Aspen, Colorado

Aspen is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. Its population was 6,658 at the 2010 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains' Sawatch Range and Elk Mountains, along the Roaring Fork River at an elevation just below 8000 ft above sea level on the Western Slope, 11 mi west of the Continental Divide.

Founded as a mining camp during the Colorado Silver Boom and later named "Aspen" because of the abundance of aspen trees in the area, the city boomed during the 1880s, its first decade of existence. The boom ended when the Panic of 1893 led to a collapse in the silver market, and the city began a half-century known as "the quiet years" during which its population steadily declined, reaching a nadir of fewer than a thousand by 1930. Aspen's fortunes reversed in the mid-20th century when neighboring Aspen Mountain was developed into a ski resort, and industrialist Walter Paepcke bought many properties in the city and redeveloped them. Today it is home to three institutions, two of which Paepcke helped found, that have international importance: the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Aspen Institute, and the Aspen Center for Physics.

In the late-20th century, the city became a popular retreat for celebrities. Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson worked out of a downtown hotel and ran unsuccessfully for county sheriff. Singer John Denver wrote two songs about Aspen after settling there. Both of them popularized Aspen among the counter-cultural youth of the 1970s as an ideal place to live, and the city continued to grow even as it gained notoriety for some of the era's hedonistic excesses (particularly its drug culture).

Today the musicians and movie stars have been joined by corporate executives. As a result of this influx of wealth, Aspen has some of the most expensive real estate prices in the United States and many middle-class residents can no longer afford to live there. It remains a popular tourist destination, with outdoor recreation in the surrounding White River National Forest serving as a summertime complement to the four ski areas in the vicinity.

History


The city's roots are traced to the winter of 1879, when a group of miners ignored pleas by Frederick Pitkin, Governor of Colorado, to return across the Continental Divide to avoid a Ute uprising. The Utes were fighting to maintain possession of their land and communities. Originally named Ute City, the small community was renamed Aspen in 1880, and, in its peak production years of 1891 and 1892, surpassed Leadville as the United States' most productive silver-mining district. Production expanded due to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which doubled the government's purchase of silver. By 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, a police department, two theaters, an opera house, and electric lights. Economic collapse came with the Panic of 1893, when President Cleveland called a special session of congress and repealed the act. Within weeks, many of the Aspen mines were closed and thousands of miners were put out of work. It was proposed that silver be recognized as legal tender and the People's Party (populists) adopted that as one of its main issues. Davis H. Waite, an Aspen newspaperman and agitator, was elected governor of Colorado on the Democratic ticket, but in time the movement failed.

Eventually, after wage cuts, mining revived somewhat, but production declined and by the 1930 census only 705 residents remained. Remaining, however, were stocks of old commercial buildings and residences, along with excellent snow. Aspen's development as a ski resort began in the 1930s when investors conceived of a ski area, but the project was interrupted by World War II. Friedl Pfeifer, a member of the 10th Mountain Division who had trained in the area, returned to the area and linked up with industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth. The Aspen Skiing Corporation was founded in 1946 and the city quickly became a well-known resort, hosting the FIS World Championships in 1950. Paepcke also played an important role in bringing the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation to Aspen in 1949, an event held in a newly designed tent by the architect Eero Saarinen. Aspen was then on the path to becoming an internationally known ski resort and cultural center, home of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The area would continue to grow with the development of three additional ski areas, Buttermilk (1958), Aspen Highlands (1958), and Snowmass (1967).

In 1977, Aspen was thoroughly photographed for the Aspen Movie Map project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. The Movie Map is one of the earliest examples of virtual reality software.

In 1999, the city council passed a resolution to petition the US Congress and President Clinton to restrict US immigration. Aspen residents cited concerns about the environmental impacts of increased immigration on their community, including urban and suburban sprawl, pollution from the older automobiles typically driven by immigrants, and litter accumulating in the mountains attributable to the increasing population. The impetus for the resolution was the increasing number of trailer parks that housed the migrant workers employed locally in the service sector and ski industry. The parks were perceived to be degrading to the town's image, property values, and environment. The move was led by Terry Paulson, an Aspen City Council member, and supported and guided by national groups such as the Carrying Capacity Network, and the Center for Immigration Studies. The resolution was discussed on the American Patrol Report website, contributing to a controversy over whether or not the resolution was racially motivated. Councilman Terry Paulson and some Aspen citizens insisted that it was motivated entirely by environmental concerns.

Aspen is notable as the smallest radio market tracked by Arbitron, ranked number 302.

Local media in Aspen include three radio stations: KSNO, KTND, and KSPN; two daily newspapers: The Aspen Times and The Aspen Daily News; three local, lifestyle magazines: Aspen Sojourner, Aspen Magazine and the bi-annual Aspen Peak; one digital magazine, Skollie Magazine's Aspen Edition, as well as one local, live, lifestyle television channel, Aspen 82.

Government


Aspen is a home rule municipality under Colorado law. It has a council-manager government. An elected council of four members and the mayor supervise the city's operations, managed on a day-to-day basis by the city manager, an appointed official who serves at their pleasure. Steve Barwick has been city manager since 1999; Steve Skadron is the mayor.

The city's main office is at City Hall, the former Armory Hall listed on the National Register of Historic Places at the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hopkins Avenue. Because of its expansion in the late-20th century, it has outgrown that space. Several city departments are housed in satellite offices around the city.

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The historic character of the city has been challenged in recent decades by skyrocketing property values and the proliferation of second homes, increasingly shutting low- and middle-income workers out of the city and creating a large pool of commuters from nearby bedroom communities such as Snowmass, Basalt, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs. At the same time, in stark contrast to its historic character, the city has emerged into international fame as a glitzy playground of the wealthy and famous. Aspen has become a second and third home to many international jet setters.

The downtown has been largely transformed into an upscale shopping district that includes high-end restaurants, salons, and boutiques. Aspen boasts Ralph Lauren, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Van Cleef & Arpels, Valentino, theory and Ermenegildo Zegna shops.

Real estate market
Aspen was the most expensive place to buy real estate in the US in 2011. Aspen is a mixture of high-end luxury estates and condos intermixed with single-family homes and mobile home parks. As of March 2011, the lowest-priced single-family home on the market was a trailer for $559,000. As of June 2015, the median listing price for homes or condos for sale in Aspen is $5,081,388 or $897 a sq ft according to Trulia. It is not uncommon to see listing prices of the higher end homes reaching the mid-eight figures. In a 2015 survey of U.S. ski resort towns, Aspen was listed as having the second most expensive rentals, with a one-bedroom averaging $1,750.

Geography
The city sits along the southeast (upper) end of the Roaring Fork Valley, along the Roaring Fork River, a tributary of the Colorado River about 40 mi south of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is surrounded by mountain and wilderness areas on three sides: Red Mountain to the north, Smuggler Mountain to the east, and Aspen Mountain to the south.

Aspen is located at 39.1923°N, -106.82447°W, along State Highway 82.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.5 sqmi, all land.

Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Aspen has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) owing to its high elevation. There is a large diurnal temperature variation between daytime and nighttime temperatures, rendering summer days moderately warm and winter nights very cold for the latitude. Summer lows and winter highs are relatively moderate, with frosts being rare in summer and winter days often averaging above freezing.

Demographics


As of the census of 2003, there were 5,914 people, 2,903 households, and 1,082 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,675.4 people per square mile (646.9/km²). There were 4,354 housing units at an average density of 1,233.5 per square mile (476.2 per km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.94 percent White, 0.44 percent Black or African American, 0.24 percent  Native American, 1.45 percent  Asian, 0.08 percent  Pacific Islander, 1.64 percent from other races, and 1.20 percent from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.14 percent of the population.

There were 2,903 households, of which 16.5 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.8 percent were married couples living together, 5.6 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 62.7 percent were non-families. Single individuals composed 43.8 percent of all households and 4.8 percent had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.94 and the average family size was 2.67.

The ages of the population were 13.1 percent under the age of 18, 9.8 percent from 18 to 24, 42.1 percent from 25 to 44, 27.6 percent from 45 to 64, and 7.4 percent who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 115.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $53,750, and the median income for a family was $70,300. Males had a median income of $41,011 versus $32,023 for females. The per capita income for the city was $40,680. About 3.6 percent of families and 8.2 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.4 percent of those under age 18 and 2.6 percent of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

 * Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, or RFTA, provides free bus service within Aspen and Snowmass Village, and pay service to the surrounding communities of Basalt, El Jebel, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, and Rifle. Local RFTA bus service within Aspen and to Snowmass Village is free. Amtrak serves Glenwood Springs, offering in conjunction with RFTA an environmentally friendly way to travel to Aspen.
 * Aspen's only airport is Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, also known as Sardy Field. The airport is an FAA Class 1 airport and has one asphalt runway, 100 ft wide and 8006 ft long.
 * State Highway 82 is the only major road that provides access to Aspen. There are some mountain pass roads that lead to the city, but those require all-terrain vehicles and are typically impassable during the winter. Highway 82 east of Aspen is also impassable due to persistent snow on Independence Pass, leaving Highway 82 west of Aspen as the only means of motor vehicle access during the winter.
 * The bike-sharing system WE-CYCLE serves Aspen and Basalt with 16 stations and 200 bikes. Docking stations and bikes are built by PBSC Urban Solutions.

Education
As of 2012, based on data from the 2009–2010 school year, according to U.S. News & World Report, Aspen High School, the only high school in the Aspen School District, is the top ranked high school in Colorado and ranked 59th in the United States. The high school has grades 9 to 12, 540 students, and 41 teachers.

Minorities, mostly Hispanic, make up 13 percent of the school's enrollment. Four percent of the students are economically disadvantaged. The school has a high rate of participation in the International Baccalaureate program.

Sports
The Winter X Games sports event has been held in Aspen at Buttermilk (ski area) since 2002.

The Gentlemen of Aspen is the local rugby team. The Gentlemen of Aspen won the Rugby Super League several times: 1997, 2001, 2002. <!--

In film

 * The Searchers (1956) was partially shot in Aspen.
 * The fictional "Aspen Beer" seen in Alien (1979) is supposedly brewed in Aspen.
 * In the film Used Cars (1980) the character Luke Fuchs is falsely advertised to have journeyed to Aspen by a former employee as part of a plot to conceal his death.
 * Documentary producer Frederick Wiseman captured a diverse cross-section of local residents & culture in Aspen (1991).
 * The film Aspen Extreme (1993) is set in Aspen.
 * In the film Dumb and Dumber (1994), the main characters set off on a cross-country adventure culminating in their arrival in Aspen.
 * In the film Cougar Hunting (2011), the three buddies go to Aspen to pursue the booming trend of dating cougars.

In games

 * Some races in the video game DiRT 3 (2011) and Need for Speed: The Run (2011) are set in Aspen.

In television

 * In January 2012, the reality television series American Idol held auditions in Aspen.
 * In October 2011, several episodes of the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful took place in Aspen.
 * The City Confidential episode 4.13, "Aspen: Murder on the Slopes" (29 July 2003), featured the city of Aspen and the case.
 * In the Family Guy episode, "Road to Rupert", Brian and Stewie journey to Aspen to get back Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert
 * The South Park episode "Asspen" (2002) takes place in Aspen.


 * In the Desperate Housewives episode 6.21, "A Little Night Music", Gabrielle Solis tells her husband Carlos she wants a ski house in Aspen.
 * In the Revenge episode, "Duress", Aspen is referenced when Conrad and Victoria Grayson are discussing the fate of their properties in their divorce contracts.
 * In the Simpsons episode, "Double, Double, Boy In trouble", Bart Simpson meets his doppelgänger Simon Woosterfield. Simon leads an upper-class life and Bart leads a middle-class life. Bart switches lives with him. Simon has anwho go on a trip to Aspen. When Bart's parents find out that Bart has switched lives they go to Aspen to save Bart from skiing on a double black run on Ajax. The episode ends with the Simpson family in downtown Aspen.
 * In the Murder, She Wrote episode, "A Quacking in Aspen" Jessica Fletcher visits Laney Sherman Boswell in Aspen.
 * In September 2007, reality cooking show Top Chef held its finale starting at the Aspen Mountain Club.
 * In April 2008 in the Destination Tennis episode "Aspen, Colorado", the host traverses the globe in search of the most exciting and delicious adventures possible and one of the destinations in the series is Aspen.
 * In October 2014, Dateline NBC covered the murder of Nancy Pfister in Aspen, Colorado. -->

Sister cities


Aspen has seven sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:


 * 🇮🇹 Abetone, Italy
 * 🇨🇭 Davos, Switzerland
 * 🇫🇷 Chamonix, France
 * 🇩🇪 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
 * 🇳🇿 Queenstown, New Zealand
 * 🇦🇷 San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
 * 🇯🇵 Shimukappu, Japan