Thanks for joining us today & welcome to Georgetown.
This breathtaking community sits about 8,530 feet above sea level.
It's nestled in the Clear Creek Vally, in fact, this is county the seat of Clear Creek County.
It's what's referred to as a territorial charter municipality.
However, most people just refer to it as a semi-abandoned town.
It's because it once housed 10,000 residents at its peak.
But, now houses a little over 1,000 people.
This town is far from dead & is fortunate not to be a ghost town or succumbed to fire.
In fact, it's one of most well-preserved mining communities from the mid-1800s.
The town was started as a simple gold mining camp in 1859 during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.
Gold gave Georgetown its start; However, it was silver that made the town the largest
silver producer in Colorado--until 1879, when Leadville surpassed it.
Although the town is small today, it was a historic cultural & industrial center through
the 19th century; earning itself the nickname "The Silver Queen of Colorado".
The town experienced less violence, then it's neighbors; even though it had it's share of
undesirables and vagrants.
Fortunately, it remained mostly stable, allowing the economy and culture to flourish outside
of the mine and its camps.
This is one of the facts that convinced a young entrepreneur to heavily invest in the
community and its culture.
In 1875 Louis Dupuy purchased and renovated an existing building into what we now call
the Hotel De Paris.
The hotel's opulence was unrivaled and unheard of in the region.
The demand for hotel exceeded the rooms it had.
Even during slow periods, Dupuy would personally approve each guest.
Many were turned away for reasons known only to Mr. Dupuy.
The hotel quickly became famous around the world for its high-class atmosphere and its
sophisticated French dining.
This coupled with the rugged mountain atmosphere made for a great juxtaposition that visitors raved about.
The success of the Hotel De Paris was desperately needed by Louis; He was the Heir to a vast
fortune and had squandered his inheritance.
During this period he dappled in a lot of things; but, really succeeded at little.
He entered the seminary in hopes of joining the priesthood; when that didn't work out
he went to culinary school.
He settled in New York for a time before being caught for plagiarism, where he ended up doing
a stint in the U.S. Army.
For an unknown reason, he deserted and actually changed his name to the name we know today
Louis Dupuy from Adolphe Francois Gerard.
It's a pretty interesting story, how he had a terrible start to life; but, ended up being
an integral part of this community.
You can read a little bit more about it in the blog below.
Looking at here is one of my favorite things in the town.
This is the Kneisel grocery store.
In Fact, this grocery store is still operated by the Kneisel family and the structure it's
built-in houses three shop bays; that were originally built by Henery Kneisel back in 1892.
The following year in 1893, he built all of the cabinetry we're looking at here to his
personal specifications & it's amazing its still used to this day.
In fact, the Kneisel Anderson Store is the oldest continuously operated business in Georgetown,
which I would imagine would put it's it very high in the running for the oldest business
in Colorado.
It's amazing that all this cabinetry has held up for well over a hundred years.
It's even more amazing that the Kneisel family [are] still the people behind that counter
after all of this time.
The building next to this is also a single bay store.
But, it was built a little bit later.
It was initially built to be a grocery store; but, in about 1912, they made it the Kneisel
Anderson Hardware Store--Branching out into the Kneisel Anderson Hardware line
and the grocery store became the Kneisel Grocery Store.
Honestly though, if you're a fan of architecture like I am; this is a must see--and if you're
in the Denver area it's not very far and don't be intimidated in winter time; it's well plowed
and there is so much architecture to see.
Beyond the architecture; the Hotel De Paris is now a museum.
It's not open year-round; but, it is very entertaining when you get in there, it is
in mint condition.
And that's really why I wanted to share this town with you because it's mint, it's what
we call cherry, it's perfect.
I mean it has been preserved and that partially due to its strict zoning codes.
And the really the dedication of the families and the communities that make up the year-round
residents here.
Although, a lot of the shops do close for the season; a mainstay and must-see is the
Georgetown Valley Candy Company.
This building has been a lot of things over the years and you'll see some evidence of
that as you look around; But, today it's just good old fun--sweets, sugar, hot chocolate,
in the winter; you got your ice cream in the summer.
in fact, here we have [a sign] it says The Silver Queen.
I did talk to them a little bit about that and apparently, it was at one point a salon, The Silver Queen.
It had some sorted tales about its solon days, it went through a brief period as a chapel;
but, the longest open entity here is the candy shop we're looking at.
If you want it, they have it; right down to the candy cigarettes if you're looking for 'em.
Seriously though, this is another great family and community-oriented business; I recommend you stop by.
If your a fan of the federalist architecture style, this town is going to have a few treats.
You're going to see a few examples of very early Federalist architecture & their combining
brick with wood, which is unusual for the style.
There's also a traditional blue post office.
For those of you not from the states, this is kind of a rare bird.
This is the old fashion look to a post office.
It's the traditional format, wood timber post office and it's great to see it's still standing
and still operating a U.S. post office.
You're going to see some mining ruins and things to that effect; but, really what's
great about this town is all the well-preserved trinkets and history.
The Public School is now a museum that you can visit.
The architecture itself is a great walking tour and it has some really
fun little back streets, like this.
I really recommend that you take a stop at Georgetown & really do appreciate you guys
spending some time with us today.
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