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Mt. Abrams
Picture by Ryan Kolowich
Abram Cutler was the first judge in Ouray County. There were probably other children who came first, but his child was the first one whose birth was officially...
Drawing of the Bachelor Mine
Picture by Becky Harmon
The Bachelor Mine is a great example of Ouray County mining. The Bachelor mine claim was filed in 1888. Since there were no outcroppings of...
Drawing of the Beaumont Hotel
Picture by Becky Harmon
The Beaumont has always brought tourists to Ouray. It brings them here because it is a beautiful unique hotel. It has a glass atrium in the...
The front desk of the Citizens State Bank
Picture by Guadalupe Contreras-Vasquez
The Bachelor Mine is a great example of Ouray County mining. The Bachelor mine claim was filed in 1888. Since...
Drawing of City Hall
Picture by Henry Purvis
The town was hoping that Ouray would have a City Hall. Before 1900, the city rented space for offices. Francis Carney built a one story building made...
Abram Cutler
Bachelor Mine
Beaumont Hotel
Citizens State Bank
City Hall
Courthouse
The Ouray Depot
Elks Lodge
Episcopal Church
Fellin Park
Galloping Goose
Hot Springs Pool
Idarado Mine
Saint...
The Court House
Picture by Julia Vann
The Ouray County Court House helps Ouray do its county business. Beginning in 1877, Ouray County rented many spaces for county business. Abram Cutler was the...
Early cross country skiiers
Picture courtesy of the Ouray Historical Society
Cross country skiing was used for transportation as well as recreation. Because of heavy snows, people would ski to...
The Elks Lodge
Picture by Julia Vann
The Ouray Elks Lodge is important because they raise money for our community. Elks believe in charity, justice, fidelity, and brotherly love. The Lodge began...
Drawing of a cross
Picture by Kaisa Simon
Without the Episcopal Church, miners would have been homesick. Many miners were from Cornwall or Whales in England and church was important to them....
Fellin Park
Picture by Malori Trujillo
The Fellin family has left a huge landmark in Ouray County. Joseph Fellin came to America in 1892 from Revo, Austria. In 1902, Josephs’s sons, Sam,...
The Galloping Goose
Picture by Orlando Rascon
The Galloping Goose replaced the trains with smaller and cheaper vehicles that go on tracks. The Rio Grand started to make Galloping Geese, because...
For the English version of this article, click here.
Cliquead aquí para la versión inglesa de este artículo.
Cuadro de un ranchero
Cuadro de Alondra Hernandez Tirado
Los Rancheros vinieron a...
Drawing of the exterior of the Hot Springs Pool
Picture by Sam Rondinelli
Tourists have always been attracted to the hot springs pool. In the 1880’s Francis Carney built a brickyard where the...
Drawing of the Idarado Mine area
Picture by Rachel Jennings
The Idarado opened up many mines in Red Mountain District and made them successful again. In the1880’s there was a mining boom on Red...
Drawing of Kitty Heit outside the Saint Elmo Hotel
Picture by Rhiannon Keiser
Kitty Heit was unique because she owned businesses early in Ouray history. Kitty O’Brien Porter came to Ouray with...
Drawing of the livery barn in Ouray
Picture by Olivia Holm
The livery barns in Ouray provided efficient transportation. Livery barns, or stables, housed and cared for many horses and mules....
Drawing of a mine
Picture by Joey Fedel
Ouray is only here because of mining. Before 1875, Utes lived here. Settlers were afraid of Utes. In 1875 two men discovered minerals while fishing. In...
Drawing of a newspaper building
Picture by Julia Vann
The Ouray newspaper has gone through many owners over the past 129 years. The first newspaper to open in Ouray in 1877 was named the Ouray...
Portrait of Otto Mears
Picture courtesy of the Doris Gregory Collection
Otto Mears was known as the Pathfinder of the San Juans. He helped miners and new arrivals by building roads and railroads...
Welcome to the Ouray History Site!
Class of 2015/2016 Project
Teachers' Note
Special Thanks
Drawing of Ouray School
Picture by Jason Ficco
From the very beginning, Ouray needed schools for the miners’ children because there were so many families coming here. Elizabeth King was the...
The Ouray Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterian Church is the oldest church in Ouray. At the time of 1877 their church was built. The building was a large, white, wooden building. The entrance was...
Portrait of Otto Mears
Picture courtesy of the Doris Gregory Collection
ASPEN TREES
Yellow, white, and black
In the fall the leaves turn
From yellow to red
On Aspen trees the branches are on the...
Cliquead aquí para la versión española de este artículo.
For the Spanish version of this article, click here.
Drawing of a rancher
Picture by Alondra Hernandez Tirado
Ranchers came to Ouray...
The Saint Daniels Church in Ouray
Picture by Michael Stovicek
The history of the Catholic Church is important because from the very beginning miners and their families needed a church. As of...
Drawing of Saint Joseph's Hospital
Picture by Rachel Jennings
Without St. Joseph’s Hospital, many miners would have died. In the year 1887, Francis Carney built the three story hospital of...
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Sandy Kern - Ouray School
Alice Leeper - Wright Opera House
Amy Mueller - Wright Building
Jane Holmes - Ouray County Courthouse
Jane Bennett, Louis...
The third and fourth grade students of Ouray School and their teachers worked hard to produce this book. We took over 20 field trips around Ouray County to learn first-hand why our history is so...
The Ouray Depot
Courtesy of the Ouray Historical Society
The Ouray Depot changed Ouray in many different ways. Before trains, the people had to walk, ride carriages and use wagons. Food was...
Photograph of Tom Walsh
Picture courtesy of the Ouray Historical Society
Tom Walsh was famous because he owned the Camp Bird Mine and he made millions of dollars. Tom Walsh was born in Ireland in...
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A Ute Indian
Picture courtesy of the Ouray Historical Society
The Ute Indians lived in Ouray in the summers for hundreds of years. In the 1770’s, the Utes got horses from the Spanish. They were...
A Victorian style house
Picture by Rubea Mahan
Many Victorian homes are named for Queen Victoria of England and were here in early Ouray. First, during the mid 1880’s, the Louis King house was...
Drawing of the Western Hotel
Picture by John Michael Patterson
The Western Hotel is a unique building in Ouray. It is the only remaining three story wooden building west of the Mississippi River....
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A Wiki ([ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪ.kiː] <wick-ey>) is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, or otherwise edit...
The Wright Opera House in Ouray
Picture by John Michael Patterson
The Wright Opera house of Ouray is important to Ouray history. The beautiful building we know as the Wright Opera House was built...
Drawing of Yankee Girl Mine
Picture by Eva Wister-Zachari
Yankee Girl Mine has an amazing history. It started in 1882. A prospector named Mr. Robinson was out hunting and found a rock full of...
Picture of an early post office
Picture courtesy of the Ouray Historical Society
Zip Code for Ouray: 81427
Zip Code for Ridgway: 81432
The first post office was established October 28, 1875, in...
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