Founded as a mining camp during theColorado Silver Boom and later named Aspen for the abundance ofaspen trees in the area, the cityboomed during the 1880s, its first decade. The boom ended when thePanic of 1893 led to a collapse of the silver market. For the next half-century, known as "the quiet years", the population steadily declined, reaching a nadir of fewer than 1000 by1930. Aspen's fortunes recovered in the mid-20th century when neighboringAspen Mountain was developed intoa ski resort, and industrialistWalter Paepcke bought many properties in the city in the 1950s and redeveloped them. Today it is home to three institutions, two of which Paepcke helped found, having international importance: theAspen Music Festival and School, theAspen Institute, and theAspen Center for Physics.[7]
In the late 20th century, the town became a popular retreat for celebrities.Gonzo journalistHunter S. Thompson worked out of a downtown hotel and ran unsuccessfully for county sheriff. SingerJohn Denver wrote two songs about Aspen after settling there. Both figures popularized Aspen among the counter-cultural youth of the 1970s as an ideal place to live, and the city continued to grow even as it gained notoriety for some of the era's hedonistic excesses (particularly itsdrug culture).[8]
Aspen remains popular as a year-round destination for locals, second-home buyers and tourists. Outdoor recreation in the surroundingWhite River National Forest serves as a summertime counterpart to the city's four ski areas. Prime residential real estate in Aspen is the most expensive of any ski resort in the world on a per-square-foot basis, according to a study of 44 global ski resorts.[9] Aspen is the world's second-highest-rated ski resort in terms of "the quality and reliability of their conditions and their capacity to withstand climate change."[10]
The city's roots are traced to the winter of 1879, when a group of miners ignored pleas byFrederick Pitkin, Governor of Colorado, to return across the Continental Divide to avoid aUte uprising. The Utes were fighting to maintain possession of their land and communities. Originally named Ute City, the small community was renamed Aspen. The Aspen, Colorado, post office opened on June 7, 1880.[11]Pitkin County was created on February 23, 1881, with Aspen as its first and only seat.[2] The Town of Aspen was incorporated on April 1, 1881.[12] In its peak production years of 1891 and 1892, Aspen surpassedLeadville as the United States' most productive silver-mining district.[13] Production expanded due to the passage of theSherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which doubled the government's purchase of silver. In 1883, theApostolic Vicarate of Colorado'sBishop Machebeuf had the Reverend Edward Downey establish the firstCatholic mission in Aspen.[14]
By 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, a police department, two theaters, an opera house, and electric lights. Economic collapse came with thePanic of 1893, whenPresident Cleveland called a special session of Congress and repealed the act. Within weeks, many of the Aspen mines were closed and thousands of miners were put out of work. It was proposed that silver be recognized as legal tender and thePeople's Party (populists) adopted that as one of its main issues.Davis H. Waite, an Aspen newspaperman and agitator, was elected governor of Colorado on the Democratic ticket, but in time the movement failed.
During the silver boom of the 1880s, two railroads raced to reach Aspen: theColorado Midland, advancing westward from Leadville, and theDenver and Rio Grande, approaching from Glenwood Springs.[15]
Bymid-October 1886, the Colorado Midland had extended its track toAspen Junction (present-dayBasalt) —located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan rivers—approximately 20 miles from Aspen. In thesame week, the Denver and Rio Grande completed its line into Aspen, becoming the first railroad to provide direct rail service to the town.
The Colorado Midland continued construction toward Aspen, with track reachingMaroon Creek by December 1887. Progress was slowed by delays in the construction of a steel viaduct (Maroon Creek Bridge), caused by late delivery of steel, which postponed the arrival of Midland trains into the town.[15]
Despite these setbacks, the Colorado Midland ultimately completed the line, and inearly February 1888, the first Midland train arrived in Aspen.
Eventually, after wage cuts, mining revived somewhat, but production declined and by the 1930 census only 705 residents remained. Remaining, however, were stocks of old commercial buildings and residences, along with excellent snow.
Aspen's development as a ski resort began in the 1930s when investors conceived of a ski area, but the project was interrupted byWorld War II. Friedl Pfeifer, a member of the10th Mountain Division who had trained in the area, returned to the area and linked up with industrialistWalter Paepcke and his wifeElizabeth. TheAspen Skiing Company was founded in 1946 and the city quickly became a well-known resort, hosting theFIS World Championships in 1950. Paepcke also played an important role in bringing the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation to Aspen in 1949, an event held in a newly designed tent by the architectEero Saarinen. Aspen was then on the path to becoming an internationally knownski resort and cultural center, home of theAspen Music Festival and School. The area would continue to grow with the development of three additional ski areas,Buttermilk (1958),Aspen Highlands (1958), andSnowmass (1967).
In the 1970s, Aspen became known as a playground for the rich and famous. Notable celebrities frequented the town and ski slopes, also John Denver was one of the more famous permanent residents. In 1978, Aspen was thoroughly photographed for theAspen Movie Map project funded by theU.S. Department of Defense. The Movie Map is one of the earliest examples ofvirtual reality software.[16]
In 1999, the city council passed a resolution to petition the US Congress andPresident Clinton to restrict US immigration. Aspen residents cited concerns about the environmental impacts of increased immigration on their community, including urban and suburban sprawl, pollution from the older automobiles typically driven by immigrants, and litter accumulating in the mountains attributable to the increasing population. The impetus for the resolution was the increasing number of trailer parks that housed the migrant workers employed locally in the service sector and ski industry. The parks were perceived to be degrading to the town's image, property values, and environment. The move was led by Terry Paulson, an Aspen City Council member, and supported and guided by national groups such as the Carrying Capacity Network, and theCenter for Immigration Studies. The resolution was discussed on theAmerican Patrol Report website, contributing to a controversy over whether or not the resolution was racially motivated. Councilman Terry Paulson and some Aspen citizens insisted that it was motivated entirely by environmental concerns.[17]
Aspen is notable as the smallestradio market tracked byArbitron, ranked number 302.
Local media in Aspen include a public radio station, KJAX,[18] a public television station, the Grassroots TV network;[19] three commercial radio stations,KSNO,KTND, andKSPN; two daily newspapers,The Aspen Times andThe Aspen Daily News; three local lifestyle magazines,Aspen Sojourner,[20]Aspen Magazine[21] and the biannualAspen Peak; and a local, live, commercial lifestyle television channel, Aspen 82.[22]
The city's character has transformed dramatically in recent decades by skyrocketing property values and the proliferation of second homes, increasingly shutting low- and middle-income workers out of the city and creating a large pool of commuters from nearbybedroom communities such asSnowmass,Basalt,Carbondale, andGlenwood Springs. At the same time, in stark contrast to its historic character, the city has emerged into international fame as a glitzy playground of the wealthy and famous. Aspen has become a second and third home to many international jet-setters. Many people from the U.S. and abroad vacation in Aspen, especially during the winter.[23]
The downtown has been largely transformed into anupscale shopping district that includes high-end restaurants, salons, and boutiques.[24] Stores such asGucci,Prada andFendi dot South Mill Street and act as a "Rodeo Drive" of Aspen.[25]
The city sits along the southeast (upper) end of the Roaring Fork Valley, along theRoaring Fork River, a tributary of theColorado River about 40 miles (64 km) south ofGlenwood Springs, Colorado. It is surrounded by mountain and wilderness areas on three sides: Red Mountain to the north, Smuggler Mountain to the east, andAspen Mountain to the south.
As of thecensus[30] of 2003, there were 5,914 people, 2,903 households, and 1,082 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,675.4 inhabitants per square mile (646.9/km2). There were 4,354 housing units at an average density of 1,233.5 per square mile (476.2 per km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.94 percentWhite, 0.44 percentBlack orAfrican American, 0.24 percentNative American, 1.45 percentAsian, 0.08 percentPacific Islander, 1.64 percent fromother races, and 1.2 percent from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 6.14 percent of the population.
There were 2,903 households, of which 16.5 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.8 percent weremarried couples living together, 5.6 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 62.7 percent were non-families. Single individuals composed 43.8 percent of all households, and 4.8 percent had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.94 and the average family size was 2.67.
The ages of the population were 13.1 percent under the age of 18, 9.8 percent from 18 to 24, 42.1 percent from 25 to 44, 27.6 percent from 45 to 64, and 7.4 percent who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $53,750, and the median income for a family was $70,300. Males had a median income of $41,011 versus $32,023 for females. The per capita income for the city was $40,680. About 3.6 percent of families and 8.2 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.4 percent of those under age 18 and 2.6 percent of those age 65 or over.
Aspen's single-family home prices are among the highest of any town in the country. Real estate supply is restricted due to a moratorium on new housing construction, housing renovation and short-term rentals.[31][32] The median sales price of a single family home in 2021 in Aspen was $9.5 million.[32] A 2023 study by Savills, a global real estate broker, declared that prime Aspen real estate was the most expensive on a per-square-foot-basis of the 44 global ski resort markets it studied.[9]
Relatively less expensive housing can be found outside the city limits, in nearby Snowmass Village (median single family home price $5.2 million in 2021),[32] or in the city's condos, many of which date to the 1960s and 1970s.[33]
Affordability of housing is a severe challenge for workers in the Aspen area.[34][31] The Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority oversees an extensive program of properties intended for people who primarily live and work in theRoaring Fork Valley and whose income falls below certain limits, known as Employee Housing.[35] Homes purchased through Employee Housing programs typically contain deed restrictions to maintain a degree of affordability for local residents, but even deed-restricted properties in the area can cost close to $1 million.[36]
Aspen is ahome rule municipality[1] under Colorado law. It has acouncil-manager government. An elected council of four members and the mayor supervise the city's operations, managed on a day-to-day basis by the city manager, an appointed official who serves at their pleasure.
The city's main office is at City Hall, the former Armory Hall listed on theNational Register of Historic Places at the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hopkins Avenue. Because of its expansion in the late-20th century, it has outgrown that space. Several city departments are housed in satellite offices around the city.
As of 2012[update], based on data from the 2009–10 school year, according toU.S. News & World Report,Aspen High School, the only high school in theAspen School District, is the top ranked high school in Colorado and ranked 59th in the United States. The high school has grades 9 to 12, 540 students, and 41 teachers. Olympic cross-country skierNoah Hoffman is a 2007 graduate.
Minorities, mostly Hispanic, make up 13 percent of the school's enrollment. Four percent of the students are economically disadvantaged. The school has a high rate of participation in theInternational Baccalaureate program.[37]
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, or RFTA, provides free bus service within Aspen and Snowmass Village, and pay service to the surrounding communities of Basalt, El Jebel, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, and Rifle.Amtrak servesGlenwood Springs, offering in conjunction with RFTA an environmentally friendly way to travel to Aspen.
State Highway 82 is the only major road that provides access to Aspen. There are some mountain pass roads that lead to the city, but those require all-terrain vehicles and are typically impassable during the winter. Highway 82 east of Aspen is also impassable due to snow onIndependence Pass, leaving Highway 82 west of Aspen as the only means of motor vehicle access during the winter. Highway 82 east of Aspen is typically closed from approximately the end of October to Memorial Day, depending on snow conditions.
