The McKenzie Ottoson House, built in 1885, in the ghost town of St Elmo in Colorado.

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This house is one of the 24 original buildings still standing in the ghost town of St Elmo in Colorado. the town was founded in 1880 (or 1879 in some sources). The toen owed its prosperity to local gold and silver mines and the fact the Denver, South Park and Pacific Rial Road passed through the area. The population peaked in the 1890s when the town had a post and telegraph office, 5 hotels, a general store, numerous saloons, a newspaper office and a school. the richest mine in the area was the Mary Murphy. The town declined rapidly with the closure of the mines in 1920 and the railway closure of 1922 was the death of the town. Curiously for a ghost town there are still human inhabitants. The general store, for example, opens during he summer for the tourist trade. The poist office closed in 1952.

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Size: 4287px × 2848px
Location: St Elmo Ghost Town, Chaffee County, Colorado, USA
Photo credit: © Brian Hartshorn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: colorado, colorado., elmo, elmo., ghost, gold, historic, house, inhabitants., mary, mckenzie, mining, murphy, open, ottoson, silver, st, summer, sy, tourist, town, town., towns, trade, visitors