Glenwood has rich History of Luxury Hotels

Find Glenwood Springs Hotel

Glenwood Springs, Colorado is a huge draw for outdoor adventurers worldwide. Two beautiful, chilly rivers join here, bringing Gold Medal trout fishing and crashing rapids for rafters and kayakers. Six first-rate ski resorts are less than an hour away. Moreover, those mountains are filled with spectacular vistas and wildlife. Hunters and hikers alike scramble into the backcountry. Glenwood Springs is not just an outdoor haven, however. The area was a silver boom hotspot in the 1800s, and a few of the luxurious, spacious hotels that popped up are still around in all of their glory today.

In 1893, silver mogul and banker Walter Devereux opened Hotel Colorado, an expansive post-renaissance design stuffed with cornices and corbels, Palladian arches and twin bell towers. The grounds also featured a hot springs pool, a huge fountain, a ten-foot wide waterfall inside the great room and lavish dining and lodging.

The decadence of the resort and the marvels of its vapor baths drew celebrities and the social and political privileged. Presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt made extended stops at Hotel Colorado, and Herbert Hoover chose the facility for an important speech on finance and the economy.

Renowned gangster Diamond Jack Alterie pranced his massive ego around the resort. Celebrated gambler Doc Holliday spent his final months attempting to beat tuberculosis in the area’s pools and caves.
During World War II, the resort was called into duty and operated as a recuperation hospital for almost 7,000 soldiers.

Today, Hotel Colorado is an entirely contemporary resort with wi-fi internet, a luxurious spa, and seasonal equipment rental services, all the while maintaining its historical originality and furnishings. Some guests have even reported a stray ghost or two.

In the early twentieth century the riverfront district of Glenwood Springs was rich with taverns, gambling houses and brothels. When Prohibition crushed the area’s economy, a few local entrepreneurs were able to consolidate saloons and inns cheap. The Hotel Denver was born in 1938 as a child of those mergers. The riverfront area is now a clean, vibrant hotspot in the town, with inviting diners, and the Hotel Denver has become an economically stylish visit right in the heart of downtown. The Hotel Denver also displays the contemporary amidst the hotel’s historic brick and mortar.

Just a ten minute drive from downtown is the Sunlight Mountain Inn. While not necessarily historical, it is a great stop for people with children who may want to tour the historical areas and then hit the slopes. The bed and breakfast is comfy with warm fireplaces in each room, views of the Mt. Sopris and the rivers and awesome slopes directly adjacent at Sunlight Mountain Resort.

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The Roaring Fork Valley is home to dozens of mountain and river cabins and cheap, clean motels after a fun day of White Water Rafting Colorado

Additional resources: http://whitewater-rafting.glenwoodspringsaspen.com/colorado-river-rafting http://glenwoodspringsaspen.com/

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