Kokomo is a

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

- and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Summit County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. Before being depopulated in the 1960s, Kokomo was at its height home to over 10,000 people.

History

The community took its name from nearby Kokomo Gulch which was named after

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. Its population was 60,093 according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2024 estimate. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana metropolitan area, Kokomo metropol ...

. Some placer

was discovered in the 1860s, but intensive mining did not begin until after the sharp increase of mining at

Leadville Leadville ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, Lak ...

in 1877. A post office called Kokomo was established in 1879, and remained in operation until 1965. A neighboring community, Recen, was heavily intertwined with Kokomo. The original town constructed of wood burned in 1879. The town burned again in 1881, marking the beginning of decline and resulting in a merger with the community of Recen. Also in 1881, the first

Free Mason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

meeting was held, and a lodge was opened in 1882. A historical marker near the old townsite recognizes the lodge, which was existent until 1966. In the 1890s, Kokomo was at the highest elevation (10,618 feet) of any incorporated town in the state. The town reached zero population in the 1960s when the land was bought by Climax Molybdenum Company to use as a

tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...

dump.

References

Ghost towns in Colorado Former populated places in Summit County, Colorado Geography of Summit County, Colorado {{Colorado-geo-stub