Aspen is a
home rule municipality
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
that is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
and the
most populous municipality of
Pitkin County
Pitkin County is a county in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,358. The county seat and largest city is Aspen. The county is named for Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. Pitkin County has the sev ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
The city population was 7,004 at the
2020 United States Census
The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
.
[ Aspen is in a remote area of the ]Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
' Sawatch Range
The Sawatch Range or Saguache RangeThe place name "Saguache” is pronounced “Sawatch” . This name derives from the Ute language noun "''sawup''" meaning "sand dunes" and is spelled using the Spanish language version of this name "Saguach ...
and Elk Mountains, along the Roaring Fork River
Roaring Fork River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in west central Colorado in the United States. The river drains a populated and economically vital area of the Colorado Western Slope called the Roaring Fork Valley or ...
at an elevation just below above sea level on the Western Slope, west of the Continental Divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
. Aspen is now a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area
Glenwood may refer to:
Places Canada
* Glenwood, Alberta (village)
* Glenwood, Alberta (former hamlet)
* Glenwood, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta
* Glenwood, Manitoba
* Glenwood, Northumberland County, New Brunswick, Canada
...
.
Founded as a mining camp during the Colorado Silver Boom
The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville. Over 82 million dollars worth of silv ...
and later named Aspen for the abundance of aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...
trees in the area, the city boomed during the 1880s, its first decade. The boom ended when the Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...
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 by 1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
. Aspen's fortunes recovered in the mid-20th century when neighboring Aspen Mountain was developed into a ski resort, and industrialist Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke (June 29, 1896 – April 13, 1960) was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the mid-20th century. A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of ...
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, that have international importance: the Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.
It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, the ...
, the Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...
, and the Aspen Center for Physics
The Aspen Center for Physics is a non-profit Center for research in Physics based in Aspen, Colorado, United States. The Center organizes workshops and conferences to facilitate interactions among research physicists.
The Center was founded in 19 ...
.
In the late 20th century, the town became a popular retreat for celebrities. Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of '' Hell's Angels'' (1967), a book for which he s ...
worked out of a downtown hotel and ran unsuccessfully for county sheriff. Singer John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...
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 its drug culture
Drug cultures are examples of countercultures that are primarily defined by spiritual, medical, and recreational drug use. They may be focused on a single drug, or endorse polydrug use. They sometimes eagerly or reluctantly initiate newcomers, ...
).
Aspen remains popular as a year-round destination for locals, second-home buyers and tourists. Outdoor recreation in the surrounding White River National Forest
White River National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River (Green River), White River that passes through its northern section. It is the most visited 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. 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."
History
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 to avoid a Ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
uprising. The Utes were fighting to maintain possession of their land and communities. Originally named Ute City, the small community was renamed Aspen in 1880, and, in its peak production years of 1891 and 1892, surpassed Leadville
The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,602 at the 2010 census and an estimated ...
as the United States' most productive silver-mining district. Production expanded due to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law
enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...
of 1890, which doubled the government's purchase of silver. In 1883, the Apostolic Vicarate of Colorado's Bishop Machebeuf had the Reverend Edward Downey establish the first Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
mission in Aspen.
By 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, a police department, two theaters, an opera house, and electric lights. Economic collapse came with the Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...
, when President Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
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 People'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.
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 by World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Friedl Pfeifer, a member of the 10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...
who had trained in the area, returned to the area and linked up with industrialist Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke (June 29, 1896 – April 13, 1960) was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the mid-20th century. A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of ...
and his wife Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
. The Aspen Skiing Company
The Aspen Skiing Company, known locally as Ski Co, is a commercial enterprise based in Aspen, Colorado. The Aspen Skiing Company operates the Aspen/Snowmass resort complex, comprising four ski areas: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, an ...
was founded in 1946 and the city 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
Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...
. Aspen was then on the path to becoming an internationally known ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...
and cultural center, home of the Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.
It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, the ...
. The area would continue to grow with the development of three additional ski areas, Buttermilk
Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most mod ...
(1958), Aspen Highlands
Aspen Highlands is a skiing mountain in Aspen, Colorado. It is famous for the Highland Bowl, which provides what some people consider some of the most intense, wild, and fun skiing in the state. The Aspen Skiing Company operates Aspen Highlands.
...
(1958), and Snowmass (1967).
In 1978, Aspen was thoroughly photographed for the Aspen Movie Map
The Aspen Movie Map was a revolutionary hypermedia system developed at MIT by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA.
Features
The Aspen Movie Map enabled the user to take a virtual tour through the city of Aspen, Color ...
project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
. The Movie Map is one of the earliest examples of virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
software.
In 1999, the city council passed a resolution to petition the US Congress and President Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
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 the Center for Immigration Studies
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an anti-immigration think tank and a SPLC designated hate group. It favors far lower immigration numbers, and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graha ...
. The resolution was discussed on the ''American 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.
Aspen is notable as the smallest radio market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...
tracked by Arbitron
Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
, ranked number 302.
Local media in Aspen include a public radio station, KJAX, a public television station, the Grassroots TV network; three commercial radio stations, KSNO, KTND, and KSPN; two daily newspapers, ''The Aspen Times
''The Aspen Times'' is an 11,500-circulation, 7-day-a-week newspaper in the ski resort town of Aspen, Colorado, United States, with a history dating back to 1881.
History
The Aspen Weekly Times' first issue was published April 23, 1881 when Asp ...
'' and '' The Aspen Daily News''; three local lifestyle magazines, ''Aspen Sojourner'', ''Aspen Magazine
''Aspen Magazine'' is a magazine in Aspen, Colorado, United States.Stephen Blake Mettee, ''The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines: More Than 1,700 Magazine Editors and Book Publishers Explain What They are Looking for from Freelancers'', Q ...
'' and the biannual ''Aspen Peak
''Aspen Peak'' is a regional magazine that was founded by Niche Media's Jason Binn. Niche Media was later renamed GreenGale Publishing. The publication primarily targets Aspen's most affluent residents and visitors. Niche Media was founded by Jaso ...
''; and a local, live, commercial lifestyle television channel, Aspen 82.
Government
Aspen is a home rule municipality
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
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.
The city's main office is at City Hall, the former Armory Hall listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
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.
Image
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 nearby bedroom communities
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
such as Snowmass Snowmass may refer to:
*Snowmass Village, Colorado, a town in Pitkin County, Colorado, U.S.
**Snowmass (ski area)
** Snowmastodon site, an archaeological excavation near the town where well-preserved fossils of mammoths, mastodons, and plants were ...
, Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs
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 ...
. 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.
The downtown has been largely transformed into an upscale shopping district that includes high-end restaurants, salons, and boutiques. Stores such as Gucci
Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrance ...
, Prada
Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding t ...
and Fendi dot South Mill Street and act as a "Rodeo Drive" of Aspen.
Real estate market
Aspen's single-family home prices are among the highest of any town in the country. Real estate supply is restricted because most of the land around Aspen is public land, conservation land, or part of large private ranches, while demand for housing around Aspen soared during the COVID-19 pandemic. The median sales price of a single family home in 2021 in Aspen was $9.5 million. A 2021 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.
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), or in the city's condos, many of which date to the 1960s and 1970s.
Affordability of housing is a severe challenge for workers in the Aspen area. The Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority oversees an extensive program of properties intended for people who primarily live and work in the Roaring Fork Valley and whose income falls below certain limits, known as Employee Housing. 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.
In 2018, Stephane de Baets
Stephane De Baets (born April 6, 1969) is a Belgian investment, real estate, and hospitality entrepreneur. He is founder and president of the international asset management firm Elevated Returns, which controls the Aspen St. Regis Resort in Aspe ...
facilitated the first major commercial real estate transaction using blockchain technology to sell ownership stakes in the Aspen St. Regis Resort.
Geography
The city sits along the southeast (upper) end of the Roaring Fork Valley, along the Roaring Fork River
Roaring Fork River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in west central Colorado in the United States. The river drains a populated and economically vital area of the Colorado Western Slope called the Roaring Fork Valley or ...
, a tributary of the Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
about 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 , along State Highway 82.
At the 2020 United States Census
The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
, the city had a total area of , all of it land.[
]
Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, Aspen has a humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(Köppen: ''Dfb'') owing to its high elevation. There is a large diurnal temperature variation between daytime and nighttime temperatures, rendering summer days moderately warm and winter nights very cold for the latitude. Summer lows and winter highs are relatively moderate, with frosts being rare in summer and winter days often averaging above freezing.
Demographics
As of the census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2003, there were 5,914 people, 2,903 households, and 1,082 families residing in the city. The population density was . 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 percent White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 0.44 percent Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
or African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.24 percent Native American, 1.45 percent Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.08 percent Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 1.64 percent from other races, and 1.2 percent from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
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 were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
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.
Transportation
* Roaring Fork Transportation Authority
The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA; pronounced ) is an agency that operates public transportation for the Roaring Fork Valley in Colorado. RFTA's service area stretches from Aspen to Rifle, serving major cities of Basalt, Snowmass ...
, 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
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
serves Glenwood Springs
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 ...
, offering in conjunction with RFTA an environmentally friendly way to travel to Aspen.
* Aspen's airport is Aspen-Pitkin County Airport
Aspen/Pitkin County Airport , also known as Sardy Field, is a county-owned public-use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) northwest of the central business district of Aspen, in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. Aspen/Pitkin ...
, also known as Sardy Field. The airport is an FAA Class 1 airport and has one asphalt runway, wide and long. The airport is commercially serviced by American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines.
* 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 on Independence 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.
* The bike-sharing system
A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost.
The programmes themselves include bot ...
WE-CYCLE serves Aspen and Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
with 16 stations and 200 bikes. Docking stations and bikes are built by PBSC Urban Solutions
PBSC Urban Solutions, formerly the Public Bike System Company, is an international bicycle-sharing system equipment vendor with their headquarters based in Longueuil, Quebec. The company develops bicycle-sharing systems, equipment, parts, and s ...
.
Education
, based on data from the 2009–10 school year, according to '' U.S. News & World Report'', Aspen High School
Aspen High School is a public high school located in Aspen, Colorado.
Athletics
Teams
Aspen's athletic teams are nicknamed the Skiers and the school's colors are black and red. Aspen teams compete in the following sports:
*Football
*Cross coun ...
, the only high school in the Aspen 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 skier Noah Hoffman
Noah Hoffman (born August 1, 1989) is a retired American Olympic cross-country skier. He competed for the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Personal
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 the International Baccalaureate program
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
.
Sports
The Winter X Games
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures d ...
sports event has been held in Aspen at Buttermilk (ski area)
Buttermilk Ski Area refers to a ski hill and an unincorporated community surrounding it in Pitkin County, Colorado. Located about halfway between the cities of Aspen and Snowmass Village, it is frequently considered the easiest skiing mountain i ...
since 2002. Aspen natives Torin Yater-Wallace
Torin Yater-Wallace (born December 2, 1995, in Aspen, Colorado) is a freestyle skier from the United States. He won a silver medal at Winter X Games XV in the superpipe, making him the youngest medalist in Winter X-Games history. Torin is one o ...
and Alex Ferreira
Alex Ferreira (born August 14, 1994) is an American halfpipe skier. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, taking home the silver medal. He competed in the 2019 Winter X Games XXIII and 2020 Winter X Games XXIV, placing first in the Me ...
are both freestyle skiers
Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and b ...
who compete in the Winter X Games and have very successful careers. Both Torin and Alex have represented the United States of America in Men's Ski SuperPipe at the Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
.
The Gentlemen of Aspen
The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Aspen, Colorado. Gentlemen of Aspen RFC was a founding member of the Super League,a national competition that ran from 1997 to 2012. They withdrew from the SuperLeague in ...
is the local rugby team. The Gentlemen of Aspen won the Rugby Super League several times: 1997, 2001, 2002.
Historic buildings
File:Aspen Community church south facade.jpg, Aspen Community Church
Aspen Community Church is located at the intersection of East Bleeker and North Aspen streets in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected in the late 19th century. In 1975 it was listed on the National Register of Historic P ...
File:Aspen Wheeler Opera House.jpg, Wheeler Opera House
File:Pitkin County Courthouse Aspen 2015.jpg, Pitkin County Courthouse
File:Aspen Armory Hall or Fraternal Hall.jpg, Armory Hall or Fraternal Hall ( Aspen City Hall)
File:Aspen Elks building.jpg, Elks building
File:Aspen Cowenhaven Ute City Banque building.jpg, Cowenhoven Ute City Banque building
File:Aspen Independence building.jpg, Independence building
File:Aspen Hotel Jerome.jpg, Hotel Jerome
The Hotel Jerome is located on East Main Street ( State Highway 82) in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a brick structure built in the 1880s that is often described as one of the city's major landmarks, its "crown jewel". In 1986 it was liste ...
Sister cities
Aspen's sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
are:
* Abetone Cutigliano
Abetone Cutigliano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pistoia in the Italian region Tuscany . It was created in 2017 after the merger of the former communes of Abetone and Cutigliano
Cutigliano was a ''comune'' (municipality) in th ...
, Italy
* Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche (), is a city in the province of Río Negro Province, Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located within the Nahuel ...
, Argentina
* Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
* Davos
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
, Switzerland
* Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...
, Germany
* Queenstown, New Zealand
* Shimukappu, Japan
Notable people
See also
*Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
**Bibliography of Colorado
The location of the State of Colorado in the United States of America
This is a bibliography of the U.S. State of Colorado.
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General history
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*Sibley, George. ''Water Wranglers - The 75-Ye ...
**Index of Colorado-related articles
This is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. State of Colorado.
0–9
* .co.us – Internet second-level domain for the State of Colorado
* 4 Corners
** 4 Corners Monument
* 6th Principal Meridian
* 10-mile Range
* 10t ...
**Outline of Colorado
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Colorado:
Colorado – 22nd most populous, the eighth most extensive, and the highest in average elevation of the 50 United States. Colorado ...
*List of counties in Colorado
The U.S. State of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Two of these counties, the City and County of Broomfield and the City and County of Denver, have consolidated city and county governments. Denver serves as the state capital. Counties are ...
* List of municipalities in Colorado
*List of places in Colorado
A
B
C
D
E
F
G-O
* List of places in Colorado G through O
P-Z
* List of places in Colorado P through Z
References
{{Reflist ...
*List of statistical areas in Colorado
The U.S. state of Colorado has twenty-one statistical areas that have been delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Statistical areas are important geographic delineations of population clusters used by the OMB, the United States ...
**Edwards-Glenwood Springs, CO Combined Statistical Area
Edwards is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Eagle County, Colorado, United States. Edwards is the principal town of the Edwards, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Edwards p ...
**Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area
Glenwood may refer to:
Places Canada
* Glenwood, Alberta (village)
* Glenwood, Alberta (former hamlet)
* Glenwood, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta
* Glenwood, Manitoba
* Glenwood, Northumberland County, New Brunswick, Canada
...
* Aspen anomaly Aspen anomaly is a geological structure in Colorado, United States. It consists of a low-Seismic Velocity, seismic velocity anomaly in the mantle (geology), mantle which underpins the highest sector of the Rocky Mountains.
Characteristics
The A ...
* Aspen/Snowmass
Aspen Snowmass is a winter resort complex located in Pitkin County in western Colorado in the United States. Owned and operated by the Aspen Skiing Company it comprises four skiing/snowboarding areas on four adjacent mountains in the vicinity of t ...
* Smuggler Mine
The Smuggler Mine is located on the slopes of Smuggler Mountain, on the north edge of Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is the oldest operating silver mine in the Aspen mining district, and one of the few still operating from Aspen's early boom ...
* Colorado Silver Boom
The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville. Over 82 million dollars worth of silv ...
* Aspen Center for Physics
The Aspen Center for Physics is a non-profit Center for research in Physics based in Aspen, Colorado, United States. The Center organizes workshops and conferences to facilitate interactions among research physicists.
The Center was founded in 19 ...
* KNDH
KNDH is an American FM radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast on 96.7 MHz serving Carbondale, Colorado.
History
KNDH debuted as KUUR "Your Radio", serving the Aspen area with its translators incl ...
radio
* KSNO radio
* TV Aspen
KCXP-LP channel 40 was a low-powered television station in Aspen, Colorado. The station, known on cable as TV Aspen, carried the market's first local TV Newscast and a mixture of local programming like Showcase Aspen and programs from the Resor ...
References
Further reading
* Berger, Bruce. ''The Complete Half-Aspenite'' WHO Press, 2005,
* Rohrbough, Malcolm. ''Aspen: The History of a Silver Mining Town 1879–1893'' Oxford University Press, 1988,
* Wentworth, Frank L. ''Aspen on the Roaring Fork'', Sundance Publication, hardcover, (earlier editions exist)
External links
City of Aspen website
CDOT map of the City of Aspen
{{Authority control
Cities in Colorado {{Parent cat , child_level=county , type=
, metacategory =Cities in Colorado by county
, commonscat=Cities in Colorado , geogroup=y
, seealso=Colorado , main=List of cities in Colorado , child_no_parent=21452707 , parent_no_child=21452710
...
County seats in Colorado
Cities in Pitkin County, Colorado
Roaring Fork Valley
Ski areas and resorts in Colorado
Populated places established in 1879