The Early Days

Estes Park’s history dates back more than 10,000 years. Prehistoric people, and later, Native Americans, would migrate here to hunt for big game and gather certain plants. 

Archaeologists have uncovered game drive walls that were used by prehistoric peoples and Native Americans in the alpine tundra above Trail Ridge Road.  

The Arapaho Indians came to this area for hunting and would migrate from the eastern plains to the west side up this valley. Old Fall River Road follows one of their trails.

A Few Firsts

In 1859, the first documented white men, Joel Estes and his son Milton, made their way towards a high point that looked down into a lush valley. 
Estes thought the valley held promise as a cattle ranch, so in 1863 he moved his family near what is now Estes Park. 

One of the visitors to the Estes cabin was William Byers, publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, a prominent newspaper in Denver that ran from 1859 to 2009, and one of Colorado’s longest running businesses.

Byers came from Denver in August 1864 with several companions, including John Wesley Powell, to climb Longs Peak. Powell and Byers were most likely the first white men to reach the summit of that high peak. Byers reported about his journey to his Rocky Mountain News readers and named the mountain valley after his host Joel Estes.

In 1873, Anna Dickenson and Isabella Bird both climbed Longs Peak, making them one of the first documented white women to do so.

Bond Park

On April 20, 1905, Cornelius H. Bond and other investors purchased a large ranch where the Big Thompson and Fall Rivers merged. Their purpose was to establish a downtown area for Estes Park.

After the purchase, the Estes Park Town Company, of which Mr. Bond was the president, hired a surveyor to plat the town, but promptly revised the original map to clearly designate 14 lots of Block 1 as a community park, instead of the development as proposed.

Over the decades, the designated park became the site for the post office, library, fire/police station, town hall, and the chamber of commerce building.

When all the structures were finally removed from the property, it once again became an open space for residents and visitors to enjoy—just as intended in 1905.

On May 8, 1944, the Town of Estes Park honored Mr. Bond, who had passed away in 1931, for his many years of service to the community and for his foresight and value in setting aside an open area by officially naming the land “Bond Park.”

A Different Kind of Gold

The main economy for Estes Park was tourism, and FO Stanley was instrumental in bringing tourists to the area. He originally came to Estes Park for fresh mountain air to treat his tuberculosis. 

He was so grateful for how the mountains improved his health that he invested the rest of his life and a considerable amount of money to help the town. 

In 1909, Stanley  built a luxurious hotel for vacationing Easterners. There was no train service to Estes Park, so Stanley ran a fleet of 13 Stanley Steamers from the nearest train station in Loveland up the Big Thompson Canyon, now US Hwy 34. He also ran Steamers from the railroad depot in Lyons on what is now US Hwy 36.

Father of Rocky

Enos Mills is fondly referred to as the “Father of Rocky Mountain National Park.” Although he was born in Kansas, as a sickly teen he hitchhiked to Estes Park and began giving guided tours into the mountains. He recognized that it was important to preserve the area, and he spent years trying to convince others.

In 1915, Enos was successful, and Congress and Woodrow Wilson designated our beloved area as Rocky Mountain National Park. It has been reported that Enos climbed Longs Peak 297 times!

Enos married Esther Burnell in 1918, and Esther and her sister were the first ever to be designated professional nature guides by the National Park Service. She and Enos ran the Longs Peak Inn after marrying. Although Enos died in 1922, Esther ran the Inn until 1946.

All In A Name

A young army officer named Stephen Long named the 14,259ft Longs Peak in 1820. He gazed at it from the Front Range and never ventured into the mountains. 

Mt. Meeker, second in size to Longs Peak, is named for Nathan Meeker, who came west in 1869 to establish a farming community named for his boss, Horace Greeley.

Arapaho Tribute

In the early 1900s, those who were lobbying for this area to become a national park thought Congress might be more inclined to do so if area peaks and landmarks were named by the Native Americans who once lived here.

In 1914, members of the Arapaho tribe were brought to the region on a trip sponsored by the Colorado Mountain Club. The tribe members had spent their youth in the area and were asked to offer the Native American names for the various peaks, lakes, and other geographic features in the area. The names and stories behind them were told on this expedition.

Their names tended to stem from attributes or observations. For example, Longs Peak and its neighbor Mt. Meeker were called the Two Guides. Because there were so tall, the Native Americans used them to find their way home. The Never Summer Mountain Range is a rough translation of “never no summer,” due to the extended amount of time snow stays on these peaks.

Today, Rocky Mountain National Park has one of the greatest concentrations of Native American place names in the United States. Kawuneeche, Onhu, and Tonahutu are just a few.