Central City--Black Hawk Historic District - Gilpin County, Colorado - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Central City and Black Hawk are less than a mile apart. Central City was the location of most of the gold strikes; Black Hawk developed the milling and refining operations; both had their share of saloons, merchants and supply stores. After gold became harder to extract and the mines were closed during World War II, the economy of the area declined. The towns were revitalized in the 1960s as recreations of mining towns with gift shops and history museums. However, this did not provide a strong economic base.

In the 1990s, the voters of Colorado allowed limited stakes gambling in Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek. Black Hawk has proven to be the big winner in this gambit (sorry for the pun!) since Black Hawk had the most undeveloped land so newer casinos could be built without the restrictions the a National Historic Designation placed on all the existing structures in Central City. Sadly, Central City is very quiet and not really being supported by the gamblers. Black Hawk just cutoff the shared bus service to Central City which will make it even less attractive for people to visit Central City.

The above coordinates are for the sign designating the historic district on the road between Central City and Black Hawk. The NHRD approved application may be found at (visit link) . The form encompasses 414 contributing items. That about covers every structure in the area!

Central City - (visit link)

Black Hawk - (visit link)

Street address: CO USA 80423 County / Borough / Parish: Gilpin Year listed: 1966 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event Periods of significance: 1850-1874 Historic function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic, Industry/Processing/Extraction Current function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic, Recreation Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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