Chapter 5 THE AUTOMOBILE AGE BEGINS, 1890-1930 - Colorado ...

By the early 1920s, the Highway Department knew the political necessities of putting on a tourist
friendly face to the rest of America. Inter-department correspondence of the time reflects the
caution of the Highway Department’s leadership:
“Major Blauvelt is disinclined to publish a map in which we definitely state that
any Colorado highway is impassable. This should be modified in some way –
such as, ‘poor condition’ or ‘very poor condition.’ Or what is better yet, leave the
key showing ‘state highway’ but saying nothing about the condition.”(Colorado
Department of Highways, 1923).
5.5.1 Colorado’s Private Auto Roads
Colorado points with pride to its egalitarian roots, but some of its first important auto roads were
built by the wealthy for the wealthy. Two men – Frelan Stanley and Spencer Penrose –
symbolized the elitist nature of the automobile’s first decade.
In 1903, one of the inventors of the Stanley Steamer, Frelan Stanley, successfully drove a
Steamer from Denver to Estes Park, then an elite resort near Long’s Peak. Upon completing his
journey, Stanley believed that the Rocky Mountains should be the highlight of every automobile
owners cross-country travels. Stanley proceeded to build a huge tract of land, build a hotel, and
run a fleet of Stanley Steamer Wagons from Denver and other Front Range cities to his new
resort. A torrent of visitors to the Stanley Hotel over the proceeding decade turned Estes Park
from an isolated retreat for wealthy hunters to one of the leading tourist attractions in the state.
By 1913, Estes Park counted 50,000 visitors a year (Thomas, 1996: 55-6).
One of Colorado’s homegrown millionaires took Stanley’s plans one-step further. Colorado
Springs mining baron Spencer Penrose boasted a fleet of cars at a time when most rural
Coloradoans had yet to see one drive past. The Colorado Springs Gazette noted in 1910 that
Penrose had to build an addition of an oversized garage on to his home to house his four canarycolored
Lozier cars costing some $5,000 each (Breckenridge, 1985: 186). When he was not out
buying automobiles, Penrose stayed active in the Colorado chapter of the National Good Roads
Association, the Rocky Mountain Highway Association and the creation of the State Highway
Commission in 1909. Penrose spent a quarter of a million dollars to transform an old carriage
Final
CDOT Historic Highway Context
5-14