Author Archives: Dablad1
Deer Ridge Chalet
Deer Ridge Chalet was a popular tourist stop for over 40 years. As Park visitation increased so did traffic problems at the site since it was located at the intersection of two main roads. It was removed in 1960.
Trail Ridge Road
Trail Ridge Road connects both sides of the Continental Divide. It was completed in 1932 and replaced the Old Fall River Road built in the 1920s. The old highway is one way only going up but is currently closed due to massive flooding in 2013. Trail Ridge is still the highest continuous highway in the … Continue reading
Dedication
Rocky Mountain N.P. was dedicated on Sept. 4, 1915, in Horseshoe Park as seen in this photo taken on that day. There were about 300 people attending.
Dedication parking lot
Not all of the attendees arrived by car. Several came by horseback and, if you enlarge the picture, there appears to be a motorcycle just above the lone horse.
Picnickers
Box lunches were handed out, as can be seen in this photo of formally attired picnickers. We could not get to the actual site because the road was closed due to the 2013 flooding.
Y
The fork to the right in this old photo leads to the Park entrance and the dedication site a little further down. Although slightly reconfigured, the intersection appears today (after much walking around) as it used to.
Ponce de Leon Hotel
The Ponce de Leon was Henry Flagler’s first hotel venture after founding Standard Oil Company with John D Rockefeller. It was the first large hotel built of poured concrete and opened January 10, 1888. It was four stories high situated on five acres. The dining room could hold 700 people. It is now part of … Continue reading
Alcazar Hotel
Flagler’s second hotel–Alcazar– opened Christmas Day 1888. It closed in 1930 and was virtually abandoned for 10 years. It serves today as City Hall and the Lichtner Museum. It has changed little since the 1905 photo.
Casa Monica aka Cordova Hotel
Adjacent to the Ponce de Leon Hotel, the Casa Monica also opened in 1888 and was purchased the next year by Flagler, who renamed it the Cordova Hotel. Later the hotel was extensively renovated and reopened in 1997, being renamed Casa Monica in 1999. Enjoying a AAA 4 Diamond rating, it is the only … Continue reading
Aerial View
Here is an aerial view taken from a balcony of the Ponce De Leon Hotel in 1897. To be able to see incredible detail in this shot, click on the picture to open up the 10MB file.