Georgetown, Colorado
| Georgetown | |
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 View of 6th Street in Georgetown - Masonic Temple in the foreground |
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| Location in county and in Colorado | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1859 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Colorado |
| County : | Clear Creek County |
| Coordinates : | 39 ° 42 ′ N , 105 ° 42 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 ) |
| Residents : | 1,034 (as of 2010) |
| Population density : | 413.6 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 2.7 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) of which 2.5 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 2600 m |
| Postal code : | 80444 |
| Area code : | +1 303 |
| FIPS : | 08-29735 |
| GNIS ID : | 0181892 |
| Website : | www.town.georgetown.co.us |
| Mayor : | Thomas A. Bennhoff |
 North view |
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Georgetown is a small community in the US state of Colorado . It is located around 70 km west of Denver in the Front Range on Clear Creek .
history
Georgetown was founded in 1859 during the Colorado Gold Rush by George and David Griffith, two prospectors from Kentucky , and named after him in memory of the older of the two brothers. The settlement did not grow until September 14, 1864, when James Huff found silver 15 km above the valley - in the area of the Argentine Pass . In the following years, gold and silver ore were mined in countless mines around Georgetown and the settlement quickly became a center of prospectors and ore prospectors. Located on the valley floor, Georgetown itself was not a mining camp, but it was a business and entertainment center for the miners.
In 1868 the settlement was combined to form the new community Georgetown and this wrested the administrative seat of Clear Creek County from neighboring (and now larger) Idaho Springs in the same year . The construction of the narrow-gauge Colorado Central Railroad from Denver via Golden and Georgetown to Silver Plume in the 1870s secured the community a key position in the region at the time. Most of the line was later dismantled, the remaining section from Georgetown to Silver Plume is now used as the Georgetown Loop Railway for tourist purposes.
In the 1880s, Georgetown, with the greatest growth and prosperity, was already at the height of its young history and vied with Leadville for the status of the “mining capital” of Colorado. Before the silver boom finally collapsed in 1893, the community had a population of around 10,000 and a local movement even briefly considered an attempt to "disempower" Colorado's capital, Denver.
After the end of the silver boom, the population continued to decline. In the 1950s, the first efforts began to attract the countless winter sports enthusiasts who pass the community on their way to the ski areas on the Loveland and Guanella Passes with après-ski . From then on, shops geared towards tourism replaced the once-dilapidated facades from the 19th century and secured an economic factor that is still important today.
The historic center of Georgetown was used in 1978 as the setting for a scene in the film The Man from San Fernando with Clint Eastwood . It is the birthplace of actor Arthur Hoyt .
