%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Central City–Black Hawk Historic District http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-black-hawk-historic-district <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Central City–Black Hawk Historic District</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * 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field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/black-hawk-today"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Central%20City%20Media%207.jpg?itok=bklvXQ-4" width="850" height="768" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/black-hawk-today" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Black Hawk Today</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After a 1990 state constitutional amendment allowed Central City and Black Hawk to have casino gambling in the name of historic preservation, Black Hawk let large modern casinos overtake its historic core.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-19T14:19:17-07:00" title="Monday, December 19, 2016 - 14:19" class="datetime">Mon, 12/19/2016 - 14:19</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city-black-hawk-historic-district" data-a2a-title="Central City–Black Hawk Historic District"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcentral-city-black-hawk-historic-district&amp;title=Central%20City%E2%80%93Black%20Hawk%20Historic%20District"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Central City and Black Hawk took shape during the boom years after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold on May 6, 1859, near the North Fork of <a href="/article/clear-creek-canyon-0"><strong>Clear Creek</strong></a> in what is now <a href="/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin County</strong></a>. For much of the 1860s and 1870s, the area was the richest <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>mining</strong></a> region in Colorado, and Central City rivaled <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> as the territory’s cultural capital. The towns lost prominence and population as the area’s mining stagnated and then declined over the next fifty years, but the revival of the <a href="/article/central-city-opera"><strong>Central City Opera House</strong></a> in 1932 helped attract tourists and spur <strong>historic preservation</strong>. In 1990 Colorado voters approved an amendment allowing the towns to have casinos, which generated millions of dollars for the local economy and historic preservation but also transformed the towns they were supposed to help preserve.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City, Black Hawk, and the nearby town of Nevadaville formed around one of the earliest major gold discoveries in the Rocky Mountains. Prospectors had first rushed to Colorado in the fall of 1858 and spring of 1859, after reports of gold finds near what is now Denver. By late spring 1859, however, much of the early optimism had faded and many “go-backers” were returning east with disappointment and empty pockets.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On May 6, just as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> was being declared dead, Gregory, a Georgian, struck gold near the North Fork of Clear Creek between what is now Black Hawk and Central City; a historic marker now stands at this spot. The news reached Denver a week later, and by early June Gregory Gulch was teeming with more than 4,000 prospectors living in tents and crude lean-tos. The population briefly ballooned to more than 20,000 later that summer, but shrank again when it was discovered that the area’s gold was bound up with quartz, making it difficult to extract and refine. Despite that, in 1859 prospectors in Gregory Gulch mined more than $1.5 million in gold.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As people streamed into Gregory Gulch, small mining camps sprouted up and down the valley. The town closest to Gregory’s find was originally called Gregory’s Diggings but soon became known as Mountain City. At the upper end of the valley about two miles to the west, discoveries on Quartz Hill led to the start of nearby Nevada City (Nevadaville). By the fall of 1859, a new town, Central City, was established between Mountain City and Nevada City. Soon it developed into the social and economic center of the region and became the county seat when Gilpin County was formed in 1861.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, in the spring of 1860 migrants from Illinois established a stamp mill—a facility that pulverizes ore to extract metals—where Gregory Gulch met the North Fork of Clear Creek. The mill was made by the Black Hawk Quartz Mill Company, and the area was soon called Black Hawk Point, then simply Black Hawk. With its relatively flat land and downstream location, Black Hawk developed into the hub for processing and transporting ores from the area’s mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City and Black Hawk boomed for about five years after 1859. Known as the “richest square mile on earth,” Central City was arguably the most important town in <a href="/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>. Buildings progressed from tents to log cabins to wood frames as the area moved from crude mining camps to established towns. Social and cultural development accompanied physical growth. In July 1859, local Methodists held their first service, and the next year the congregation’s log cabin was the first church building in the Colorado mountains. In November 1860, <strong>Bishop Joseph Machebeuf</strong> held the first Catholic mass in Mountain City. The most important early structure in Central City was Washington Hall (1861), which was the city’s main public building in the 1860s and later served as City Hall. Former slave <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/clara-brown"><strong>Clara Brown</strong></a> opened a laundry in Central City, and future senator <a href="/article/henry-teller"><strong>Henry Teller</strong></a> started a law office. In 1862 the Central City <em>Tri-Weekly Miner’s Register</em> started publication and the city’s first public school opened.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Smelter</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, the initial boom in Central City and Black Hawk had slowed down. The ongoing Civil War stifled migration and investment, and by about 1864 most of the area’s easy gold had been mined. Plenty of gold remained, but the ores were much harder to process because they contained gold in combination with sulfides. The Gilpin County economy stagnated while waiting for new infusions of capital and technology to make mining profitable again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The turnaround came in 1868, when chemistry professor <a href="/article/nathaniel-p-hill"><strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong></a> of Brown University introduced a new smelting—or metal extraction—process that he discovered in Wales. Hill and a group of Boston investors started the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk, and by 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 of ores per year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thanks to Hill’s smelting process as well as the arrival of the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> in Black Hawk in 1872, the 1870s was the most prosperous period in Gilpin County history. In 1871 the county’s gold production peaked at $3.2 million, and Central City rivaled Denver in cultural and political influence. Construction boomed. Local lawyer and businessman Henry Teller, who helped bring the Colorado Central to the area, invested in a grand four-story brick hotel called the <a href="/article/teller-house"><strong>Teller House</strong></a>, which opened in June 1872 with 150 rooms.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Fire of 1874</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Black Hawk never suffered any major fires, but Central City survived two devastating fires in the 1870s. The first, in January 1873, burned sixteen buildings. It proved to be merely a warm-up for the catastrophic fire of May 21, 1874, which destroyed about 150 of the town’s buildings. The Teller House and Washington Hall survived, but many of the town’s early structures were lost. Some people left town instead of rebuilding, but in general Central City was prosperous enough to immediately invest in improvements and new buildings. The town’s streets were widened and graded in the wake of the fire, and in 1875 eighty new buildings went up. To prevent future fires, new building codes prohibited wood construction in the business district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining and construction continued to boom in the late 1870s. Colorado’s admission to <strong>statehood</strong> in 1876 helped spur investment in the new state’s mines, and in 1877 Teller became one of the state’s first US senators. The most significant symbol of Central City’s ambitions in these years was the Central City Opera House. Central City’s longstanding love of theater stretched back to the opening of Hadley Hall in 1859 in Mountain City; the new opera house was an impressive stone structure completed in 1878 from a design by <a href="/article/robert-s-roeschlaub"><strong>Robert Roeschlaub</strong></a>. The opera house had a two-day opening ceremony, with vocal and instrumental performances on March 4 and a theatrical performance on March 5. With a capacity of 750 people, the Central City Opera House was regarded as the top theater in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City­–Black Hawk area lost some of its luster, for several reasons. First, statehood increased Denver’s importance, and the capital began to exert a strong gravitational pull on Central City’s wealthiest residents. Without its elites, Central City no longer mattered as much in state politics and culture. Second, new silver booms in places like <strong>Leadville</strong> and <a href="/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a> stole attention away from Gilpin County. In 1876 the county had produced about half of the state’s mineral wealth, but in the 1880s that figure dropped to roughly 10 percent. Gilpin County continued to lead the state in gold production, but the big bonanzas lay elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House turned out to be one of the last major buildings constructed in the area. It suffered a quick decline after the <a href="/article/tabor-grand-opera-house"><strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong></a> in Denver displaced it as the state’s finest theater in 1881. That year, the three-year-old opera house was sold to Gilpin County for use as a courthouse. Outraged citizens bought the building back, but over the next few decades it hosted more political rallies and wrestling matches than top-flight theatrical performances.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The presence of gold in Central City and Black Hawk saved the area from the collapse that many Colorado mining towns suffered after the <strong>repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act </strong>in 1893. The area even experienced a brief resurgence in the 1890s as gold mining revived and new technologies made production cheaper. The Gilpin County Courthouse, built in 1900, was a product of this period of renewed optimism. Yet even then, Central City and Black Hawk were overshadowed by the gold-mining boom at <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cripple-creek"><strong>Cripple Creek</strong></a>. By the early twentieth century, only a handful of mining operations remained.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With commodity prices rising faster than the price of gold, it was only a matter of time before gold mining no longer paid. The moment of reckoning finally came during the inflation that accompanied <a href="/article/colorado-world-war-i"><strong>World War I</strong></a>. In 1917 the Gilpin Tramway was abandoned after providing thirty years of local transportation throughout the mining district, and by 1918 nearly all mining operations were suspended. Some residents moved their houses elsewhere, and abandoned buildings were used for firewood. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left, and Black Hawk had roughly 200.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining experienced a minor revival during the <strong>Great Depression</strong>, when cheaper labor and higher gold prices made it profitable again. After the commercial mining of gold was prohibited during World War II, however, mining never fully recovered in Gilpin County. Nevadaville became a ghost town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City began to rely on its rich history to generate tourism. In the early 1930s the Central City Opera House Association restored the shuttered opera house and reopened it in July 1932 with a production of <em>Camille</em>. The association’s summer opera festivals, held almost every year except during World War II, helped bring new visitors and summer residents to the area. By 1940 the festival had grown to twenty-four performances that drew a combined audience of more than 20,000. Summer tourism surged in the decade after World War II, growing to 300,000 visitors in 1949 and more than half a million in 1955. Central City Opera became involved in historic preservation by acquiring the Teller House and several old residences in town to house festival staff and artists. In 1959 the Gilpin County Historical Society was founded, and in 1961 Central City became a National Historic Landmark; the district boundary was later expanded to include Black Hawk and Nevadaville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As the ski industry transformed Colorado tourism in the 1960s and 1970s, however, visitation to Central City and Black Hawk declined. Central City Opera lost audiences to modern venues such as the Santa Fe Opera and the <strong>Denver Performing Arts Complex</strong>. In 1982 Central City Opera’s rising debts forced it to cancel its fiftieth anniversary season. The festival returned in 1983 and soon rebuilt its audience, but Central City and Black Hawk continued to face a financial crisis caused by mounting infrastructure costs and declining tax dollars. Buildings were in disrepair and in danger of collapsing, and Central City had no money to fix a water supply that had been condemned by the state health department. After about 130 years in existence, Central City and Black Hawk had only a few hundred residents and faced the distinct possibility that they might soon join Nevadaville as ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Inspired by the example of the famous Old West town of Deadwood, South Dakota, where gambling was legalized in 1989 to generate revenue for preservation, residents in Central City and Black Hawk joined with Cripple Creek to push for an amendment to the state constitution that would allow limited-stakes gaming. The original idea was that existing businesses might add a few slot machines and a card table, with half of the revenue going to the state, 28 percent to the State Historical Fund, 12 percent to Gilpin and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/teller-county"><strong>Teller</strong></a> Counties, and 10 percent to the three towns. In November 1990, 57 percent of the state’s voters approved <strong>Amendment 4</strong>, which was billed as a preservation measure, and the first casinos opened on October 1, 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>One result of the gambling amendment was to flip the historical relationship between Central City and Black Hawk. Central City had always been the wealthier and more prominent of the two, but the same things that made Black Hawk a good mill town—flat land and easier access to Denver—also made it a good casino town. Starting in 1993, casinos in Black Hawk accounted for a majority of gambling in Gilpin County, and within a few years they generated two-thirds of the non-tribal gambling revenue in the state. In an attempt to short-circuit Black Hawk’s advantage, in 2004 Central City acquired a 150-foot-wide strip of land leading from the town to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/interstate-70"><strong>Interstate 70</strong></a> and constructed a $38.3 million highway. When it opened, the Central City Parkway promised to increase the town’s gambling revenue by giving people a direct route to Central City that did not involve passing through Black Hawk. But the new parkway did little to affect Black Hawk’s dominance. In recent years, Black Hawk’s roughly seventeen casinos have generated more than $90 million in taxes—about 85 percent of the statewide total—while Central City’s six casinos have generated more than $6 million, or almost 6 percent of the statewide total.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Twenty-five years later, gambling proved to be a mixed blessing. Advocates pointed out that casinos had saved Central City and Black Hawk by attracting visitors and generating money for local improvements and statewide historic preservation. By the early 2000s the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining. But opponents noted that gambling, like mining before it, had crowded out other businesses and fundamentally changed the towns it was meant to preserve. In 1998 development threats led the National Trust for Historic Preservation to name Central City and Black Hawk among the most endangered historic places in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Today Central City, Black Hawk, and Nevadaville represent three possible fates for a Colorado mining town in the twenty-first century. Nevadaville is now a ghost town with only a few buildings left standing. Black Hawk has displayed an unrestrained pursuit of profit at the expense of preservation and is dominated by huge new casinos and a thirty-three-story hotel that towers over the landscape. Central City has not been immune to new gambling-oriented development, but it has managed to preserve much of its historic core, and Central City Opera continues to attract some visitors interested in the town’s history and culture rather than its casinos.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city" hreflang="en">Central City</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera" hreflang="en">central city opera</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-opera-house-association" hreflang="en">Central City Opera House Association</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/black-hawk" hreflang="en">Black Hawk</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nevadaville" hreflang="en">Nevadaville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/john-gregory" hreflang="en">John Gregory</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-gold-rush" hreflang="en">Colorado Gold Rush</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gilpin-county" hreflang="en">Gilpin County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nathaniel-hill" hreflang="en">Nathaniel Hill</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/henry-teller" hreflang="en">Henry Teller</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/central-city-fire-1874" hreflang="en">Central City Fire of 1874</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/tourism" hreflang="en">tourism</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/amendment-4" hreflang="en">Amendment 4</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gambling" hreflang="en">gambling</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p><a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Fact%20Abstract%202015%20DRAFTv6-FINAL.pdf">“2015 Fact Book &amp; Abstract,”</a> Colorado Division of Gaming.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alan Granruth, <em>Mining Gold to Mining Wallets: Central City, Colorado, 1859–1999</em> (1999).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alan Granruth, ed., <em>The Little Kingdom of Gilpin: Gilpin County, Colorado</em> (Central City, CO: Gilpin Historical Society, 2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Rickey L. Hendricks and Julie A. Corona, “Central City–Black Hawk Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (April 1990).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sarah J. Pearce and Christine Pfaff, <em>Guide to Historic Central City and Black Hawk</em> (Evergreen, CO: Cordillera Press, 1987).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Colorado: A History of the Centennial State</em>, 5th ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Roger Baker, <em>Black Hawk: The Rise and Fall of a Colorado Mill Town</em> (Central City, CO: Black Hawk Publishing, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Patricia A. Stokowski, <em>Riches and Regrets: Betting on Gambling in Two Colorado Mountain Towns</em> (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Wyckoff, <em>Creating Colorado: The Making of a Western American Landscape, 1860–1940</em> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Central City and Black Hawk began after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold on May 6, 1859.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Colorado Gold Rush began in 1858-1859. Prospectors heard reports of gold strikes near what is now <strong>Denver</strong>. By late spring 1859, many “go-backers” were returning east with empty pockets and disappointment. Just as the Colorado Gold Rush was being declared over, John Gregory struck gold on May 6, 1859. He was near the North Fork of <strong>Clear Creek</strong>. A historic marker now stands at this spot. More than 4,000 prospectors rushed to this area when they heard the news. They lived in tents and simple lean-tos. The little town was named Gregory’s Diggings. Its population grew to 20,000 later in the summer. It shrank again when the news came that the gold in this area was bound up with quartz. This made it hard to separate the gold and quartz.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The total value of gold that prospectors mined in Gregory Gulch was more than $1.5 million. The town of Gregory’s Diggings became known as Mountain City. Another town, Nevada City, was started about two miles to the west. It became known as Nevadaville. A new town, between Mountain City and Nevada City, was started in the fall of 1859. Central City was its name. In 1860 a stamp mill was built near the spot where Gregory first struck gold. A stamp mill is a large machine that crushes rocks containing gold so the gold can be taken out. The mill was built by the Black Hawk Quartz Mill Company. This area soon became known as Black Hawk Point, and then just Black Hawk. Black Hawk was the hub where ore was processed and transported from the area’s mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After 1859, Black Hawk and Central City boomed for about five years. They were known as “the richest square mile on earth.” Central City became the most important town in the <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>. Over the next five years, the tents were replaced with log cabins. Log cabins became wood frame buildings. Mining camps turned into actual towns. Central City now had two churches, a laundry, a city hall, a law office, a public school, and a town newspaper.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Smelter</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, Central City and Black Hawk were no longer booming. One reason was that most of the “easy” gold had been mined, even though plenty of gold remained deep in the mountains. In 1868 a chemistry professor from the east, Nathaniel P. Hill, introduced a new process called “smelting” to separate the metals from the ore. By 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 of ore per year. The very next year Gilpin County’s gold production peaked at $3.2 million. Construction boomed. <strong>Henry Teller</strong>, a lawyer and businessman in Central City, invested in a grand four-story brick hotel called the <strong>Teller House</strong>. The Teller House opened in June 1872 with 150 rooms. It helped bring the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> to the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1870s, Central City survived two major fires. Mining and construction kept booming. Colorado became a state in 1876. More people invested their money in the mines. The Central City Opera House was built in 1878. It could seat 750 people and was thought to be the top theater in the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City-Black Hawk area lost some of its luster. First, Denver was now the capital city of Colorado. Some of Central City’s richest residents moved to Denver. Second, new silver booms in places like <strong>Leadville</strong> and <strong>Aspen</strong> drew people away from the area. Gilpin County still led the state in gold production, but the big bonanzas were happening in other parts of the state. The <strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong> was built in Denver in 1881. The Central City Opera House was no longer the top theater of the state. The Central City Opera House was sold to <strong>Gilpin County</strong> to be used as a courthouse. Angry citizens bought the building back to preserve it.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>There were a few years in the 1890s when gold was mined again. By the early 1900s, only a handful of mining operations remained. By the end of World War I, most mining was suspended. Some residents moved their homes to other places. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left. Black Hawk had about 200 people left.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>During the <strong>Great Depression</strong> (1929-1939), mining had a brief comeback. It never fully recovered in Gilpin County after World War II. Central City used its rich history to save it from becoming a ghost town. In the early 1930s, the Central City Opera House Association restored the opera house. It reopened in July 1932. Summer opera festivals were held almost every year except during World War II. The number of tourists grew by leaps and bounds. The Gilpin County Historical Society was started in 1959. More old homes and buildings were restored. During the 1960s and 1970s, the ski industry changed Colorado tourism. Central City and Black Hawk weren’t as popular as before. Tourists visited other opera houses in Denver and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Just like fifty years before, the two towns looked for a way to keep from becoming ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City and Black Hawk needed to find a way to attract tourists. The two towns had heard about what the famous Old West town of Deadwood, South Dakota, had done in 1989. Deadwood’s solution was to legalize limited-stakes gambling. Tourists started going to Deadwood to gamble. Black Hawk and Central City decided to imitate this plan. Before 1990 it was illegal to gamble in the state of Colorado. Black Hawk and Central City joined with the town of Cripple Creek to support an amendment to the Colorado constitution. Amendment 4 allowed limited-stakes gambling in these three towns. Money from gambling would be used to save historic buildings. A majority of the state’s voters approved Amendment 4 in 1990. The first casinos opened in 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gambling has had positive and negative effects in Central City and Black Hawk. Money has been available to restore historical buildings. Central City was wealthier than Black Hawk in the gold mining days, but now gambling has made Black Hawk wealthier. By the early 2000s, the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining. In each town, gambling has crowded out other businesses and changed the towns in different ways. But it has helped preserve some of the most important historic structures from the days of the Colorado Gold Rush.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Central City and Black Hawk began after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold in the area on May 6, 1859. For much of the 1860s and 1870s, the area was the richest mining region in Colorado. The towns lost importance and population as the area’s mining declined over the next fifty years. The revival of the <strong>Central City Opera House </strong>in 1932 helped attract tourists and spur <strong>historic preservation</strong>. Today both towns are home to a thriving casino industry, with part of the profits going toward preservation of old mining-era buildings.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City, Black Hawk, and the nearby town of Nevadaville formed around one of the earliest major gold discoveries in the Rocky Mountains. On May 6, 1859, prospector John Gregory struck gold near what is now Black Hawk and Central City. A historic marker now stands at this spot. By early June the area, known as “Gregory Gulch,” had more than 4,000 prospectors. They lived in tents and lean-tos. In 1859 prospectors mined more than $1.5 million in gold from Gregory Gulch.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As people streamed into Gregory Gulch, small mining camps formed up and down the valley. Discoveries on Quartz Hill led to the start of nearby Nevada City (Nevadaville). By the fall of 1859, a new town, Central City, was established. When Gilpin County was formed in 1861, it became the county seat.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City was known as the “richest square mile on earth.” It was possibly the most important town in the newly created <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>. Buildings went from tents to log cabins to wood frames as the area transitioned from mining camps to towns. The most important early structure in Central City was Washington Hall (1861). It was the city’s main public building in the 1860s and later served as City Hall.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Smelter</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, the initial boom in Central City and Black Hawk had slowed down. By about 1864 most of the area’s easy gold had been mined. Plenty of gold remained, but the ores were much harder to process.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>That changed in 1868, when chemistry professor <strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong> of Brown University introduced a new smelting—or metal extraction—process. Hill and others started the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk. By 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 of ore per year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1870s were the most prosperous period in Gilpin County history, thanks to Hill’s smelting process and the arrival of the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> in Black Hawk in 1872. Construction boomed. Local lawyer and businessman Henry Teller built a grand four-story brick hotel called the <strong>Teller House</strong>. It opened in June 1872.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City survived two serious fires in the 1870s, and in 1875 new building codes outlawed wood construction in the business district. Mining and construction continued to boom in the late 1870s. Colorado’s admission to <strong>statehood</strong> in 1876 helped spur investment in the new state’s mines. The most notable symbol of Central City’s ambitions in these years was the Central City Opera House, completed in 1878.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City­–Black Hawk area lost some of its luster. Statehood increased Denver’s importance. Many of Central City’s wealthiest residents moved to Denver. New silver booms in <strong>Leadville</strong> and <strong>Aspen </strong>drew people away from Gilpin County. Gilpin County continued to lead the state in gold production, but big bonanzas lay elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1918 nearly all mining operations were suspended. Some residents moved their homes elsewhere. Abandoned buildings were used for firewood. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left, and Black Hawk had roughly 200.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City began to rely on its rich history to attract tourists. In the early 1930s, the Central City Opera House Association restored the opera house and reopened it in July 1932. The Central City Opera became involved in historic preservation, buying the Teller House and several old residences in town. In 1959 the Gilpin County Historical Society was founded, and in 1961 Central City became a National Historic Landmark. The district boundary was later expanded to include Black Hawk and Nevadaville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The ski industry transformed Colorado tourism in the 1960s and 1970s, drawing tourists to new resorts instead of historic places like Central City and Black Hawk. After about 130 years in existence, Central City and Black Hawk had only a few hundred residents. They faced the gloomy prospect of joining Nevadaville as ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>To avoid that fate, Central City and Black Hawk would have to attract more tourists. Before 1990 it was illegal to gamble in Colorado, but that year Black Hawk and Central City joined with Cripple Creek to support an amendment to the Colorado constitution that allowed gambling. <strong>Amendment 4</strong> was approved by a majority of the state’s voters and allowed limited-stakes gambling in the three towns. Money from gambling was to be used for historic preservation. The first casinos opened in 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gambling has had positive and negative effects in Central City and Black Hawk. The towns have money to restore historical buildings, but traffic and modern development in the narrow gulch have also marred their beloved scenery. Casinos have also pushed out other businesses. By the early 2000s, the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Central City and Black Hawk took shape after <strong>John Gregory</strong> discovered gold on May 6, 1859. For much of the 1860s and 1870s, the area was the richest mining region in Colorado. Central City rivaled <strong>Denver</strong> as the territory’s cultural capital. The towns lost importance and population as local mining stagnated and then declined over the next fifty years. The revival of the <strong>Central City Opera House</strong> in 1932 helped attract tourists and spur <strong>historic preservation</strong>. In 1990 Colorado voters approved an amendment allowing the towns to have casinos. This amendment generated millions of dollars for the local economy and historic preservation, but also transformed the towns they sought to preserve.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gregory’s Diggings</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City, Black Hawk, and the nearby town of Nevadaville formed around one of the earliest major gold discoveries in the Rocky Mountains. Prospectors had first rushed to Colorado in the fall of 1858 and spring of 1859, after reports of gold finds near what is now Denver. By late spring 1859, much of the early enthusiasm had faded. Many “go-backers” were returning east with disappointment and empty pockets.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On May 6, just as the Colorado gold rush was being declared dead, Gregory struck gold near the North Fork of Clear Creek between what is now Black Hawk and Central City. A historic marker now stands at this spot. The news reached Denver a week later. By early June, Gregory Gulch was crowded with more than 4,000 prospectors. The population briefly ballooned to more than 20,000 later that summer. It shrank again when it was discovered that the area’s gold was bound up with quartz. That made it difficult to extract and refine. Despite that, in 1859 prospectors in Gregory Gulch mined more than $1.5 million in gold.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As people streamed into Gregory Gulch, small mining camps sprouted up and down the valley. The town closest to Gregory’s find was originally called Gregory’s Diggings, and soon became known as Mountain City. Discoveries on Quartz Hill led to the start of nearby Nevada City (Nevadaville). By the fall of 1859, a new town, Central City, was established between Mountain City and Nevada City. Soon it became the social and economic center of the region. When Gilpin County was formed in 1861, Central City became the county seat.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the spring of 1860, migrants from Illinois established a stamp mill—machinery used to smash gold-bearing rocks so the metal can be extracted—where Gregory Gulch met the North Fork of Clear Creek. The mill was made by the Black Hawk Quartz Mill Company. The area was called Black Hawk Point, then simply Black Hawk. It developed into a hub for processing and transporting ores from the area’s mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City and Black Hawk boomed for about five years after 1859. Known as the “richest square mile on earth,” Central City was maybe the most important town in <strong>Colorado Territory</strong>. Buildings grew from tents to log cabins to wood frames as the area moved from crude mining camps to established towns. Social and cultural development came with physical growth. In July 1859 local Methodists held their first service. The next year the congregation’s log cabin was the first church building in the Colorado mountains. In November 1860 <strong>Bishop Joseph Machebeuf</strong> held the first Catholic mass in Mountain City. The most important early structure in Central City was Washington Hall (1861). It was the city’s main public building in the 1860s. Later it served as City Hall. Former slave <strong>Clara Brown</strong> opened a laundry in Central City, and future senator <strong>Henry Teller</strong> started a law office. In 1862 the Central City <em>Tri-Weekly Miner’s Register</em> started publication and the city’s first public school opened.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Boomtowns</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By the middle of the 1860s, the initial boom in Central City and Black Hawk had slowed down. The ongoing Civil War curbed migration and investment. By the mid-1860s, most of the area’s easy gold had been mined. Plenty of gold remained, but the ores were much harder to process because they contained gold in combination with sulfides. The Gilpin County economy declined while waiting for new infusions of capital and technology to make mining profitable again.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The turnaround came in 1868, when chemistry professor <strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong> of Brown University introduced a new smelting—or metal extraction—process that he discovered in Wales. Hill and a group of Boston investors started the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk. By 1870 Hill’s smelter was processing $500,000 in ore per year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thanks to Hill’s smelting process as well as the arrival of the <strong>Colorado Central Railroad</strong> in Black Hawk in 1872, the 1870s was the most prosperous period in Gilpin County history. In 1871 the county’s gold production peaked at $3.2 million. Central City rivaled Denver in cultural and political influence. Construction boomed. Local lawyer and businessman Henry Teller, who helped bring the Colorado Central to the area, invested in a grand, four-story brick hotel called the <strong>Teller House</strong>. It opened in June 1872 with 150 rooms.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Disaster struck along with prosperity in the 1870s, as Central City suffered two devastating fires during its boom period. The first, in January 1873, burned sixteen buildings, but the next, on May 21, 1874, destroyed about 150 buildings. In 1875 eighty new buildings went up, and new building codes prohibited wood construction in the business district to prevent future fires.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining and construction continued to boom in the late 1870s. Colorado’s admission to <strong>statehood</strong> in 1876 helped spur investment in the new state’s mines. In 1877 Teller became one of the state’s first US senators. The most significant symbol of Central City’s ambitions in these years was the Central City Opera House. The new opera house was an impressive stone structure completed in 1878 from a design by <strong>Robert Roeschlaub</strong>. The opera house had a two-day opening ceremony. With a capacity of 750 people, the Central City Opera House was regarded as the top theater in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Slow Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, the Central City–Black Hawk area lost some of its luster. First, statehood increased Denver’s importance. The capital began to attract Central City’s wealthiest residents. Without its elites, Central City no longer mattered as much in state politics and culture. Second, new silver booms in places like <strong>Leadville</strong> and <strong>Aspen</strong> stole attention away from Gilpin County. By 1876 the county had produced about half of the state’s mineral wealth. In the 1880s, that figure dropped to roughly 10 percent. Gilpin County continued to lead the state in gold production, but the big bonanzas lay elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Central City Opera House turned out to be one of the last major buildings constructed in the area. It suffered a quick decline after the <strong>Tabor Grand Opera House</strong> in Denver displaced it as the state’s finest theater in 1881. That year, the three-year-old opera house was sold to Gilpin County for use as a courthouse. Outraged citizens bought the building back. Over the next few decades it hosted more political rallies and wrestling matches than top-flight theatrical performances.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The presence of gold in Central City and Black Hawk saved the area from the collapse that many Colorado mining towns suffered after the <strong>repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act </strong>in 1893. The area even experienced a brief resurgence in the 1890s. Gold mining revived and new technologies made production cheaper. The Gilpin County Courthouse, built in 1900, was a product of this period of renewed optimism. Yet even then, Central City and Black Hawk were overshadowed by the gold-mining boom at <strong>Cripple Creek</strong>. By the early twentieth century, only a handful of mining operations remained.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With commodity prices rising faster than the price of gold, it was only a matter of time before gold mining no longer paid. The moment of reckoning finally came during the inflation that accompanied World War I. In 1917 the Gilpin Tramway was abandoned after providing thirty years of local transportation throughout the mining district. By 1918 nearly all mining operations were suspended. Some residents moved their houses elsewhere. Abandoned buildings were used for firewood. The Central City Opera House closed on January 1, 1927. Central City had about 500 people left. Black Hawk had roughly 200.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Opera House Revival</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining experienced a minor revival during the <strong>Great Depression</strong>, but commercial gold mining in Gilpin County never recovered after the US government banned gold mining during World War II. Nevadaville became a ghost town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Central City began to rely on its rich history to promote tourism. In the early 1930s, the Central City Opera House Association restored the shuttered opera house and reopened it in July 1932. The association’s summer opera festivals were held almost every year except during World War II. By 1940 the festival drew a combined audience of more than 20,000. Summer tourism surged in the decade after World War II, growing to 300,000 visitors in 1949 and more than half a million in 1955. Central City Opera became involved in historic preservation by acquiring the Teller House and several old residences in town to house festival staff and artists. In 1959 the Gilpin County Historical Society was founded. In 1961 Central City became a National Historic Landmark. The district boundary was later expanded to include Black Hawk and Nevadaville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Visitation to Central City and Black Hawk declined as the ski industry transformed Colorado tourism in the 1960s and 1970s. Central City Opera lost audiences to modern venues such as the Santa Fe Opera and the <strong>Denver Performing Arts Complex</strong>. In 1982 Central City Opera’s rising debts forced it to cancel its fiftieth anniversary season. The festival returned in 1983 and soon rebuilt its audience. Central City and Black Hawk continued to face a financial crisis caused by mounting infrastructure costs and declining tax dollars. Buildings were in disrepair and in danger of collapsing. Central City had no money to fix a water supply that had been condemned by the state health department. After about 130 years in existence, Central City and Black Hawk had only a few hundred residents and faced the possibility of joining Nevadaville as ghost towns.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Gambling Era</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Gambling, which was not legal in Colorado before 1990, saved the sagging economies of not only Central City and Black Hawk but also Cripple Creek, which had been struggling since the end of its own gold rush. The three towns pushed for an amendment to the state constitution that would allow limited-stakes gaming to generate revenue for historic preservation. The original idea was that existing businesses might add a few slot machines and a card table, with half of the revenue going to the state, 28 percent to a newly created State Historical Fund, 12 percent to Gilpin and Teller Counties, and 10 percent to the three towns. In November 1990, 57 percent of the state’s voters approved <strong>Amendment 4</strong>, which was billed as a preservation measure. The first casinos opened on October 1, 1991.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>One result of the gambling amendment was to flip the historical relationship between Central City and Black Hawk. Central City had always been the wealthier and more prominent of the two. The same things that made Black Hawk a good mill town—flat land and easier access to Denver—also made it a good casino town. Starting in 1993, casinos in Black Hawk accounted for a majority of gambling in Gilpin County. Within a few years they generated two-thirds of the non-tribal gambling revenue in the state. In an attempt to short-circuit Black Hawk’s advantage, in 2004 Central City acquired a 150-foot-wide strip of land leading from the town to Interstate 70 and constructed a $38.3 million highway. When it opened, the Central City Parkway promised to increase the town’s gambling revenue by giving people a direct route to Central City that did not involve passing through Black Hawk. But the new parkway did little to affect Black Hawk’s dominance. In recent years, Black Hawk’s roughly seventeen casinos have generated more than $90 million in taxes—about 85 percent of the statewide total. Central City’s six casinos have generated more than $6 million, or almost 6 percent of the statewide total.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Twenty-five years later, gambling proved to be a mixed blessing. Advocates pointed out that casinos had saved Central City and Black Hawk by attracting visitors and generating money for local improvements and statewide historic preservation. By the early 2000s, the towns had made more money from gambling than they ever did from mining. But opponents noted that gambling, like mining before it, had crowded out other businesses and fundamentally changed the towns it was meant to preserve. In 1998 development threats led the National Trust for Historic Preservation to name Central City and Black Hawk among the most endangered historic places in the country.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Today Central City, Black Hawk, and Nevadaville represent three possible fates for a Colorado mining town in the twenty-first century. Nevadaville is now a ghost town with only a few buildings left standing. Black Hawk has displayed an unrestrained pursuit of profit at the expense of preservation. Central City has not been immune to new gambling-oriented development, but it has managed to preserve much of its historic core. The Central City Opera continues to attract some visitors interested in the town’s history and culture rather than its casinos.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 19 Dec 2016 21:19:17 +0000 yongli 2120 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org