Lyons, Colorado
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The Town of Lyons is a
Statutory Town A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...
in Boulder County,
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 town population was 2033 at the
2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
, up from 1585 at the
2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...
. Lyons is located at the confluence of North St. Vrain Creek and South St. Vrain Creek, east of
Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...
. Due to its location at the intersection of State Highway 7 and
U.S. Highway 36 U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is an east–west United States highway that travels approximately from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado to Uhrichsville, Ohio. The highway's western terminus is at Deer Ridge Junction, an intersection i ...
which lead to Rocky Mountain National Park, it is sometimes referred to as "The Double Gateway to the Rockies".


Geography

Lyons is located in northern Boulder County at (40.223935, -105.269013). According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the town has a total area of , of which , or 1.30%, is water, consisting of St. Vrain Creek and its branches.


History

In the 17th century, the
Ute Nation Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...
came to Colorado. The largest tribes that followed were the
Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
,
Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...
, and
Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
, along with the
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...
occasionally. The Utes were the last tribe to be forced into
Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
s after the
Colorado Gold Rush The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 ...
. The Utes were the only tribe that extensively explored the mountains and Lyons area. The
Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...
were attracted to the vast grasslands where it was ideal for hunting
bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
. In the 1860s, families came from the eastern United States and settled the foothills with their ranches and farms. The town of Lyons was founded in 1880 by Edward S. Lyon. He purchased from H.F. and Isabelle Sawyer, noticing the potential to quarry out the red
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
outcroppings which offered easy quarrying access in the region. Lyon
plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
ted the town in 1881; it was incorporated in 1891. No record survives to account for the added "s" at the end of the town's name. The first main building to be built was the red sandstone schoolhouse in 1881. The booming population resulted in the town adding a second floor a few years later. It was also used for church and town meetings until 1894 when the Old Stone Church was built. In 1979, it was saved from demolition and converted into the town's history museum by the Lyons Historical Society. The town has large red sandstone mountains on three sides. Its rock, from the
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
period, about 260 million years ago, is considered the hardest sandstone in the world, and has a unique red or salmon color. While E. S. Lyon established the quarrying business in the town, his business was not a big success, and he left for
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Numerous owners succeeded him and developed various successful quarries over time. Murphy, Brodie, Ohline, Loukonen and Vasquez are among the most noteworthy owners. The Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad laid
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
tracks into Lyons in 1884 to serve the quarries. In 1910-12 the
cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
industry killed the sandstone industry, and rock production stopped. The only sandstone construction that went on during this period was the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
's new unified campus. The sandstone business was revived in the 1930s when the red sandstone started to be used more as a decorative rock than for commercial purposes. Today it is a booming industry, with sandstone shipped worldwide. On September 12, 2013, the town of Lyons was severely affected by flooding. All access routes to the town were blocked, and sewer and fresh water service was disrupted. The National Guard began evacuating the entire town of Lyons on September 12 at daybreak. While many mountain residents had to be evacuated by
Chinook helicopter The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name ...
, the town's residents were able to drive out in their own vehicles, as the main road through town, Highway 36, was not completely washed out.


Historic buildings

The town is active in history preservation. The Lyons Historical Society, formed in 1976, helped preserve the 1881 schoolhouse (now the Lyons Redstone Museum) and the train depot (now municipal offices). It has recorded video interviews of its pioneer families and published four books on the town's history and five books on pioneer family histories. Lyons has a Designated Historic District, with fifteen sandstone structures which are listed in 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 ...
. These were all constructed of native stone by master craftsmen between the early 1870s and 1917. They include commercial, residential and public buildings: *Griff Evans Homestead (1870) - Now the site of Rocky Grass and Folks Festivals *480 Seward St. (1890) - Chisholm/Truebood Home *413 Seward St. (1890) - Cunningham/Weese Home *409 Seward St. (1890) - Montgomery Home *426 High St. (1884) - Lyons General Store, now Ralston Bros. Antiques *NW Corner 4th and High Streets (1894) - Old Stone Congregational Church *NE Corner 4th & High Streets (1881) - Lyons School. Now Redstone Museum *427 High St. (1890s) - Dynamite storage building *450 Main St. (1881) - McAllister Saloon/Frank Market, now Lyons Fork *415 Main St. (1890) - General Store/Kandy Kitchen, now South Creek Ltd. *401 Main St.(1917) - Turner Stevens Building, now Art Bank *5th & Broadway (1881) - Train Depot, Horse Water Tank (1897) *S. St. Vrain (1870) - Bradford Homestead, 330 Bradford Street, privately owned *1/2 Mi. E. on Hwy. 66 (1885) - Sites Milkhouse, now C. Shepard Gallery *3 Mi. E on Hwy. 66 (1917) - Montgomery School, now M. Weston home


Lyons Redstone Museum

The Lyons Redstone Museum started out as the town's school house, built in 1881. Grades one through eight were taught, and graduation certificates were handed out. It was the first major building constructed in town. It stands on a small hill, overlooking the town. It is used as a guidepost for people studying old photographs of Lyons. The original building was made by expert stonemasons out of the local red sandstone. For the first few years, it was used for church services and town meetings. The population boomed, and in 1895 there was a need to add a second floor. It was more for practical purposes and was not as beautifully designed. When the town built an elementary and high school, the school district decided to raze the building. The Lyons Historical Society fought for three years, and it was rewarded with use of a building to establish their history museum in. The museum is open June 1 to October 1, seven days a week. It was dedicated in 1979. It is free and open to the public on a donation basis. Its director is LaVern Johnson. The first floor has historic displays (including an old bank teller cage, re-created living room and kitchen area, quarry and small farm equipment, musical instruments, dairy equipment, and more). It has arrowhead and electric insulator collections. The first-floor work area contains the town's history archives (mainly newspaper clippings), video interviews and documentaries of its pioneer families, and a small gift and book shop. Books for sale include multiple history books of the area, and hundreds of used books from 1900 to today. The second floor has some displays (like ice cream parlor booths), but mainly it has dozens of archival black-and-white photographs of early Lyons, from the 1880s to 1940s. Along the walls are all of the Lyons High School graduation photos, beginning in the 1930s. Since the 1881 building did not open as a museum until the 1970s, some of the records are incomplete regarding early town history, but it is extensively covered by the locally produced books and DVD documentaries. It is located at 412 High Street in Lyons.


Culture


Art

John Gierach is the author of numerous books on fly-fishing. His work has appeared in Field & Stream, Gray's Sporting Journal, and Fly Rod & Reel, where he is a regular columnist. He also writes a column for the monthly Redstone Review. John Gierach is considered by many to be the best author of American fishing folklore. The free Lyons Studio Tour (formerly Lyons Artique) is held each year, since 2004, for one weekend in May or June, with up to 50 artists showing their work in their home studios or in Lyons shops and galleries. For two years, there was a Sculpture Trail with several dozens pieces made specifically for the Trail. It featured a trail of outdoor sculptures along a pre-determined path. An annual booklet had quotes from the artists, and contained a story that people could follow as they took the Trail. Kristine Smock and John King developed the Trail and had a collaborative piece placed at the entrance to Main Street for one year. Polar Bear Gallery artist Barbara Stone was the first to have a permanent sculpture installed. A ring of bear stone etched tiles were placed next to the Lyons Depot Library. The Lyons Arts and Humanities Council is a group that is instrumental in helping to promote art in downtown Lyons and its artists' works. There are several pieces of permanent public art, including sculptures made of local sandstone, such as giant eggs, flower containers, a fountain, a small performance stage, and more. In 2008 and 2009, the town renovated its two main streets to include sandstone sidewalks and features, floral decorations, seating areas and sculptures. It won a Governor's Award for Downtown Excellence in 2010. As a public community art project, a mural depicting life in Lyons, called "Lyons Past, Present and Future", was placed on the outdoor wall of the Visitor Center in June 2003. It is mainly run by Cathy Rivers and Priscilla Cohan, who have gone on to start a second project, called The Clarifier Project, which involves the community painting tiles to decorate the former wastewater treatment building next to St. Vrain Creek. Notable cultural arts residents include artist Barbara Stone, poet George Moore, author Ann Ripley, sculptors John King and Bruce Campbell, and artists Sally King and Candace Shepard, who reside in the Lyons area.


Music

Major concerts in Lyons are the two annual music festivals held at Planet Bluegrass: the Rockygrass Bluegrass festival, and the Folks Festival
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
festival.Planet Bluegrass
/ref> It draws people from across the nation because of its nationally known lineup and its general seating in open grassy, treed grounds, at the base of a red sandstone mountain along St. Vrain Creek. In addition to a new stage for the festivals in recent years, they have built the Wildflower covered pavilion which allows for smaller year-round concerts. The Sounds of Lyons concert series began in 2009, bringing in highly acclaimed classically trained musicians, including founder MinTze Wu, to perform over one weekend in spring. High Street Concerts began in 2001, and concerts take place during the winter months bringing national and local acoustic and Americana acts. The volunteer-run concert series was founded by KC Groves, Sam Tallent, and Mike Whipp. In addition, there are sporadic community concerts and dances throughout the year, including weekly summer concerts in Sandstone Park and occasionally at Lyons High School. The Red Rock Ramblers, founded by the LaVerne Johnson family and friends, began
square dancing A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances contain elements from numerous traditional dances and were first documente ...
in Lyons in 1958 and offer dances every Saturday during the summer.


Recreation

Area recreation includes mountain biking, hiking, camping, fly fishing, climbing and excellent class II-V
whitewater kayaking Whitewater kayaking is an adventure sport where a river is navigated in a decked kayak. Whitewater kayaking includes several styles. River running; where the paddler follows a river and paddles rapids as they travel. Creeking usually involving s ...
. Lyons is bordered by Hall Ranch Open Space and Heil Valley Ranch Open Space. Hall Ranch provides over of multi-use trails and consists of of back country. Heil Valley Ranch consists of of back country. Trails are open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Picture Rock Trail was opened on September 22, 2008, connecting Heil Valley Ranch trails to Lyons and to Hall Ranch trails. Picture Rock is and well designed and built by volunteers. The north end of Picture Rock is at Red Gulch Road, then Old St Vrain Road and Highway 7 lead to the Hall Ranch Trailhead or Lyons. The south end of Picture Rock is from the Heil Ranch Trailhead off Lefthand Canyon. Services: The Town of Lyons is served by the Lyons Fire Protection District and the Boulder Sheriff's Department. Lyons is part of the St Vrain Valley School District and is home to Lyons High School and an elementary school. The town has no hospitals and is serviced by Longmont United Hospital or Boulder Community Hospital which are within a short drive. The Fire Department provides emergency services including EMT duties.


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 2000, there were 1,585 people, 672 households, and 436 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 686 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 92.49%
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 ...
, 0.38%
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 ...
, 0.88% Native American, 0.69%
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 ...
, 4.23% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 1.32% 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 8.01% of the population. There were 672 households, out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.3% 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, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.85. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 36.3% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $50,764, and the median income for a family was $58,750. Males had a median income of $45,417 versus $29,750 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the town was $28,276. About 6.6% of families and 8.3% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.


See also

* 2013 Colorado floods


References


External links


Town of Lyons official websiteCDOT map of Lyons''Lyons Recorder''
town newspaper
Lyons Redstone MuseumLyons Arts and Humanities CommissionHigh Street Concerts
{{authority control Towns in Boulder County, Colorado Towns in Colorado