Maroon Bells									Welcome to Pitkin County COGenWeb Project
Coordinator Needed for Pitkin County, COGenWeb Project. Contact  Gail Meyer Kilgore to adopt this county BRIEF HISTORY Pitkin County was carved out of Gunnison County in 1881 and the county seat is Aspen.   The first settlers came to the Roaring Fork Valley in search of silver in 1879.   Almost all of the early settlers arrived from Leadville, Colorado in neighboring Lake County, via Independence Pass. The largest silver nugget in the world, weighing over one ton, was found in Smuggler Mine in 1894.  The county contains 975 square miles of rugged terrain.   It's eastern boundary is the Continental Divide; the Crystal, Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers flow in from the north.  The town of Aspen, originally known as Ute City, was founded in 1880 and incorporated in 1881.  Aspen, elevation 7800 feet, is surrounded by 14,000 foot mountains and is located on State Highway 82 on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in the Roaring Fork Valley.  In 1948 Aspen was re-developed by Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke into the world famous ski resort that it is today.   The town of Redstone is the site of the historic Redstone Castle, built by John C. Osgood.  Charming Redstone Castle is now a bed and breakfast facility and the site of many weddings.  Please note that Pitkin County is somewhat boxed in by high mountains. Parts of Gunnison and Garfield County play a large role in Pitkin County history. If you don't find what you are looking for here - be sure to check out these neighboring counties. Neighbors Chaffee  |  Eagle  | Garfield  |  Gunnison  |  Lake  | Mesa Visit another County  |  Visit another State

	Archives	Archives for Pitkin County
	Biographies	Taken from 1905 "Progressive Men of Western Colorado", transcribed courtesy of Judy Crook.  A reading list for further research. Most of these books can be obtained through interlibrary loan.
	Cemeteries	A list of known cemeteries and graves in the county
	Family Group Sheets	Browse or submit a fmaily group sheet.
	Lookups, Volunteers, & Researchers	Get some help here or give some help!
	Mail List	Join the Pitkin Co mailing list to share research tips and get help from fellow Pitkin County researchers.
	Maps	Early and modern maps to help your research
	Progressive Men of Western Colorado	Index from "Progressive Men of Western Colorado", Published 1905, transcribed courtesy of Judy Crook.
	Photos - Page 1 Photos - Page 2	Early photos of Pitkin places and people. Send yours in for posting!
	Queries	Post/View queries, & view other records here
	Resources	Where to go for further research
	Surnames	Find other folks researching your surname in Pitkin County.
	Towns and Places	A list of populated places, with dates of existence and comments.
	World War I Draft Registrants	Courtesy of Ray Banks

Copyright © 1998-2001 by Vikki Gray,
© 2009 by Gail Meyer Kilgore for the benefit of the USGenWeb Project.
A big thank you is in order for the previous county coordinators, Gail Meyer Kilgore, Charles Barnum, Rod Skinner, and Vikki Gray!  If you would like to contribute your information to this page, please contact me Gail Meyer Kilgore

If you would like to volunteer as a transcriber, county coordinator, cemetery transcriptions, cemetery gravestone photographs or just about anything email the State Coordinator.