A Quick History of Grand Lake

A Quick History of Grand Lake is a short, readable account of the people and events that shaped the human history of Grand Lake, Colorado, and the country right around it. The lake is the largest natural body of water in Colorado. It sits at an elevation of 8,369 feet, and according to the book's description it has been drawing people to its shores for thousands of years.

Michael Geary keeps his focus on the lake and its immediate vicinity. That includes two places most visitors to the area have heard of: Rocky Mountain National Park and the Grand Lake Lodge. Both are named in the description as part of the story, so the book connects the town's own past to the park and the resort that grew up beside it.

The record shows a 1999 first printing from Western Reflections of 129 pages, and the record lists its subjects as Description and travel, and History. The word quick in the title is a fair promise: this is a compact history meant to be read in a sitting or two, with enough detail to tell you who and what came to the shore.

This book is for visitors to the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park who want to know what they are looking at, and for people who own a cabin or have a family tie to Grand Lake. It also suits readers who collect small-town Colorado histories, since it belongs with other short town histories in our library. At 129 pages it will not overwhelm anyone who has never read local history before.

Michael Geary wrote this book, and we know him through it and through a few outside traces. A 2012 Sky-Hi News notice lists him among local authors signing books about Grand Lake at an event with the Grand Lake Area Historical Society. A 2011 Fence Post article about the lodge also mentions him as the writer of this book. His author page lists what we hold.

More about Michael Geary →

Grand Lake town sits at 8,369 feet on the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. A Fence Post article describes the lake as an irregular oval about one mile wide and a mile and a half long, with a 4.1 mile shoreline. The Grand Lake Lodge, which the article says is registered as a National Historic Landmark, opened with a Grand Ball on July 3, 1920.

The same article ties the lodge to Roe Emery, hailed as the Father of Colorado Tourism, who imagined a Circle Tour of the central Colorado Rockies with his Rocky Mountain Transportation Company and hotels. Trail Ridge Road was completed in 1932, tourism rose dramatically, and the lodge became one of the most famous resorts in Colorado. Henry Ford stayed in a cabin there in 1927. The lodge closed from 2007 to 2010 and reopened in July.

Source: The Fence Post: Grand Lake Lodge, National Historic Landmark