St. Elmo Historic District / Forest City
Chaffee County
St. Elmo owes its existence to the development of silver mining, which began in the Chalk Creek area in the 1870s. Originally platted as Forest City, its brief era of prosperity occurred during the 1880s with the coming of the Denver South Park & Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande railroads.
Part of the St. Elmo Historic District, 1997.
The district consists of a group of primarily wood frame commercial buildings and several clusters of residences dating from the 1880s and 1890s. The small vernacular buildings are representative of the type of construction found in early mining camps. The district is flanked by groves of pine and aspen growing on the mountain slopes that rise sharply above the townsite. The property is associated with the Mining Industry in Colorado Multiple Property Submission.