Elkhorn Lodge makes Endangered Places list

ESTES PARK – The Elkhorn Lodge in Estes Park is among Colorado’s Most Endangered Places.

Nonprofit Colorado Preservation Inc. named six sites to its 2010 list of historically significant places that are in danger of being lost. The purpose of the list is to build awareness of, and assistance for, buildings with ties to Colorado’s past.

The Elkhorn Lodge in Estes Park is considered the oldest, continuously operated hotel and the site of one of the first golf courses in Colorado. The original lodge business included several thousand acres, which were donated to Rocky Mountain National Park. The lodge has structures that date back to the 1870s among its 35 buildings, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978.

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The lodge made the CPI endangered places list because it is currently for sale, and a proposal for a mixed-use development has recently been made. The current operator is hoping to secure financing and grants to purchase and rehabilitate the lodge.

In addition to the Elkhorn Lodge, the 2010 list includes the Colorado State Capitol Dome in Denver; Fort Carson’s Brown’s Sheep Camp; the Rio Grande Western Railroad Depot in Grand Junction; the outbuildings of Lake City; and the Willowcroft Manor and Farm in Columbine Valley.

CPI has named 80 sites to the list since it started in 1997. Of those, 17 have been designated as saved, 34 are in progress, 26 remain in alert and three have been lost.