Tin Cup history
The area was discovered in the 1860's as prospectors entered what is now Taylor Park looking for the next big claim. The story goes that the party was camped for the night and the horses got loose. Upon recovering them in the morning, one of the prospectors took his tin cup and scooped some gravel from a stream and discovered gold.
It was the end of summer and winter was closing in so the party had to leave the park with plans to come back and mine the area. Eventually they did make it back and this started the activity in what became one of the many vibrant mining camps throughout Colorado.
Tin Cup has a rich history with a boom in the 1880's as the town attracted several thousand people searching for their fortune. The silver crash in the 1890's along with difficult access to rail lines kept the town from really taking off. A second revival took place in the late 1890's and lasted into the 1900's but two major fires lead to it's ultimate demise. The first in 1906 destroyed the main business section on the south side of Washington Ave. The second took place in 1913 and destroyed the north side of Washington. It was difficult to recover for this last one.
From 1920 though 1950 Tin Cup was a quiet ghost town serving a few vacationers with wonderful fishing and incredible views.
Those vacationers had a deep love of the town and the area and wanted to preserve what was here. They formed the Tin Cup Civic Association and the next chapter of this historic town began.
