Snowmass Village is a Home Rule Municipality in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,822 at the 2000 census. A popular winter resort location for skiing and snowboarding, the town is best known as the location of the Snowmass ski area, the largest of the four nearby ski areas operated collectively as Aspen/Snowmass.

Geography

Snowmass Village is located at (39.214104, -106.945288).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 25.6 square miles (66.2 km²), of which, 25.5 square miles (66.0 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.35%) is water.

Snowmass Village is to the north and at the base of the Snowmass Ski Area. It is on Brush Creek, not on Snowmass Creek, and takes its name from the ski area. Within the area of the town, Owl Creek and Brush Creek confluence then flow north into the Roaring Fork River. Visible from the village from east to west is: Burnt Mountain Ridge, Burnt Mountain, Baldy Mountain, Chapel Peak, Garret Peak, Clark Peak, Mount Daly, and Capitol Peak. Neither Snowmass Mountain nor Snowmass Peak, at the headwaters of Snowmass Creek, are visible from Snowmass Village. The rock of the Snowmass Village area is predominantly Mancos Shale. On south-facing slopes, this alkaline soil supports Gambel oak, Sagebrush, Serviceberry, and Chokecherry. The north-facing slopes feature Aspen, Subalpine fir, Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, and Blue spruce. Snowmass Village and adjacent Wildcat have a huge population of black bears which feed on the acorns and berries of the south-facing slopes.

History

The Brush Creek Valley was settled in about 1910 by ranching families including: Sinclair, Melton, Stapleton, and Hoaglund. *As a child, Hilder Hoaglund would ride her horse into Aspen to go to school. Her father, Charles Hoaglund immigrated from Sweden in the 1800s. After a school was built in Brush Creek, she attended school at the Brush Creek Frontier School, now called the Little Red Schoolhouse, located on Owl Creek Road. She became a teacher at that school and then at the Red Brick School in Aspen. At the schoolhouse, she would play the accordion or piano for community dances. When she married Bill Anderson, the Hoaglund Ranch became the Anderson Ranch. Paul Soldner, a ceramic artist noted for developing American Raku, established a studio in the Anderson Ranch buildings in 1966. In 1968, he founded the Anderson Ranch Art Center and it incorporated in 1973. The Anderson Ranch Art Center on Owl Creek Road uses many of the original buildings from the Hoaglund Ranch, although not in their original location, farther down stream on what is now Snowmass Club Circle.

Under the leadership of Bill Janss and DRC Brown, the American Cement Company developed Snowmass Village as a ski resort starting in 1966. *Hayfields were subdivided and the lots sold for houses. Brush Creek is an unappealing name for a ski area, so they named the resort Snowmass after the valley to the west of Brush Creek. Fritz Benidict acted as the architect of the Snowmass ski area. The west part of ski area, Campground, actually does extend into the Snowmass Valley. Five chairlifts were installed: Fanny Hill, Burlingame, and Sam's Knob, the Big Burn, and Campground. Brush Creek Road was paved in 1968. The former hayfield still had mostly alfalfa into the 1970s. The Snowmass Golf Course was first laid out with nine holes in (need date). It was expanded and redesigned several times (need dates), the latest in 2001 by James Engh. The periodic re-landscaping of the golf course led to the relocation of ranch houses and to changes in the valley floor from flat or slopping fields to rolling hills with ponds.

The Snowmass Wildcat Fire Protection District was founded in 1971 and the firehouse built on Owl Creek Road.

In 1977, the community incorporated as the Town of Snowmass Village. The Snowmass Chapel was built near the firehouse on Owl Creek Road in 1988. Previous to this time, church services were held in the Optigon Movie Theatre or in the open air Aspen Grove Chapel, located at what is now condominiums off Wood Road.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,822 people, 864 households, and 393 families residing in the town. The population density was 71.5 people per square mile (27.6/km²). There were 1,734 housing units at an average density of 68.0/sq mi (26.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.37% White, 0.16% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.71% Asian, 0.66% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.63% of the population.

There were 864 households out of which 19.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 2.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 54.4% were non-families. 36.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.74.

In the town the population was spread out with 15.8% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 41.6% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 128.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 132.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $57,059, and the median income for a family was $86,338. Males had a median income of $40,625 versus $37,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $35,224. About 1.7% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

• Town of Snowmass Village website
• CDOT map of the Town of Snowmass Village
• Snowmass Village Press (official website)
• Snowmass Village City Guide
• Snowmass Ski Resort (Snowmass articles and reviews)
• Snowmass-Wildcat Fire Protection District
• Snowmass Golf Club
• Anderson Ranch Arts Center
• The Snowmass Chapel
• Snowmass Colorado (part of AllApsen.com travel guide)