on the RRRR's track.

Education

 * See also Cañon City School District

Cañon City's school system is under the direction of the Cañon City School District Fremont RE-1. The district currently has four elementary schools, one charter school, one school serving as both an elementary school and middle school, one middle school and one high school, Cañon City High School.

For the higher education needs of the community, Pueblo Community College provides a branch campus on the west end of the city along U.S. Highway 50.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

 * Cañon City Downtown Historic District
 * Cañon City Municipal Building, also known as the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center
 * Cañon City Post Office and Federal Building
 * Cañon City State Armory

Other sites

 * Colorado State Penitentiary
 * Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility
 * Holy Cross Abbey (Cañon City, Colorado)
 * Museum of Colorado Prisons
 * Peabody Mansion, home of the Cañon City Chamber of Commerce
 * Royal Gorge Bridge and Park
 * Royal Gorge Route Railroad

Defunct sites

 * Buckskin Joe, closed in 2010

Notable people

 * Robert Wesley Amick, artist
 * Don Bendell, writer
 * Jack Christiansen, NFL hall-of-famer (Detroit Lions)
 * Donald S. Fredrickson, medical researcher, former director of the National Institutes of Health and first president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; born in Cañon City
 * Skip Konte, musician, "Wizard of all Northern Realms"
 * Vice Admiral Emory S. Land (U.S. Navy), born in Cañon City
 * Bird Millman, stage name of Jeannadean Engleman, Circus Aerialist, born in Cañon City
 * James Hamilton Peabody, former Colorado governor

In popular culture
The movie Canon City (1948) depicts the real-life 1947 escape of 12 prisoners from nearby Colorado State Penitentiary.

A diner in Cañon City is the setting of the song "Navajo Rug", which was named by the Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time.

A fictional version of the city is depicted in Philip K. Dick's alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle (1963) and its eponymous 2015 television series adaptation. Cañon City is in an ostensibly-demilitarized "neutral zone" between the puppet regimes of the Japanese Pacific States, in the west, and Greater Nazi Reich, in the east, in the former United States.

Sister cities
Cañon City's sister cities are:
 * 🇲🇽 Chalchicomula de Sesma, Mexico
 * 🇯🇵 Kahoku, Japan
 * 🇷🇺 Valday, Russia

title: Cañon City, Colorado


text:
Florence, Colorado

The City of Florence is a statutory city located in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,822 at the 2020 United States Census. Florence is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.

History
Florence was built as a transportation center, with three railroads including a small railroad depot for the trains that hauled coal from the neighboring towns of Rockvale and Coal Creek. After a small oil was discovered north of Canon City at Oil Spring, commercial quantity oil was discovered in Florence in 1862, Florence became the first significant oil center west of the Mississippi. In the early 1880s the town grew rapidly. The city was named after Florence, the daughter of local settler James McCandless. The town was incorporated in 1887.

The Downtown Florence Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

Geography
Florence is in eastern Fremont County, on the south side of the Arkansas River. It is bordered to the west by the town of Williamsburg, and the town of Coal Creek is 3 mi to the southwest. Colorado State Highway 115 runs northwest 9 mi to Cañon City and northeast 6 mi to Penrose, intersecting U.S. Route 50 in each direction. Colorado State Highway 67 leads north 3.5 mi to US 50 and south 11 mi to Wetmore. Pueblo is 33 mi to the east via CO 115 and US 50.

At the 2020 United States Census, the town had a total area of 11.091 km2 including 0.015 km2 of water.

Florence sits in the semi-arid high desert lands of southern Colorado.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,653 people, 1,488 households, and 973 families residing in the city. The population density was 897.7 PD/sqmi. There were 1,622 housing units at an average density of 398.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 92.77% White, 0.30% African American, 1.23% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 2.63% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.66% of the population.

There were 1,488 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,628, and the median income for a family was $39,276. Males had a median income of $33,750 versus $22,042 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,969. About 12.5% of families and 17.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.0% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government
Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, including USP Florence ADMAX, the only federal supermax prison in the United States, is located near Florence in unincorporated Fremont County.

Education
Fremont RE-2 School District operates public schools, including Penrose Elementary School, Florence Elementary School and Florence Junior/Senior High School.

Notable person

 * Thyra Thomson, Wyoming Secretary of State

title: Florence, Colorado


text:
Lincoln Park, Colorado

Lincoln Park is a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population of the Lincoln Park CDP was 3,934 at the United States Census 2020. The Cañon City post office (Zip Code 81212) serves the area.

Geography
Lincoln Park is located in eastern Fremont County. It is bordered to the north and west by Cañon City, the county seat, and to the southeast by Brookside.

The former incorporated town of Prospect Heights now lies within the Lincoln Park CDP.

The Lincoln Park CDP has an area of 9.804 km2, including 0.0011 km2 of water.

Demographics
The United States Census Bureau initially defined the Lincoln Park CDP for the 1950 United States Census.

Environmental issues
In 1958, Cotter Corporation, a company owned by Commonwealth Edison of Chicago, began to process uranium ore in Cañon City. In the process of mining uranium ore, the company contaminated the surrounding land, and compromised the water supply of nearby Lincoln Park, 10 mi from ADX Florence. In a class-action lawsuit filed by 340 people, the company was accused of lowering nearby land values due to radioactive contamination both at the site of the mill and along the Santa Fe Railway. In 1983, the state of Colorado sued over these damages to the environment; settling for $15 million, Cotter Corporation promised to clean up the mill site. The company resumed work in 1999, but laid off the majority of employees in 2005 after it was determined that shipping ore from Colorado's Western Slope was cost-prohibitive. The water contamination in Lincoln Park remains, and the area has been declared a Superfund site.

title: Lincoln Park, Colorado


text:
Penrose, Colorado

Penrose is a census-designated place (CDP) and post office located in and governed by Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Penrose post office has the ZIP Code 81240. At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Penrose CDP was 3,685.

History
Settlers followed the Pike's Peak gold rush (July 1858 and lasted until the creation of the Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861). Farmers were incentivized by the Homestead Act to come to the area. A stage coach stop was established along Beaver Creek, which was known as the Beaver Creek settlement initially, with a post office there by 1868. Then, the settlement became known as Glendale. It had a stagecoach stop and hotel named Glendale Inn Stage Coach Stop as well as other names. A school was established there in 1868 and operated until 1912, when a school was established in Penrose. It is east or the eastern part of present-day Penrose.

The community was named after Spencer Penrose.

Penrose gained national media attention after a local funeral home, the Return to Nature Funeral Home, was raided by the Fremont County Sheriff's Office in October 2023 due to complaints of a foul smell emanating from the area. The raid revealed 189 improperly-stored dead bodies. The FBI is currently helping with the investigation.

Geography
The Penrose CDP has an area of 46.221 km2, all land.

Demographics
The United States Census Bureau initially defined the Penrose CDP for the 1990 United States Census.

As of the census of 2010, there were 3,582 people, 1,454 households, and 1,044 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 107.2 PD/sqmi. There were 1,575 housing units at an average density of 47.2 /mi2. The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.7% White, 0.2% African American, 1.3% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.7% of the population.

There were 1,454 households, out of which 23.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 22.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 23.2% under the age of 19, 3.9% from 20 to 24, 20.1% from 25 to 44, 35.9% from 45 to 64, and 17% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years, jumping up from 39 years in the 2000 census. For every 100 females, there were 102.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.8 males.

According to the American Community Survey (2008–2012), the median income for a household in the CDP was $47,951, up from $35,638 in the 2000 Census, and the median income for a family was $54,693. Males had a median income of $49,125 versus $35,093 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,774. About 14.5% of families and 16.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.7% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation
Penrose is located just north of the intersection of US 50 and SH 115; 115 runs north 34 mi to become Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs. Penrose lies between Pueblo, 30 mi to the southeast, and Cañon City, 12 mi to the west, on US 50. Rail service existed briefly before World War I. The Fremont County Airport (1V6), usually called the Cañon City airport, actually has a Penrose address. Penrose is part of Colorado's Bustang network. It is on the Alamosa-Pueblo Outrider line.

Economics
Many residents commute to work in Colorado Springs, or at the prisons of Florence or Cañon City, or at Holcim in Portland, southeast of town. Penrose has a single traffic light, a volunteer-run fire station, a trucking company, a gas station, a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, an elementary school (graduates attend high school in Florence), a doctor's office, a post office, a library, a small grocery store, the Estes Industries model rocket factory, three small restaurants, three medical marijuana dispensaries, and several other businesses.

Education
Fremont RE-2 School District operates Penrose Elementary School. It also operates a 7–12 school in Florence: Florence Junior/Senior High School.

title: Penrose, Colorado


text:
Rockvale, Colorado

Rockvale is a statutory town in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The population was 511 at the 2020 census.

Geography
Rockvale is located in southeastern Fremont County at 38.36889°N, -105.16472°W (38.368845, -105.164813). It is bordered to the north by the town of Williamsburg, and the town of Coal Creek is to the east.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Rockvale has a total area of 5.0 km2, all of it land. up from 426 at the 2000 census.

title: Rockvale, Colorado


text:
Williamsburg, Colorado

Williamsburg is a statutory town located in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 731 at the 2020 census. The Florence post office (ZIP code 81226) serves Williamsburg.

Geography
Williamsburg is located in southeastern Fremont County at 38.38361°N, -105.16028°W (38.383623, -105.160337). It is bordered to the east by the city of Florence and to the south by the town of Rockvale. Cañon City, the county seat, is 8 mi to the northwest.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Williamsburg has a total area of 9.2 km2, all of it land.

title: Williamsburg, Colorado


text:
Battlement Mesa, Colorado

Battlement Mesa is a census-designated place (CDP) and post office in and governed by Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Battlement Mesa post office has the ZIP Codes 81635 and 81636 (for post office boxes). At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Battlement Mesa CDP was 5,438. The Battlement Mesa Metropolitan District provides services.

Description
The community, which bills itself as a "covenant-controlled community", is primarily a group of contiguous subdivisions developed in the later decades of the 20th century, catering to families and retirees. It is located on the flank of a hill on the south side of the Colorado River, across from the older town of Parachute. The two communities together are known as "Parachute-Battlement Mesa". The town takes its name from Battlement Mesa, an 11000 ft basalt-topped mesa that sits to the south of the town.

History
The community was first developed by an oil company as a residence for its workers in the expectation that the rising price of oil would make shale oil extraction economically viable. When adjusted oil prices fell, the housing estate was left as a stranded asset, and the oil company marketed it to retirees in conjunction with a real estate firm.

Battlement Mesa Schoolhouse
The Battlement Mesa Schoolhouse, located at 7201 300 Road, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The rear portion of the building was built in 1897 with stone from a local quarry. The front portion was added in 1907, also using stone from the same quarry. By the late 1940s, the building was no longer used as a schoolhouse but was used for community gatherings and events. However, the local population declined, and the schoolhouse fell into disuse and was looted and vandalized. In 2003, the State Historical Fund awarded a grant to The Grand Valley Historical Society to restore the school building.

Geography
Battlement Mesa is located in Garfield County on the south side of the Colorado River. It is bordered to the northwest, across the river, by the town of Parachute. Interstate 70 passes through Parachute, providing access to Battlement Mesa from Exit 75. I-70 leads east 42 mi to Glenwood Springs, the Garfield County seat, and southwest 45 mi to Grand Junction. Denver is 200 mi east via I-70.

The Battlement Mesa CDP has an area of 30.261 km2, including 0.583 km2 of water.

Climate
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Battlement Mesa has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

Demographics
The United States Census Bureau initially defined the Battlement Mesa CDP for the 1990 United States Census.

title: Battlement Mesa, Colorado


text:
Carbondale, Colorado

The Town of Carbondale is a home rule municipality located in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 6,434 at the 2020 United States Census. Carbondale is a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.

The town is located in the Roaring Fork Valley, downstream from Aspen and upstream from the mouth of the Roaring Fork River at Glenwood Springs. The town proper sits on the south bank of the river, near its confluence with the Crystal River. Carbondale's horizon is dominated by the 12,953 ft (3,952 m) tall Mount Sopris several miles to the south of town. Carbondale is the northern terminus of the West Elk Loop Scenic and Historic Byway.

History and culture
The Roaring Fork and Crystal Valleys historically were a seasonal home and hunting ground of the Parianuche and Yampa bands of the Ute people. In the years after 1879, white prospectors and settlers defied U.S. treaties with the Utes and entered the area in increasingly significant numbers.

Carbondale takes its name from Carbondale, Pennsylvania, hometown of some of Carbondale's early settlers. Carbondale's economy was initially agriculturally based. Farmers and ranchers capitalized on open lands around Carbondale to supply food for miners in nearby Aspen, then a booming center of silver mining activity.

Early in the 20th century, before the rise of industrial agriculture in Idaho, Carbondale's primary agricultural product was potatoes. The legacy lives on in Potato Day, an annual fall parade and cookout in Sopris Park.

Despite the non-geologic origins of the town's name, the Carbondale area does in fact possess significant coal resources. Until the late 1980s Carbondale's economy was primarily based on coal operations up the Crystal River Valley. The coal mined from the area was favored for its high burning temperature, low sulfur content, and density. However, the coal deposits also contained significant amounts of methane gas. In 1981, a methane gas explosion killed 15 miners and by 1991 the mines closed down permanently.

The rise of Aspen as a skiing mecca and subsequent hyperinflation of its real estate prices has forced a majority of its workers to other towns like Carbondale. Thus, especially since the 1980s, Carbondale has partly served as a bedroom community to Aspen, and, to a lesser extent, Glenwood Springs. More recently Carbondale has seen a boom of second-home construction, arts and recreational amenities, and tourism as the area's wealth and renown has grown.

Notable community organizations and events
Carbondale's largest annual event is the summer arts and music festival, Mountain Fair held in Sopris Park. The event has annual attendance between 18,000 and 20,000 people over the three days of which it is held, being nearly triple the population of Carbondale. It is run by and benefits Carbondale Arts, a nonprofit that runs a range of other arts programs year-round.

The popular Carbondale Wild West Rodeo is held every Thursday night during the summer and features bronc riding, calf scramble, hide racing, and ribbon roping among other competitions.

KDNK is a community access FM radio station licensed to Carbondale.

The Third Street Center is a local nonprofit hub in the town's former elementary school that hosts many community organizations.

The Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale Arts' R2 Gallery, and The Powers Art Center offer rotating public art exhibitions.

The Carbondale Creative District is certified by a grant, marketing, and technical assistance program run by Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Geography
At the 2020 United States Census, the town had a total area of 5.237 km2, all of it land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,196 people, 1,744 households, and 1,168 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,583.8 PD/sqmi. There were 1,821 housing units at an average density of 905.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 84.28% White, 0.65% African American, 0.54% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 11.80% from other races, and 2.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.12% of the population.

There were 1,744 households, out of which 41.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 20.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.32.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.1% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 37.4% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $52,429, and the median income for a family was $55,726. Males had a median income of $33,025 versus $24,786 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,383. About 9.8% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.0% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Carbondale is within the Roaring Fork School District.

Elementary and middle schools

 * Crystal River Elementary School
 * Carbondale Middle School
 * Carbondale Community School
 * Ross Montessori School
 * Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork

High schools

 * Roaring Fork High School (RFHS)
 * Bridges High School (BHS)
 * Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS)

Higher Education
Colorado Mountain College operates a campus in Carbondale. CMC’s Spring Valley at Glenwood Springs residential campus is also located near Carbondale, just north of the town along Highway 82.

Transportation
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority provides bus transit service in Carbondale.

title: Carbondale, Colorado


text:
Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Glenwood Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 9,963 at the 2020 United States Census. Glenwood Springs is located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork River and the Colorado River, connecting the Roaring Fork Valley and a series of smaller towns on the Colorado River.

Glenwood Springs is known for its hot springs.

History
For thousands of years, the area that is now Glenwood Springs has been inhabited by Indigenous people. The oral history of the Kapuuta and Mouache bands recall that Glenwood Springs is located within the traditional Nuuchiu tuvupu (The People's Land) of the Subuagan and Parianuche bands. Fred Conetah's History of the Northern Utes states that the Yampa or White River bands used the area, which is now in the Ute ancestral jurisdiction. The Utes were nomadic hunter-gatherers who seasonally used the natural hot springs in the area. The U.S. government surveyed the land in the mid-19th century, although they had no claim on the land. An 1868 treaty negotiated by the Tabeguache Ute Chief Ouray preserved the hunting grounds in the area of present-day Glenwood Springs.

For a short time in the 19th century, Glenwood Springs was known as "Defiance", a name sometimes still used by local teams or businesses. Defiance was established in 1883 as a camp of tents, saloons, and brothels with an increasing amount of cabins and lodging establishments. It was populated with gamblers, gunslingers, and prostitutes. Isaac Cooper was the founder of the town. His wife Sarah was having a hard time adjusting to the frontier life and, in an attempt to make her environment somewhat more comfortable, persuaded the founders to change the name to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, after her hometown of Glenwood, Iowa.

Glenwood Springs, then a small encampment, was not the original county seat of Garfield County. Rather, a larger mining town that had been seeded with silver in order to attract miners on top of the Flat Tops mountains named Carbonate was the original county seat. Carbonate briefly had a post office, but the mail courier who won the contract to deliver mail to Carbonate found only one miner living there on his first delivery, which took 65 km horizontally and 1.5 km vertically. In the end, the courier paid the miner $100 in the 1880s dollars to move out so that the post office could be closed and he would not have to make the journey again. Carbonate remained the county seat for only four months before Glenwood Springs was selected by voters as the new location.

The location of Glenwood Springs, and its railroad stop, established a center of commerce in the area. The city has seen well-known visitors, including President Teddy Roosevelt, who spent a summer vacation living in the historic Hotel Colorado. Doc Holliday, who was known for the O.K. Corral gunfight, spent the final months of his life in Glenwood Springs and is buried in the town's original Pioneer Cemetery above Bennett Avenue. Kid Curry is buried in the same location. The serial killer Ted Bundy was imprisoned in the Garfield County Jail until he escaped on the night of December 30, 1977, an escape which went undetected for 17 hours. Glenwood Springs was one of the first places in the United States to have electric lights. The original lighting was installed in 1897 inside of the Fairy Caves in Iron Mountain. Later, a dam was built in Glenwood Canyon, providing water for the Shoshone power plant. The plant began producing power on May 16, 1909, and retains the largest and oldest water rights to the Colorado River, the "Shoshone Call", which is valuable for the protection of Colorado River water rather than the minimal electricity produced.

Geography
Glenwood Springs is located in the narrow mountain valleys that host the confluence of the Colorado River and the Roaring Fork River. The surrounding terrain is steeply contoured on all sides, containing several caves. The geology of the area includes geothermal activity, such as the local hot springs, but it is also evidenced through other features such as the Dotsero maar. Occasional proposals to leverage the geothermal energy for other purposes arise. Glenwood Springs has experienced several mudslides throughout its history, a threat mitigated somewhat by public works.

Glenwood Springs is considered a walkable town by PBS and Walking Magazine, included in the Walking Town Hall of Fame. Though the town's geography makes it a natural environment for pedestrians and cyclists, there are also trails running throughout and around the city that resulted from planning efforts that began in the 1980s in response to congestion and traffic.

Due to civic planning during the early years of the city, Glenwood Springs owns some senior water rights to tributaries of the Colorado River. Glenwood Springs water supply is sufficient for its population, unlike some areas of the American West, conservation plans have been enacted anyway for largely environmental reasons. The town's drinking water is supplied primarily through senior rights to major watersheds in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, and the tap water is generally of safe quality.

Mineral deposits exist further up the Crystal River and in the Roaring Fork area, and petroleum resources are ample in western Garfield County, which brings tax revenue to Glenwood Springs. However, the town itself lies outside of the Colorado Mineral Belt, and there are no mineral or oil and gas sources near Glenwood Springs proper or its watersheds. While the paucity of minerals and oil was disastrous for early miners hoping to strike it rich, modern Glenwood Springs has none of the typical Colorado mountain town legacy of resource extraction, generally good air quality, water, and land. However, valley inversions and heavy traffic to Aspen can lead to air quality problems during exceptionally cold spells of winter.

At the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total area of 15.136 km2, including 0.022 km2 of water.

Climate
Glenwood Springs has a generally continental steppe climate, much more consistently stable than that of the Front Range and most of Colorado, though still decidedly continental and prone to periods of extreme weather. Microclimates dominate Glenwood Springs, with areas close to the rivers often much more damp and cool than hillsides.

Demographics
Glenwood Springs is the principal city of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,736 people, 3,216 households, and 1,926 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,611 PD/sqmi. There were 3,353 housing units at an average density of 698.5 /mi2. The racial makeup of the city was 90.42% White, 0.23% African American, 0.71% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 5.82% from other races, and 1.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 13.3% of the population. 13.9% were of German, 13.3% English, 12.9% Irish, 7.6% American and 7% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 3,216 households, out of which 30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.1% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $43,934, and the median income for a family was $52,903. Males had a median income of $38,506 versus $29,272 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,449. About 3.5% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Despite being an expensive area in which to live, Glenwood Springs has the highest life expectancy in America for 40-year-olds making working wages.

Economy

Glenwood does not primarily serve as a bedroom community. In 2020, it received stimulus money. Due to severe geographic constraints, if further population growth is to be accommodated, it must come primarily from multifamily infill development.

Bloomberg Business named Glenwood Springs the seventh wealthiest small town in America in 2015, due principally to the influence of Aspen. Glenwood Springs and Aspen share a micropolitan statistical area, and businesses often serve the entire Valley. Many small businesses start in the area due to the ambient wealth and a strong preference for local business, but they typically relocate to larger metropolitan areas after successful growth leads to needs for more affordable labor and physical resources.

A ranch located in Glenwood Springs produces Red Delicious apples.

Arts and culture
Strawberry Days Festival, founded in 1898, is Colorado's oldest festival, and the oldest continuously held civic celebration west of the Mississippi River.

Hot springs

There are numerous hot springs in the area, including several facilities in town that range from 93 to 104 °F with varying mineral content. Native Americans believe the springs had medicinal and magical qualities, and prior to 1800, the Utes believed the springs were sacred.

Yampah Hot Springs vapor caves are underground geothermal steam baths, historically used by the Ute people as a source of rejuvenation and healing. The vapor caves consist of three connecting rock chambers, and temperatures average 110 to 112 °F.

Iron Mountain Hot Springs features mineral water soaking pools.

Water sports
Glenwood Springs is noted for its fishing. There is a dedicated Glenwood Whitewater Park.

Bike trails
Two bike trails end at Glenwood. The Glenwood Canyon Recreational Trail winds 16 mi through Glenwood Canyon. The Rio Grande Trail runs roughly 41 mi along the former local Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, to Aspen.

Glenwood Caverns
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is an amusement park located near Glenwood Springs.

Glenwood Vaudeville Revue
The Glenwood Vaudeville Revue, founded in 2009, performs a dinner theater show in a renovated downtown movie theater.

K-12 education
Public education is administered by Roaring Fork Schools. Schools located in Glenwood Springs include:
 * Glenwood Springs Elementary School
 * Sopris Elementary School
 * Riverview School
 * Glenwood Springs Middle School
 * Glenwood Springs High School

St. Stephen Catholic School offers an elementary and middle school curriculum. Also located in Glenwood Springs is Yampah Mountain School, which offers alternative education.

Higher education
Colorado Mountain College maintains two campuses in Glenwood Springs: a commuter campus in downtown Glenwood Springs, and the Spring Valley residential campus just south of the city.

The University of Denver maintains its Western Colorado Master of Social Work program in Glenwood Springs. This program specifically focuses on training students to be social workers in rural communities.

Media
Glenwood Springs' principal news source is the Post Independent, a local daily newspaper created by the merger of the Glenwood Post, with a history stretching back in various forms to 1889, and a newer competitor, the Glenwood Independent. It has received numerous awards over the years, including the 2016 American Society of News Editors' Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership. The newspaper and many of its reporters have been recognized by the Colorado Associated Press for a variety of distinctions.

KMTS provides local country radio along the Colorado River, and KSNO-FM serves the Roaring Fork Valley.

The town is also served by local television KREG-TV, alongside K42EV-D, a repeater of Grand Junction ABC affiliate KJCT-LP and K32NO-D, a repeater of Rocky Mountain PBS.

Amtrak and other rail
Amtrak's California Zephyr, operating daily in both directions between Chicago and Emeryville, California, serves Glenwood Springs, the second busiest station in Colorado, behind only Denver's Union Station. The first commercially successful dome cars were built for the Zephyr family, inspired by Glenwood Canyon.

Starting in August 2021, the Canada-based luxury rail excursion company Rocky Mountaineer has provided direct passenger rail service between Moab, Utah and Denver, Colorado (with an overnight stop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado) on its Rockies to the Red Rocks route.

The local transportation authority is Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA, pronounced "rafta"). RFTA retains ownership of the land previously used for rail traffic to Aspen, a source of occasional consternation in balancing development needs. Proposals to introduce light rail to the valley remain unrealized but were not found economically feasible. VelociRFTA service described below currently serves that role, but RFTA remains committed to realizing the light-rail vision.

Bus
RFTA provides bus transit in Glenwood Springs and throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. VelociRFTA(pronounced "Veloci-rafta", a pun on velociraptor) BRT service, the first rural BRT in the United States, began in September 2013, offering connections between south Glenwood Springs and Aspen roughly every 15 minutes with a 60-minute total travel time. Timetables vary by season, with different frequencies offered during spring, summer, autumn, and winter, to accommodate shifting seasonal demands.

The city also operates an intracity bus service, Ride Glenwood. Ride Glenwood offers a main route from the west side of town along the 6&24 corridor, through downtown, to the south part of Glenwood along Hwy 82.

Greyhound Lines stops in Glenwood Springs on trips between New York and Las Vegas twice per day.

Bus service is provided twice daily by Bustang and runs from Glenwood Springs to both Grand Junction and Denver.

Automobile
Glenwood Springs lies along I-70 at exit 116 (main exit), about 150 mi west of Denver and 85 mi east of Grand Junction. I-70 is one of the main east–west routes through the Rocky Mountains. Colorado State Highway 82 leads southeast from Glenwood Springs up the Roaring Fork Valley 12 mi to Carbondale and 41 mi to Aspen.

Airport
Glenwood Springs Airport is a municipal airport built in the early 1940s.

Notable people

 * Louis Alterie (1886–1935), Chicago gangster involved in a gang shootout in Glenwood Springs in 1932
 * Alice McKennis Duran (born 1989), skier
 * Jeanne Golay (born 1962), bike racer, 2-time Olympian and gold medalist at the 1992 World Team Time Trial championships in Benidorm, Spain
 * Sacha Gros (born 1974), alpine skier
 * Justin Hocking (born 1973), writer
 * Doc Holliday (1851–1887), Wild West gunfighter, gambler, and dentist
 * Jeremy Hubbard (born 1972), news anchor
 * James Irwin (1930–1991), U.S. Air Force colonel and NASA astronaut; the eighth man to walk on the Moon
 * Elizabeth Jaranyi (1918–1998), Holocaust survivor
 * Jack P. Juhan (1904–2002), U.S. Marine Corps major general, served in World War II and Korean War
 * Bobby Julich (born 1971), bike racer and silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics
 * Benjamin Kunkel (born 1972), novelist and political economist
 * Harvey Logan (1867–1904), Wild West outlaw and gunman
 * Berenice Mallory (1901–1997), home economist, educator, federal official
 * Scott McInnis (born 1953), former U.S. congressman from Colorado
 * Blake Paul Neubert (born 1981), painter
 * Clifford C. Parks (1860–1937), politician
 * Sarah Schleper (born 1979), alpine skier
 * Edward T. Taylor (1858–1941), politician
 * Ledyard Tucker (1910–2004), mathematician
 * John D. Vanderhoof (1922–2013), 37th governor of Colorado
 * Francis Whitaker (1906–1999), blacksmith

title: Glenwood Springs, Colorado


text:
New Castle, Colorado

The Town of New Castle is a home rule municipality in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The population was 4,923 at the 2020 census.

History
When New Castle was incorporated in 1888, its economy was largely based on mining coal that was needed by the silver-mining industry to fire silver smelters. On February 18, 1896, a methane explosion in the Vulcan Mine killed 49 men and started a coal fire that was still burning as of 2020. The Vulcan reopened and suffered additional explosions on December 12, 1913 (killing 37) and November 4, 1918 (killing 3).

There are at least 25 coal fires burning near the town. They are normally confined underground.

From 2000 - 2014 the population grew 129%, much higher than the average growth in Colorado over the same period (20.8%).

Geography
New Castle is located on the north side of the Colorado River, just east of where the river cuts through the Grand Hogback. Interstate 70 passes by the town following the river, with access from Exit 105. I-70 leads east 12 mi to Glenwood Springs, the county seat, east 169 mi to Denver, and west 74 mi to Grand Junction. U.S. Route 6 is Main Street in New Castle and forms a parallel route to I-70 for local traffic. US-6 joins I-70 5 mi to the east at Chacra and 17 mi to the west at a point west of Rifle.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 7.0 km2, of which 6.9 km2 is land and 0.1 km2, or 1.21%, is water.

Education
New Castle is within Garfield Re-2 School District. The town is home to two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school:
 * Elk Creek Elementary School
 * Kathryn Senor Elementary School
 * Riverside Middle School
 * Coal Ridge High School

title: New Castle, Colorado


text:
Parachute, Colorado

The Town of Parachute is a home rule municipality in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,390 at the 2020 census.

The town is the birthplace of Willard Libby, recipient of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Etymology
The town's name comes from Parachute Creek which runs through the township, before it merges with the Colorado River. The Ute people originally called the creek Pahchouc (meaning twins), with early settlers mispronouncing the word as parachute. In 1908 the town was renamed Grand Valley, but in the 1980s was changed back to Parachute.

Geography
Parachute is on the northwest side of the Colorado River where it is joined by Parachute Creek. Interstate 70 passes through the town, with access from Exit 75. I-70 leads east 42 mi to Glenwood Springs, the county seat, and southwest 44 mi to Grand Junction. Parachute is bordered to the southeast across the Colorado River by the unincorporated community of Battlement Mesa.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.32 km2, of which 4.16 km2 is land and 0.16 km2, or 3.70%, is water.

Climate
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Parachute has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

Transportation
Parachute is part of Bustang's West Line that connects Grand Junction to Denver.

title: Parachute, Colorado