St. Elmo is what many people picture when someone says “ghost town.” With its gorgeous scenery and attractive buildings, it’s one of Colorado’s premier ghost destinations.
Originally, the townsite that grew along Chalk Creek in 1879 was aptly called Forest City for the numerous spruce and pine trees in the area. But the post office refused the name, since a Forest City already existed in California. A committee of three chose St. Elmo (the patron saint of sailors) because of a popular 1866 novel of that name.
Silver and gold strikes in the Chalk Creek Mining District early in 1880 brought hundreds of people to St. Elmo. The town became a supply center for nearby mines and a jumping-off point for prospectors heading over passes to boomtowns such as Tincup and Aspen.
When the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad was completed to St. Elmo, the town’s future seemed assured. It became a favorite place for miners, freighters, and railroad workers to spend their Saturday nights, as they enjoyed St. Elmo’s many saloons.
Because of the travel trade, the town had five hotels. One guest, upon arriving at a hotel that was still getting its finishing touches, asked for a private room. The hotelier drew a chalk line around one of many beds and told him that he had given him a suite.
The failure of one mine after another and the closing of the railroad’s Alpine Tunnel in 1910 began the decline of St. Elmo. The Stark family, who owned the first house in town, remained after all others left. Muriel Sibell Wolle fondly recalls Mr. Stark in her classic book Stampede to Timberline: The Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Colorado. She said he was very gracious, insisting upon bringing her an armchair while she sketched. When she left his store in the otherwise-empty town, he warned, “Watch out for the streetcars!” She does not identify him except as Mr. Stark, but it was brothers Roy and Tony, along with their sister Annabelle, who ran the store until the late 1950s. After Wolle’s book came out in 1949, the Starks criticized her for daring to call St. Elmo a ghost town and blamed her for their lack of business.
St. Elmo today has more than forty antique structures. As you enter town, you’ll pass two restored buildings, the Pawnee Mill’s livery stable and its blacksmith shop. A house across the street is the information center for the Colorado Historical Society.
St. Elmo, with its dirt streets and wooden boardwalks, has the true look of a ghost town.
The current center of activity is the Miners Exchange, a log building with a frame false front, where you can purchase all manner of Colorado and ghost town merchandise. Perhaps the most enjoyable item to buy is food for the insatiable chipmunks that cadge snacks from visitors.
Down the street is an authentic reconstruction of the town hall and jail, which burned in 2002 along with two other buildings. Across the street is the Stark Brothers Store and sixteen-bedroom Home Comfort Hotel, built around 1885 and closed to the public at this writing. The store also housed the post office, telephone exchange, and telegraph. Attached to the Stark store (in an architecturally creative fashion) is the 1881 Heightley Cottage.
The road to Tincup Pass heads north from town. Take that road to see the completely restored 1882 one-room schoolhouse; then follow the road as it turns west to view two stores and several residences. Beyond St. Elmo, the road to Tincup Pass is for four-wheel-drive, high-clearance vehicles only.
WHEN YOU GO
St. Elmo is 24 miles southwest of Buena Vista, which is 90 miles northwest of Victor. From Buena Vista, drive south about 8.5 miles to Nathrop on U. S. Highway 285. South of Nathrop only .3 of a mile is Road 162. Take that road west for 15.4 miles to St. Elmo. The road is an old railroad grade and is suitable for passenger vehicles in good weather.
The Stark Brothers Store and Comfort Hotel is a false-front classic of the American West. Note how a second-story roof addition connects it to the adjoining Heightly Cottage.