Early history Before Europeans came to the
Estes Valley, the
Arapaho Native Americans lived there in the summertime and called the valley "the Circle." When three elderly Arapahoes visited Estes Park in 1914, they pointed out sites they remembered from their younger days. A photograph at the Estes Park Museum identified the touring party as Shep Husted, guide; Gun Griswold, a 73-year-old judge; Sherman Sage, a 63-year-old chief of police; Tom Crispin, 38-year-old reservation resident and interpreter; Oliver W. Toll, recorder; and David Robert Hawkins, a Princeton student. In the 1850s, the Arapaho had spent summers camped around Mary's Lake, where their rock fireplaces, tipi sites, and dance rings were still visible. They also recalled building eagle traps atop
Longs Peak to get the war feathers coveted by all tribes. They remembered their routes to and from the valley in detail, naming trails and landmarks. They pointed out the site of their buffalo trap, and described the use of dogs to pack meat out of the valley. Their recollections included a battle with
Apaches in the 1850s, and fights with
Utes who came to the area to hunt bighorn sheep, so all three of those tribes used the valley's resources. Whites probably came into the Estes Park valley before the 1850s as trappers, but did not stay long. The town is named after Missouri native
Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859 in what was then the
Territory of Nebraska. Estes moved his family there in 1863. One of Estes' early visitors was
William Byers, a newspaper editor who wrote of his attempted ascent of Longs Peak in 1864, publicizing the area as a pristine wilderness. Griff Evans and his family came to Estes Park in 1867 to act as caretakers for the former Estes ranch. Recognizing the potential for tourism, he began building cabins to accommodate travelers. It became a
dude ranch in Estes Park, with guides for hunting, fishing, and mountaineering; when
Isabella Bird arrived in 1873, Evans already had nine men and women as guests. (1841–1926), the famous
Irish nobleman, politician and journalist, in later life. His
ancestral seat was
Adare Manor in
County Limerick.
The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a young
Anglo-Irish peer, arrived in late December 1872 under the guidance of
Texas Jack Omohundro, subsequently made numerous visits, and decided to take over the valley for his own private hunting preserve. Lord Dunraven's '
land grab' didn't work, but he controlled 6,000 acres before he changed tactics and opened the area's first resort, the Estes Park Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 1911. Bird, the daughter of an
Anglican minister, came overland to Colorado, where she borrowed a horse and set out to explore the Rocky Mountains with a guide, the notorious
James Nugent, aka 'Rocky Mountain Jim'. She wrote ''
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains'', a memoir of their travels, including the breathtaking ascent of Longs Peak, where she was literally hauled up the steep pitches "like a bale of goods." On June 19, 1874, Rocky Mountain Jim and neighbor Griff Evans (see above) had an argument. Having had bitter history with each other, Nugent and Evans hated each other and were deep personal rivals when it came to tour guiding tourists. The argument escalated until Evans blasted Jim in the head with his rifle shotgun. Evans then traveled to Fort Collins to file an assault charge against Nugent, but he was arrested and tried for first degree murder when Jim Nugent died on September 9, 1874, of the bullet wound. Evans was put on trial, but the case was soon dismissed due to the lack of witnesses to the shooting. On August 9, 1875, the Loveland court-house acquitted Evans of any charges in the case.
William Henry Jackson photographed Estes Park in 1873. was commissioned by
The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl to make a painting of the Estes Park and
Longs Peak area in 1876 for $15,000. The painting, originally displayed in
Dunraven Castle in
Glamorgan, is now in the collection of the
Denver Art Museum. Alex and Clara (Heeney) MacGregor arrived soon after and homesteaded at the foot of
Lumpy Ridge. The MacGregor Ranch has been preserved as a historic site. In 1874, MacGregor incorporated a company to build a new toll road from
Lyons, Colorado, to Estes Park. The road became what is today
U.S. Highway 36. Before that time, however, the "road" was only a trail fit for pack horses. The improved road brought more visitors into Estes Park; some of them became full-time residents and built new hotels to accommodate the growing number of travelers. The Estes Park, Colorado Territory, post office opened on June 2, 1876. photographed by
Enos Mills from
Mount Olympus in 1909. In 1884,
Enos Mills (1870–1922) left Kansas and came to Estes Park, where his relative
Elkanah Lamb lived. That move proved significant for Estes Park because Mills became a naturalist and conservationist who devoted his life after 1909 to preserving nearly a thousand square miles of Colorado as
Rocky Mountain National Park. His advocacy is exemplified in his book
Wild Life on the Rockies which includes his 1909 photo and description of the valley from
Mount Olympus. He succeeded and the park was dedicated in 1915. Enos Mills' younger brother Joe Mills (1880–1935) came to Estes Park in 1889. He wrote a series of articles about his youthful experiences for
Boys Life which were later published as a book. After some years as a college athletics coach, he and his wife returned to Estes Park and built a hotel called The Crags on the north side of
Prospect Mountain, overlooking the village. They ran that business in the summer while he continued his coaching career in winters at University of Colorado in Boulder. Many early visitors came to Estes Park in search of better health. The Rocky Mountain West especially attracted those with pulmonary diseases, and in Estes Park some resorts catered to them, providing staff physicians for their care.
Recent history In 1903, a new road was opened from Loveland through the
Big Thompson River canyon to Estes Park, increasing access to the valley. In 1907, three Loveland men established the first auto stage line from Loveland to Estes Park with three five-passenger touring
Stanley Steamers. The following year, Mr. Stanley built nine-passenger steam busses and opened a bus line between Lyons and Estes Park. By 1912, Estes Park had its own seasonal newspaper, the
Estes Park Trail, which provided advertising for the local hotels and other businesses. It was a year-round weekly by 1921. In 1949,
Olympus Dam was finished, creating
Lake Estes, giving the town its main source of drinking water. Land was still being homesteaded in the area in 1914, when Katherine Garetson (1877–1963) filed on land near the base of Longs Peak. She built a cabin and started a business known as the Big Owl Tea Place. She proved up on her
homestead claim in 1915, and left a memoir of her years there. In 1916 the Estes Valley Library was founded by the Estes Park Women's Club. It originally formed part of the old schoolhouse and contained only 262 printed works. The Town of Estes Park was incorporated on April 17, 1917. In 1992, members of the modern
American militia movement attended the three-day
Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in Estes Park, which focused on "guns, resisting the federal government, and
white supremacy".
Major flooding events Flood of 1982 The town suffered severe damage in July 1982 from flooding caused by the failure of
Lawn Lake Dam, "after years of disrepair and neglect." The flood's
alluvial fan can still be seen on
Fall River Road. The downtown area was extensively renovated after the flood, and a river walk was added between the main street, Elkhorn Avenue, and the Big Thompson River.
Flood of 2013 Both
U.S. Highway 36 and
U.S. Highway 34, the major routes into town, were severely damaged. Hundreds of Estes Park residents were also isolated by the destruction of sections of Fish Creek Road and all nine crossings across Fish Creek. Damaged sewer lines dumped raw sewage down the creek and into the Big Thompson River. ==Geography==