America's Switzerland: Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, the Growth Years

12: Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park: The War Years . . . and After

363 Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park: The War Years . . . and After Chapter 12  Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park: The War Years . . . and After THE 1941 TOURIST SEASON throughout Colorado had been the best since 1929. Estes Park’s hotels and resorts were filled to capacity in July and August, and Rocky Mountain National Park welcomed 685,593 visitors traveling in 208,398 automobiles, nearly 64 percent from out of state. Although the average stay of tourists was somewhat shorter than in the past, their willingness to spend had run far ahead of recent seasons, suggesting that the discouraging days of the Great Depression were finally over. The two-day “Rooftop Roundup” rodeo in August, when Patti Moomaw, daughter of ranger Jack Moomaw, was installed as queen, attracted an audience of 5,000. That summer 994 people climbed to the summit of Longs Peak, and another 35 successfully negotiated the ledges and chimneys of its East Face, including several women. In July Estes Park made national news when Supreme Court justice Harlan Fiske Stone, following a two-week vacation, was sworn into office in front of a cabin at Sprague’s Lodge in Glacier Basin. Stone then came down to the village where, standing before a microphone at the Stanley Hotel, he led the nation in an oath of allegiance to the United States following a five-minute radio address by President Roosevelt. The town exuded optimism. Bank president Charles Hix announced in January that deposits had increased in the previous year, a sure indication, The one commodity which we have to sell here is escape. There is no escape for any of us until it is over. Estes Park Trail (March 17, 1944) 363 364 Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park: The War Years . . . and After 12.1 Map of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, ca. 1950. Courtesy David Tanton 365 Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park: The War Years . . . and After the Estes Park Trail noted, that “prosperity is moving on Estes Park.”1 The Trail could also point to other more visible signs of progress: the new sewer disposal plant at the junction of the Big Thompson and North St. Vrain Roads, designed to meet community needs for twenty years; an increased water supply, achieved by installing nearly four miles of pipeline to tap Glacier Creek near the YMCA; and a new post office, nearly tripling the floor and lobby space of the old village park building. Located on Moraine Avenue , just north of the Fall River Bridge, the white stucco, tiled roof post office was designed to match the art-deco exterior of the Jay Building next door. With its opening, the functions of local government were transferred into the old post office building to share newly remodeled space with the Chamber of Commerce. Signaling still more changes to come was the daily flow of men and equipment between Reclamation Bureau headquarters in the village and the East Portal of the transmountain tunnel above the YMCA, where drilling was moving steadily forward. Missing for the first time in nearly four decades was the “Grand Old Man of Estes Park.” On October 2, 1940, Freelan Oscar Stanley, back at his winter home in Newton, Massachusetts, from yet another season in the mountains, stepped outside to pick up the morning paper and collapsed on the front lawn. Brought inside, he died soon afterward. “Ninety-one years of age last June,” the Estes Park Trail noted its eulogy, “Estes Park’s number one visitor was interested in the affairs of the community, intensely aware of world problems and conditions, and yet never lost the ability to enjoy himself hugely. The Trail staff will always remember him as he would come into the office during the summer months inquiring if there was any work for a young man.”2 That August there was a memorial service at the Stanley Hotel on “Stanley Night.” The man and his contributions were celebrated with a program of music, including some of his own compositions, followed by remarks and reminiscences by mayor Casey Rockwell, Stanley’s longtime friend and executor Byron Hall, artist Dave Stirling, and others. As each speaker made clear, with the death of Stanley, one of the most important chapters in the history of Estes Park had come to a close. As a more tangible memorial, that same month plans were made...