Redstone Historic District
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General store and adjacent cottage, 2010
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Location in Colorado
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Location | Redstone, CO |
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Nearest city | Aspen |
Coordinates | 39°10′51″N 107°14′22″W / 39.18083°N 107.23944°WCoordinates: 39°10′51″N 107°14′22″W / 39.18083°N 107.23944°W |
Area | 493 acres (200 ha) |
Built | 1900–1903 |
Architect | Theodore Boal |
Architectural style | Various Victorian |
MPS | Historic Resources of Redstone, Mining Industry in Colorado |
NRHP Reference # | 89000934 |
Added to NRHP | July 19, 1989 |
The Redstone Historic District is located in and near the unincorporated community of that name in western Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. It includes the original community of Redstone as built by Colorado Fuel and Iron (CFI) for the coal miners it employed. In 1989 it was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Redstone was originally a company town. John Cleveland Osgood, CFI's president at the time, spent lavishly to create quality housing for miners and their families, as well as various other public buildings, in an effort to forestall unionization. Architect Theodore Boal designed simple yet attractive structures by adapting various Victorian architectural styles. The district includes as contributing properties Osgood's estate, Cleveholm, and the Redstone Inn.
At first very populous and successful due to the high production capacity of the nearby coke ovens, Redstone was almost abandoned within a decade when it became too costly to transport coke from the remote community to CFI's new steel mill. A handful of residents remained, keeping Redstone from becoming another one of Colorado's many ghost towns. Some of its original buildings were demolished over the years. Eventually the town rebounded slightly and today is home to a small arts community; many of the remaining buildings have been restored. It is one of the few intact company towns remaining in the state.