Timelines
Timeline of Events
Date | Year | Event |
---|---|---|
February 21 | 1836 | Robert Bowne Minturn born in New York |
| 1849 | Ute and Arapahoe conflict on Battle Mountain |
| 1879 | Town of Clinton, now called Gilman, forms |
| 1881 | Talamage family builds first house in Minturn |
| 1882 | George G. Booco builds cabin near the depot |
| 1885 | Road from Leadville, Red Cliff and Gilman reaches Minturn |
| 1886 | Town of Clinton renamed Gilman, after Henry Gilman, superintendent of Iron Mask Mine |
| 1886 | Six-stall roundhouse built |
April 3 | 1887 | Kingston Townsite appears on the railroad map |
May 1 | 1887 | Booco's Station replaces Kingston Townsite on railroad maps |
June 1 | 1887 | Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad arrives in Minturn, renamed for Robert B. Minturn, a shipping millionaire responsible for raising the money to bring the rails west |
December 15 | 1889 | Robert Bowne Minturn dies |
| 1890 | Minturn population is approximately 191 |
| 1891 | First store opened in Minturn by Pierce and Richmond called the Minturn Mercantile Second depot constructed |
| 1891-92 | Minturn Messenger newspaper published by F.H. Davis and T.D. Peirce |
| 1892 | First school is built at 225 Pine Street |
Winter | 1892 | Great fire destroys several downtown buildings |
| 1892-93 | Eagle Eye newspaper published by George and David Fownes |
January - May | 1899 | Record snows block trains from running; coldest recorded winter in town history |
| 1900 | Minturn population rises to 428 residents |
| 1901 | W.H. Luby opens The Saloon |
September | 1904 | George G. Booco donates large parcel of land to the town |
September 5 | 1904 | Updated school opens 243 Boulder Street, at the current location of old town hall; fifty students attend classes with Miss Secil Taylor and Miss Annabelle Herron |
October 29 | 1904 | Frank Steacy elected mayor; six trustees elected in first town election |
November 15 | 1904 | First town council meets; Minturn incorporated; Salaries set for marshall at $30 per month, clerk for $10 per month, treasurer for $5 per month, town attorney for $40 per month |
| 1905 | Holy Cross National Forest established with headquarters in Red Cliff |
March 16 | 1908 | Shopmen for the D&RG Railroad strike |
| 1908 | Ford introduces the Model T |
| 1909 | Squires Hotel built |
| 1912 | Empire Zinc Company consolidates private mining claims to form the Eagle Mine at Gilman |
| 1913 | Water lines laid from Cross Creek into town |
| 1914 | World War I begins |
December 6 | 1915 | Y.M.C.A., now known as the International Trade Center, dedicated |
May | 1917 | Minturn United Presbyterian Church opens at Toledo and Main Streets with 21 members |
| 1917 | Sidewalks laid along Main Street |
| 1919 | Treaty of Versailles ends World War I |
| 1920s | Isabell and Nelson homesteads make Minturn the lettuce capital of the United States |
| 1922 | Pipefitters and mechanics strike against the D&RG Railroad until October 1924 |
August 7 | 1924 | Minturn wired with electricity, courtesy of Public Service of Colorado |
August 22 | 1924 | State's experimental farm grand opening |
April 6 | 1926 | State proposes Hwy. 24 through Minturn; town trustees oppose proposed path |
July | 1927 | First organized pilgrimage to Mt. of the Holy Cross |
June | 1928 | New 120-foot Turntable built to accommodate 3600-series engines |
| 1929 | New York Stock Market crashes |
| 1930s | Self-contained refrigerated rail cars eliminate need for ice house in Minturn |
| 1933 | Rod and Gun Club leases what is now known as Bolt's Lake for public fishing, swimming, tennis and golf |
April | 1936 | Katherine Mack elected first female mayor of Minturn; Nellie Young elected as first female council member |
| 1936 | U.S. Highway 24 completed over Battle Mountain |
| 1936 | Cosma Serna moves Rock Creek settlers to Taylor Street in Minturn |
| 1938-42 | Minturn Booster newspaper published every Friday by Roy Simpson |
| 1939 | World War II begins |
| 1940 | Gondolas packed with ore run loose along the tracks, all the way to Edwards. Red Cliff Bridge built over Belden Canyon. Highway 24 completed through Minturn (connecting the town to the east over Tennessee Pass.) |
| 1940s | Many young mineworkers are protected from the draft by providing contract metals for the efforts in World War II |
| 1941 | Cinder block school at 302 Pine Street built. |
December 7 | 1941 | Japanese attack Pearl Harbor |
| 1942 | Camp Hale constructed as a temporary training camp for 10th Mountain Division |
| 1943 | Bill Burnett drafted into World War II |
November 11 | 1944 | D-Day |
June | 1946 | Bill Burnett returns from an overseas assignment in the Philippines |
| 1950 | Gilman mine employs more than 450 |
| 1951 | Color TV introduced in America |
August 1 | 1951 | U.S. Postal Service issues a stamp (designed by Minturn Postmaster) with a picture of the Mt. of the Holy Cross; large parade and ceremonies brought 2,000 visitors, including the Postmaster General Pearson and former Governor John C. Vivian |
August | 1954 | Unionized mineworkers strike in Gilman for 52 days |
| 1956 | Steam locomotives replaced with diesel; Roundhouse torn down in railyard |
| 1959 | Minturn votes to join county school district RE-50J |
| 1960s | Railroad strike |
December | 1962 | Vail Ski Area opens |
| 1963 | JFK assassinated |
December | 1964 | Battle Mountain High School completed at Maloit Park on land leased from the school district |
| 1965 | U.S. troops sends troops to Vietnam |
| 1966 | New Jersey Zinc Company sells to Gulf and Western Industries |
| 1967 | Construction of Interstate 70 begins |
| 1968 | Walter Madrid first Mexican-American elected to Minturn Town Board |
| 1969 | Neil Armstrong becomes first man to land on the moon |
| 1970 | Vail Associates buys Meadow Mountain and Grouse Creek from Jack Oleson for $3 million and closes the small ski area there |
| 1971 | Vail Associates proposes expanding ski area for 1976 Olympics |
| 1973 | U.S. pulls troops out of Vietnam |
| 1974 | Richard Nixon resigns as President |
January 18 | 1974 | Beverly and Robert Storm open the Whistle Stop Inn, Motel & Restaurant |
| 1975 | Battle Mountain High School closes at Maloit Park; new Battle Mountain High School completed at Eagle-Vail |
June 30 | 1975 | Taylor Addition annexed to Minturn |
| 1976 | Town of Minturn offices open in old school building at 302 Pine St. |
December 16 | 1977 | Gilman mine shuts down, laying off 154 miners leaving 7 to work on clean up |
| 1978 | Minturn Middle School built at Maloit Park |
Summer | 1978 | Colorado Mountain College leases and remodels old high school at Maloit Park |
| 1981 | Personal computers introduced by IBM |
| 1985 | EPA lists Eagle Mine on National Priority list, declared Superfund Site |
| 1986 | Colorado Mountain College ends lease with school district RE-50J for Maloit Park |
April 6 | 1982 | Minturn adopts home rule government, first town manager hired |
September 12 | 1990 | MM IV level earthquake felt in Minturn; four more earthquakes hit Colorado that week |
May | 1991 | Old Minturn Movie Theater at 201 Main Street demolished |
| 1992 | Cold War ends |
| 1993 | Movie shot in Belden Canyon (Tall Tales - Disney) |
| 1996 | Several rental houses demolished to build The Enclave |
1996 | Minturn Community Fund was formed. Their first event was the Live In Minturn Concert Series. | |
| 1997 | Railroad Tennessee Pass line shutdown through Minturn |
| 1998 | Water lawsuit settled with Vail Associates |
Summer | 1998 | Minturn Market opens on Saturdays |
| 2000 | New town center and post office completed at 302 Pine Street |
February 2 | 2002 | Winter Olympic torch goes through Minturn |
| 2003 | New fire station is completed |
2003 | Radio Free Minturn was introduced | |
2005 | Little Beach Park and Amphitheater was constructed | |
2009 | Town adopts Community Master Plan | |
2013 | The Minturn Community Gardens space is created | |
2014 | Town created Economic Development Advisory Committee | |
September | 2016 | Town adopts Economic Development Strategic Plan |
November | 2017 | Town adopts Energy Action Plan |
Timeline of Mayors
Dates | Name | Major Accomplishments |
---|---|---|
1904 - 1912 | Frank Steacy | Adopted first charter and ordinances; |
1912 - 1914 | Robert A. Bryant | Laid first water lines |
1914 - 1929 | C.A. Wilcox | Laid first sidewalks; Electricity comes to town; |
1929 - 1932 | Leon Clare Graham | Cemetery Bridge and Eagle River Bridge completed |
1932 - 1936 | Chris Hick | Community building plans drawn up |
1936 - 1937 | Katherine Mack | Minturn joins Colorado Municipal League; streets repaired; |
1937 - 1948 | Harold Wister | Built water tank on Nelson Avenue hillside, major improvements to the water system; Cinder block school at 302 Pine Street built |
1948 - 1956 | Lynn Walker | Minturn enters into the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District; |
1956 - 1966 | Harvey Cline | Natural gas lines run throughout town; Town offices moved to old school at 243 Boulder Street; Television series filmed in town; New water tank built at Cross Creek |
1966 - 1986 | Harold Bellm | Served longest term as mayor in Minturn history; town offices moved to cinder block building at 302 Pine Street; New wooden water lines |
1986 - 1992 | Darrell Wegert | Home Rule adopted; first town manager hired; Planning and Zoning Commission created; Ironworks building receives approval |
1992 - 1994 | Ernie Chavez | New water, sewer and gas lines laid along Pine Street; Television series filmed in town |
1994 -1998 | Michael Gallagher | Hired second town manager; Partnered with Rocky Mountain Mutual |
1998 - 2002 | Gordon (Hawkeye) Flaherty | Fired police chief; Hired third town manager; Built new town center; |
2002 - 2004 | Earle Bidez | Completed Eagle River restoration; Built new public works facility |
2004 - 2015 | Gordon (Hawkeye) Flaherty | Improved drainage and paved the 200 block of Pine St. Paved Toledo St. from Pine St. to the river, and completed curb / gutter work on Norman St. (Pine to Boulder St). |
2015 - 2019 | Matt Scherr | 100 Block Improvements. Hired Michelle Metteer as Town Manager. Began financing for the Highway 24 and sidewalk project. |
2019 - 2021 | John Widerman | Completed Highway 24 and sidewalk project. Headed up sustainability efforts to include the Partners in Energy program, Energy Action Plan, and LED Lighting Retrofit for Town Buildings. Also involved in increasing bus routes. |
Present | Earle Bidez |