The Goldminer Hotel was built in the winter of 1897-1898 near the end of Eldora’s very short lived Gold Rush. Today the “Gold Miner Hotel” is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
By 1905 tourism had replaced mining as the major attraction to the area, and the quaint mountain hotel quickly transformed into a popular tourist spot in the western Boulder mountains. For those who want a really well done commentary on the rise of Eldora’s two distinct periods of significance I recommend the report of a Certified Local Government grant done in 2008 for Boulder County (Eldora Historical and Architectural Survey, 2007-08 [http://www.bouldercounty.org/openspace/general_pdfs/Eldora_Survey_Report_Low_Res.pdf ]a copy of which can be found in the resources section)
The Goldminer Hotel, a Foursquare style log building, with a white clapboard front, the front porch was high design for this remote location of the time, with elements of gingerbread, decorative and high-end milled trim. The only addition; The Eldora Civic and Social Club Room, was added in 1934 as a member-only gathering place. Over the years wind, weather and regular 10-foot snow drifts unique to Eldora, Colorado, have placed the entire structure at risk and also wiped away the historic detail.
Goldminer Hotel History
When we purchased the Goldminer in 1986 it had seen better, and probably some worse, days. The hot water heat pipes leaked; the furnace and the hot water heaters were of a 1960 vintage. The wiring was aluminum. The first week a piece of the metal roofing blew off. But it was almost 4,000 square feet of living space. The first month we had a wedding booked by the previous owner. Basically they got married here and they all seemed to have a good time. We continued for the next decade to operate basically as it was; we did fix those broken pipes and put the metal roof back together.
In the last fifteen years, though, we began to take those actions that are needed to carry out a preservation effort. During this time we worked with the Tourism and Recreation Program of Boulder County, a local economic development agency to bring business to the area without taking the often usual steps of development destroying the reason people visit. We provided the matching funds required by the State Historic Fund to produce two books of local history. We worked with the Nederland Area Historical Society to preserve the mining era history of the area. We sell the merchandise of the Eldora Civic Association in the Hotel. We have done everything we can to make our life a “Green Focused” one. These items collectively are a wonderful illustration of the history of Eldora. More about all of these can be found the “Resources” section of this website.
I am writing this blog to highlight all of those types of efforts; the preservation of a historic building, the way that economic development can be done without the usual emphasis on new, the support of a community spirit, and taking the advice of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that “the greenest building is the one already built.” I hope that readers can see some things that they might use or that they might have even better ideas that they can add. As for visitors to the area, I hope that this attracts your interest enough that you want to add to our economy. While the first effort here is the preservation story of the Goldminer, I plan to expand to other historic structures we own here and then to interest others to tell their own story.