Estes Park history told through postcards

Estes Park history has been one filled with visitors, travel and telling stories to the rest of the world about the town,
its mountains,
its valleys.

The Native American Utes and Arapaho traveled through this area and surely told others of what they found here. The early settlers originally thought to make this primarily ranching land and quickly found that as word got out to the rest of the nation and across the world, tourism became an intergal part of the area's economy.

What drove this was communication getting out, not just with the residents of the Estes Valley, but also with the visitors themselves, telling others of what they saw, what they did. Major Stephen H. Long's expedition made its way across Colorado in 1820 and reported back to the government, giving a name to the park's highest peak. Rocky Mountain News editor William N. Byers visited the Joel Estes family in August 1864 and in his writings about the valley was the one to name it for Joel Estes. In 1873 Englishwoman Isabella Bird visited Estes Park and her subsequent book, as did countless magazine, newspaper and other articles by scores of others helped to publicise the area's qualities to the world.

Postcards have told stories of Estes Park almost from the beginning.

The U.S. Postal Service began issuing postal cards in 1873, with private publishers able to produce cards beginning in 1898.

Currently, the oldest postcard in our collection is from 1909.

Throughout the years thousands of post cards have been sent from Estes Park. With these cards we get slices of history, glimpses in what places and people looked like at other times. Additionally, for the postcards that have been sent through the mail, we get glimpses into the people's lives, through the messages that they have written.

Join us in exploring
Estes Park history
through
antique postcards.