St. Elmo was originally settled in 1878 and was made official in 1880 when gold and silver began to bring many people to the area.  Though it was first called Forest City, the small town's name was changed when the post office objected because there were too many towns with the same name.   The new name was derived by Griffith Evans, one of the founders, who was reading a romantic nineteenth-century novel by the same name.

The town was laid out in six feet of snow and provided for the miners working in the nearby mines.  Beginning with a high moral character, the settlement went the way of other booming mining towns, reaching a population of more than 2000 and taking on all the trappings of a single male population with saloons, dance halls, and bawdy houses.  When the Alpine tunnel was under construction, St. Elmo became the scene of raunchy Saturday night sprees. In 1881 it became a station on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad line where the tracks continued through Romley, Hancock and through the historic Alpine Tunnel. The settlement was considered a main source of supplies arriving by train for the area settlers and eventually included several merchandise stores, three hotels, five restaurants, two sawmills and a weekly newspaper called the Mountaineer. The miners worked at several mines throughout the area that were rich in silver, gold, copper and iron.  The principal mines were the Murphy, the Theresse C., the Molly and the Pioneer. The Murphy Mine, situated high upon the  mountain, 2000 feet above the railroad, shipped as much as 50-75 tons of ore per day to the smelters at Alpine.  Altogether, there were over 150 patented mine claims in the immediate area. In 1881 Anton Stark, a cattleman brought a herd to the railroad and was so taken with the town that he and his family quickly took up residence.  Anton became a section boss for one of the local mines and his wife, Anna, ran a general store and the Home Comfort Hotel, which later became home to the post office and telegraph office...

 Anton and Anna raised three children - Tony, Roy and Annabelle, who worked in the hotel and the store.  The hotel was said to have been the cleanest in town, the meals the best, and the supplies at the store more plentiful than the other establishments. 

The Stark family were part of Saint Elmo's elite, a high-class group that attended church regularly.  Anna was said to have been a humorless woman who severely controlled the children, believing that they were better than the other townsfolk - miners, railroad men, prostitutes and hard women.   The children were rarely allowed to leave home, forbidden to attend local dances or social activities and had only each other for company. In 1890 a fire destroyed the business section and the town was never entirely rebuilt.

The survival of the town was largely due to the Stark family and their descendents, who remained the sole year-round residents for many years.  According to local legend, perhaps at least one of them, Annabelle Stark, still keeps a ghostly watch over the town.

St Elmo Street Scene, 1880, Photo courtesy Denver Public Library

Mary Murphy Mine, August, 2003, Photo by

Kathy Weiser

The failure of numerous mines, and the closure of the Alpine Tunnel in 1910 started the decline of St. Elmo.  Though mining continued at the Mary Murphy mine up until the 1920's, many of the miners moved away in search of new gold strikes.  The railroad continued to run until 1922 and it has been said that the rest of St. Elmo's population rode the last train out of town, never to return.  In 1926, the railroad tracks were torn up and the railroad grade was used to drive from Nathrop to St. Elmo.  But the Stark family stayed, believing that St. Elmo would thrive again, buying up property at tax sales. 

For many years, Roy and Tony stark tried to influence developers in re-opening the mines, but when they were unsuccessful they turned to tourism, leasing the empty cabins to vacationers and continuing to run the general store.  After Anton Stark's death, Anna realized that the tourism trade was not providing for the family and sent Annabelle to work in the telegraph office in Salida, 20 miles south of St. Elmo.

Stark Store and Home Comfort Hotel, courtesy

Denver Public Library

St Elmo in 1934.  Today, St. Elmo is one of the most preserved ghost towns in Colorado.  Photo courtesy

Library of Congress.

The lonely and attractive girl was finally able to escape the prison that her mother had made for her in St. Elmo.  Before long, she met a young man named Ward and in 1922 they decided to get married, sending a telegram to her family that they were moving to Trinidad.  Though no one seems to know why, the marriage didn't work and just two short years later she returned to St. Elmo, where she spent the rest of her life.

The three eccentric Stark children, along with their mother, maintained their existence by continuing to run the general store and rent cabins to tourists, though the general condition of the town deteriorated.  By 1930, the population of St. Elmo had dwindled down to only seven.

In 1934, Roy Stark passed away and his mother, Anna, died a short time later.  The only residents left were Annabelle and Tony who lived in the dead town without indoor plumbing or electricity.  Rarely bathing or changing clothes, they neglected the old hotel, letting the place pile with trash and discarded items, but continued to run the Home Comfort Store.  The store, said to have been "sour-smelling", contained faded tins of outdated food and stale tobacco. 

Stark Home Comfort Inn Today, August, 2003, Kathy Weiser

In 1947 when the book Stampede to Timberline was published by Muriel Sibell Wolle, which stated that St. Elmo was a ghost town, Tony and Annie were incensed claiming that it was not the tattered store or their eccentricities that drove away business, but rather Mrs. Wolle's statements in the book.  Though Annabell was always said to have been kind and generous to the few who still frequented the store, the locals began to call her "Dirty Annie" because of her filthy clothing and tangled hair.   She was also known to have roamed the old town, with rifle in hand, to protect her property.  The town officially died on Sept. 30, 1952, when the post office closed. 

Eventually, Tony and Annabelle were sent away to a mental institution, for their own safety and that of others.  However, after just a few weeks, a sympathetic friend convinced the authorities that they were of no harm to anyone and they were released.  Tony died a short time later and Annabelle was sent to a nursing home in 1958 where she died in 1960.  Their property was left to the sympathetic friend who had helped them.

Shortly after Annabelle's death, the friend's grandchildren were said to have been playing in a room of the hotel, when suddenly all the doors in the room slammed shut and the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees.  The terrified children refused to play in the hotel again.

Another one of the grandchildren, a young woman in her twenties, decided to take on the hotel as a project, cleaning out the rooms, making minor repairs, and washing down the walls and floors.  After cleaning up for the day, she and her friends would put away their tools and cleaning supplies, only to find them in the middle of the floor when they returned the next day.  After this continued to occur, they started placing the items in a padlocked closet, but still they would be in the middle of the floor when they came back.

On another occasion, a skier was said to have seen a very attractive woman in a white dress framed in the second story window of the old hotel.  The owner was away on vacation, so who could it have been?  The young woman's eyes were focused on something in the distance and when the skier followed her gaze, she saw a group of snow mobilers who were riding through the street.  The skier flagged down the group, informing them that snowmobiling was illegal in St. Elmo.  The group apologized and rode away.  When the skier looked back at the hotel, the woman nodded to her, then turned away and vanished.

The legend of Annabelle's ghost lives on with the part-time residents of St. Elmo, believing that she continues to protect her property from vandals or trespassers. 

Mercantile Store, 1934, Arnold Thallhelmer, Library of Congress

Mercantile Store Today, Kathy Weiser, August, 2003

Town Hall, 1934, Arnold Thallhelmer, Library of Congress.  The Town Hall burned down in April, 2002 and is being restored by the Buena Vista Museum with helpful contributions.

All that's left of the town hall today after the fire in April, 2002, Kathy Weiser, August, 2003.

Saint Elmo today has numerous structures that have been preserved and are all privately owned.  It is one of the best preserved ghost towns anywhere in Colorado and still has a few residents.  The remaining structures include a general merchandise store, which still operates from May through October, a church, a school building, and many other business structures and cabins.
 
Unfortunately on April 15, 2002, a fire in Saint Elmo destroyed six of the buildings, including the old Town hall and Jail and the Stark family dwellings. 

On July 6, 2002 the Saint Elmo Property owners passed a resolution to donate the Town Hall, as well as the Saint Elmo School House, to the Buena Vista Heritage Museum.   The Museum plans to work closely with the Association and residents to preserve and protect Saint Elmo.

The Museum is seeking donations to rebuild the Town Hall and to restore the School House. All donations are tax deductible.  If you would like to donate money or services to this great cause please contact the Buena Vista Heritage Museum at 719-395-8458.  You can also write to: Buena Vista Heritage Museum, P.O. Box 1414, Buena Vista , Colorado 81211, or visit their website at:   http://www.buenavistaheritage.org.

There are many great four wheel drive trails  throughout the area, rock hounders will find quartz and aquamarine, and camping and upper-mountain fishing abounds.

Directions:  To get to Saint Elmo, from Buena Vista, take US 285 south to Nathrop, and then County Road 162 west for approximately 16 miles to Saint Elmo

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, © August, 2004.

source: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CP-StElmo1.html