The plaques read:
"ARMORY HALL"
was built in three months
and four days during the early winter
of 1891-92, at a cost of $15,000.
Its completion was marked by an
inaugural ball on January 21, 1892.
The building has served the
Aspen community in a variety of ways:
Miliraty Armory, Social and Fraternal Hall,
Auditorium, Gymnasium, and Roller Rink.
City Government moved here in 1957;
it has since been known as City Hall.
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ARMORY HALL
Built in 1892 to house local militia on the first floor and a fraternal lodge on the second floor, this was a multi-purpose building from its inception. During the first decade, Armory Hall was used for dances, balls, concerts and other social events. The Silver Queen statue was temporarily displayed here before traveling to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and Aspenites could view the statue for fifty cents. During Aspen's "Quiet Years," the armory was used as a roller rink, auditorium and gymnasium. After the original City Hall on Durant Avenue was demolished, the building began to be used for City meetings. In 1944 the city leased the building for 25 years for $1.00 per year. The City of Aspen acquired the building by quiet title in 1956, and it has been City Hall ever since.
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"Equivalent in height to a three-story building, the hall was constructed in 1892 to house local militia activities on the first floor and a fraternal hall on the second. Over the years, it provided space for a wide variety of community activities, and it has served as the city hall since 1956. The walls are of red brick, and the building’s steeply pitched truncated gable roof includes three evenly spaced hipped roof dormers on its north and south sides. " (from (
visit link) )
The NRHP form may be found at (
visit link) .
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"History of Aspen (originally Ute City)
Aspen, which originally was named Ute City, was erected as a mining town in the mid 1800s, and was renamed in 1880 after the abundance of aspen trees in the area. The first inhabitants of Aspen were a group of headstrong miners who, in 1879, ignored the pleas of Frederick Pitkin, then governor of Colorado, to return across the Continental Divide due to an uprising of the Ute Indians.
Silver was discovered soon after Aspen was founded, and by 1891, it was considered the largest silver mining district in the US. What was once a small mountain town of 300 residents had exploded into a busy populous of 12,000 people, six newspapers, two theaters, an opera house, and, an old-west tradition, a small brothel district.
Between 1891 and1893, Aspen was at its peak both in terms of riches and people, but the good times weren’t meant to last. In 1893 the Sherman Silver Act was repealed which demonetized silver, with significant repercussions for the town’s economy.
Aspen almost became a ghost town as most of the mines closed, thus putting thousands of people out of work. A few remained open, but wages were cut, and by 1930 only 705 people chose to stay. Ironically, one year after the Sherman act was repealed, one of the largest nuggets of silver ever mined was pulled from the Smuggler mine, weighing in at 2,350 pounds!
Following World War II, Aspen had a re-animation when the visionary Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke arrived. In 1949, Paepcke started the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation, attracting 2,000 musicians and humanitarians to Aspen. In 1946, Paepcke and Friedl Pfeifer, a member of the 10th Mountain Division, started the Aspen Sking Co, thus transforming the town into what would become an international resort destination. In 1950, Paepcke also started the Aspen Institute, driven by his desire to have a “utopian community for the mind and body.”
Today, Aspen offers three additional ski areas, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands, and Snowmass, and has become a year-round destination for recreation, arts, and businesses alike." (from (
visit link) )