Santa Maria Camp Cassels - Grant, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 26.925 W 105° 38.016
13S E 445483 N 4366768
This Christian camp is now operated by the YMCA.
Waymark Code: WMPP1V
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 09/29/2015
Views: 2
"... the road follows the river to SANTA MARIA CAMP CASSELS (open daily), 57.9 m., a camp for girls, maintained by Mrs. John L. Dower of Denver. Each summer four groups of 160 girls, selected by charitable agencies among underprivileged Denver families, are brought here for two-week vacations. Much of the foodstuffs used at the camp is grown on the terraced and cultivated hillsides." page 392, Colorado. A Guide to the Highest State, 1941
"Further west beyond Bailey beside Highway 285 is Camp Santa Maria. It originated in the 1880s as Cassells, a resort on the South Platte River and a stop over point on the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad. The Dowers, members of the philanthropic Mullen family, purchased the property in 1930 and donated it to the Denver Archdiocese. Christened as Camp Santa Maria, it opened as a summer facility for underprivileged boys and girls ages 8 to 15. Kids came three-week summer sessions and slept in the old Cassells Hotel. A towering landmark was erected atop the hill behind the camp in 1933, a 55-foot statue of Christ the King donated by the Dower family.
As Camp Santa Maria grew, modern facilities replaced the old hotel. Catholic Community Services and expanded the camp in the 1950s with retreats and autumn camping for senior citizens. Jolene, now 34, remembers playing capture the flag with “so many good places to hide,” tubing on the lake, swimming in the pool, night-time campfires and long, mountain hikes. With her brother and a half-dozen younger cousins she enjoyed the camp for several summers; she went back as a youth counselor and even met her husband at Camp Santa Maria. The facility became a YMCA camp a decade ago, still offering adventure-based, co-ed summer fun.
The YMCA operates other vintage summer camps in Colorado. “Summer encampments” took place in the Rocky Mountain Region as early as the 1890s; in 1908 the “Y” established a permanent facility at Estes Park as a summer school to train YMCA workers. It expanded with family lodgings and family programs. As tourism increased in the 1950s and ‘60s, the camp expanded with new buildings. The site evolved into today’s year-round conference and family center. The Lula W. Dorsey Museum preserves and documents the history of the YMCA of the Rockies." Citation