Aspen, Colorado

This article is about the ski resort town. For other uses, see Aspen (disambiguation).

Aspen, Colorado
—  City  —
View south along Galena Street in downtown Aspen. The Aspen Mountain ski area is in the background.
Location in Pitkin County and the State of Colorado
Coordinates: 39°11′32″N 106°49′28″W
Country	United States
State	State of Colorado
County	Pitkin County - seat
Founded	1879
Incorporated	April 1, 1881
Government
• Type	Home Rule Municipality
• Mayor	Mick Ireland
Area
• Total	3.5 sq mi (9.1 km2)
• Land	3.5 sq mi (9.1 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation	7,890 ft (2,405 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	6,658
• Density	2,000/sq mi (700/km2)
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
• Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC-6)
ZIP codes	81611, 81612 (PO Box)
Area code(s)	970
FIPS code	08-03620
GNIS feature ID	0204686
Highways	SH 82
Website	www.aspenpitkin.com

The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau placed the city's population at 6,658 in 2010. Founded as a mining camp in the Colorado Silver Boom and named because of the abundance of aspen trees in the area, the city is now a ski resort and an upscale tourist center.

In the late 20th century, the city developed as a popular destination for celebrities, attracting people like Charlie Sheen, Hunter S. Thompson, and John Denver, the latter having written several songs about the town, including "Aspenglow" and "Starwood in Aspen". Aspen boasts the most expensive real estate prices in the United States.

History

Aspen Lumber Company, 1882

The city's roots are traced to the winter of 1879, when a group of miners ignored pleas by Frederick Pitkin, governor of Colorado, to return across the Continental Divide due to an uprising of the Ute Indians. Originally named Ute City, the small community was renamed Aspen in 1880, and, in its peak production years of 1891 and 1892, surpassed Leadville as the United States' most productive silver-mining district. Production expanded due to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which doubled the government's purchase of silver. By 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, two theaters, an opera house and electric lights. Economic collapse came with the Panic of 1893, when President Cleveland called a special session of Congress and repealed the act.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 the Populist Party 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.

Aspen in 1962

Eventually, after wage cuts, mining revived somewhat, but production declined and by the 1930 census only 705 residents remained. Remaining, however, were fine stocks of old commercial buildings and residences, along with excellent snow. Aspen's development as a ski resort first flickered in the 1930s when investors conceived of a ski area, but the project was interrupted by World War II. Friedl Pfeifer, a member of the 10th Mountain Division who had trained in the area, returned to the area and linked up with industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth. The Aspen Skiing Corporation was founded in 1946 and the town quickly became a well-known resort, hosting the FIS 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 architect Eero Saarinen. Aspen was now on the path to becoming an internationally known ski resort and cultural center, home of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The area would continue to grow with the development of three additional ski areas, Buttermilk (1958), Aspen Highlands (1958), and Snowmass (1969).

In 1977, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, while in the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen for a pre-trial hearing, jumped from a second-story window and escaped. He remained free for six days, hiding out on Aspen Mountain, before he was arrested while attempting to drive a stolen car out of town.

In 1977, Aspen was thoroughly photographed for the Aspen Movie Map project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. The Movie Map is one of the earliest examples of virtual reality software.

Aspen is notable as the smallest radio market tracked by Arbitron, ranked at #302.

Local media in Aspen includes two radio stations: KSNO and KSPN; two daily newspapers: The Aspen Times and The Aspen Daily News; three local, lifestyle magazines: Aspen Sojourner [1], Aspen Magazine [2] and the bi-annual Aspen Peak; one digital magazine, Skollie Magazine's Aspen Edition; as well as local and lifestyle television channels: TV Aspen and Plum TV Aspen - Channel 16.

City Hall, formerly Armory Hall

Government

Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality under Colorado law. It has a council-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. Steve Barwick has been city manager since 1999; Mick Ireland is the mayor.

The city's main office is at City Hall, the former Armory Hall listed on the National 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 town.

Image

The historic character of the city has been challenged 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 nearby bedroom communities such as Snowmass, Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood 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.

The downtown has been largely transformed into an upscale shopping district that includes high-end restaurants, salons, and boutiques. Aspen boasts Ralph Lauren, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Bvlgari, Burberry, Brioni, theory and Ermenegildo Zegna boutiques.

Real estate market

Aspen is the most expensive place to buy real estate in the US. Aspen is a mixture of high-end luxury estates and condos intermixed with single-family homes and mobile home parks. As of March 2011, the lowest-priced single-family home on the market was a trailer for $559,000. The median listing price for homes or condos for sale in Aspen is $4,229,558 according to Trulia. It is not uncommon to see listing prices reaching the mid-eight figures.

Geography

The city sits along the southeast (upper) end of the Roaring Fork Valley, along the Roaring Fork River, a tributary of the Colorado River about 40 miles (64 km) south of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is surrounded by mountain and wilderness areas on three sides: Red Mountain to the north, Smuggler Mountain to the east, and Aspen Mountain to the south.

Aspen is located at 39°11′32″N 106°49′28″W, along State Highway 82.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.5 square miles (9.1 km²), all of it land.

Climate

Climate data for Aspen
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	1 (34)	4 (39)	7 (45)	11 (52)	16 (61)	22 (72)	25 (77)	24 (75)	21 (70)	14 (57)	6 (43)	2 (36)	12.8 (55.0)
Average low °C (°F)	−14 (7)	−12 (10)	−7 (19)	−4 (25)	1 (34)	5 (41)	8 (46)	8 (46)	4 (39)	−2 (28)	−8 (18)	−13 (9)	−2.8 (26.9)
Precipitation mm (inches)	60 (2.36)	50 (1.97)	55 (2.17)	43 (1.69)	38 (1.5)	32 (1.26)	52 (2.05)	53 (2.09)	44 (1.73)	34 (1.34)	44 (1.73)	58 (2.28)	563 (22.17)
Source: http://weather.yahoo.com/Aspen-Colorado-United-States/USCO0016/statistics.html?unit=c

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1880	125		—
1890	5,108		3,986.4%
1900	3,303		−35.3%
1910	1,834		−44.5%
1920	1,265		−31.0%
1930	705		−44.3%
1940	777		10.2%
1950	916		17.9%
1960	1,101		20.2%
1970	2,437		121.3%
1980	3,678		50.9%
1990	5,049		37.3%
2000	5,914		17.1%
2010	6,658		12.6%
source:

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,914 people, 2,903 households, and 1,082 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,675.4 people 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/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.94% White, 0.44% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.45% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 1.64% from other races, and 1.20% from two or more races. 6.14% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,903 households out of which 16.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.8% were married couples living together, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 62.7% were non-families. 43.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% 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.

In the city the population was spread out with 13.1% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 42.1% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.4% 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 $60,418, 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% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.4% of those under age 18 and 2.6% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

• 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. Local RFTA bus service within Aspen and to Snowmass Village is free.

• Aspen's only airport is Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, also known as Sardy Field. The airport is an FAA Class 1 airport and has one asphalt runway, 100 ft (30 m) wide and 8,006 ft (2,440 m) long. Its hours of operation with FAA air traffic control are 7 am to 10 pm MST/MDT. Sardy Field is Colorado's third busiest airport.^{[citation needed]} The airport has a large General Aviation section which can accommodate the many corporate airplanes and private jets which can crowd the airport during the busy holiday seasons. The Fixed Base Operator, which operates the General Aviation section, is Atlantic Aviation. The airport also has three regular commercial air carriers: United Airlines and Delta Air Lines (operated by SkyWest Airlines), and Frontier Airlines (operated by Lynx Aviation); however Delta and Frontier announced that they would discontinue service to Aspen before the ski season started, cutting the capacity of Aspen-Pitkin County Airport by nearly 20 percent.

• Colorado State Highway 82 is the only major road that provides access to Aspen. There are some mountain pass roads that lead to the town, but those require all-terrain vehicles and are typically impassable during the winter. Highway 82 east of Aspen is also impassable due to persistent snow on Independence Pass, leaving leaving Highway 82 west of Aspen as the only means of motor vehicle access during the winter.

John Denver memorial

In pop culture

• The film Aspen Extreme is set in Aspen.
• The Searchers was partially shot in Apsen.
• In the Jim Carrey movie Dumb and Dumber, the main characters set off on a cross country adventure ending in Aspen.
• In the Family Guy episode "Road to Rupert", Brian and Stewie journey to Aspen.
• Some races in the video game DiRT 3 are set in Aspen.
• The South Park episode "Asspen" takes place in Aspen.
• In October 2011 several episodes of the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful took place in Aspen.
• In January 2012, the reality television series American Idol held auditions in Aspen.

Sister cities

Cities listed alphabetically (together with their respective regions/departments).

Aspen has seven sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:

• Canfranc, (Aragon) Spain
• Chamonix, (Haute-Savoie) France
• Davos, (Graubünden) Switzerland
• Garmisch-Partenkirchen, (Bavaria) Germany
• Queenstown, (Otago) New Zealand
• San Carlos de Bariloche, (Río Negro) Argentina
• Shimukappu, (Hokkaidō) Japan

See also

Silver mines in Aspen, 1898

• Colorado Silver Boom
• Asspen (An episode of South Park set in Aspen)
• Road to Rupert (An episode of Family Guy set in Aspen)
• Pitkin County, Colorado
• State of Colorado
  • Colorado municipalities
• Aspen Skiing Company
• Aspen Mountain
• Aspen/Snowmass
• TV Aspen
• KUUR
• KSNO

Further reading

• Berger, Bruce. The Complete Half-Aspenite WHO Press, 2005, ISBN 1-882426-22-3
• Berger, Bruce. Music in the Mountains: The First Fifty Years of the Aspen Music Festival Johnson Books, 2001, ISBN 1-55566-311-7
• Park, Lisa Sun-Hee. and David Naguib Pellow, eds. The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America's Eden (New York University Press; 2011) 288 pages;
• Rohrbough, Malcolm. Aspen: The History of a Silver Mining Town 1879-1893 Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-505428-8
• Wentworth, Frank L. Aspen on the Roaring Fork, Sundance Publication, hardcover, ISBN 0-913582-15-8 (earlier editions exist), Wentworth lived in Aspen (1866–1942),

External links

• City of Aspen website
  • CDOT map of the City of Aspen
  • Aspen Ski & Snow Report