The “Legends of Aspen” film series, a joint project of the Pitkin County Library and the Aspen Hall of Fame, will screen six short films at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 in the Dunaway.
It is interesting that there is a similarity between today and when the Aspen Skiing Co. opened its first two lifts, notes Tim Willoughby in this week’s Legends & Legacies. The Silver Queen Gondola entices skiers to ski top-to-bottom runs. The first two lifts, by necessity, did the same.
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Gillespie House, later dubbed the Ghost House, circa 1890. Photo Courtesy Aspen Historical Society
The “Ghost House” has been long forgotten because the house is no longer there, but in 1951 debate over its fate dominated community dialogue.
That was the nickname for the Henry P. Gillespie house. Gillespie, one of Aspen’s early founders and reportedly the first to become a millionaire, built the house in 1881. It cost $35,000, ($750,000 in today’s dollars), but at the time it was one of the most elegant of Aspen’s houses, a classic Victorian with lots of gingerbread ornamentation. Gillespie, one of the first mine investors to come to Aspen, bought the Spar and Galena claims on Aspen Mountain from two of the first prospectors to search the area.
Aspen’s first Easter sunrise service in 1951. Photo Courtesy Aspen Historical Society/Renquist Collection
Easter has its religious roots and in addition there are non-religious traditions like Easter egg hunts and school and college vacations. Aspen created a few more local interpretations.
As a tourist town Aspen’s calendar is marked by seasons, not summer and winter but ski season and trout time. Once the Aspen Skiing Company opened for business it had to have a closing date, Easter was a convenient and logical one although complicated because Easter is not always at the same time each year. Snow conditions were not relevant as there is ample snow after Easter, often some of the largest storms come after.