Welcome to the
Pitkin Hotel

The newly restored Pitkin Hotel now offers 10 beautifully appointed guest suites, each uniquely decorated in the style of the early 1900’s, complimented by modern services and amenities.

The Bon-Ton Restaurant and a small “hotel” were opened in Pitkin by Elizabeth and Thomas Waltham in 1880. Bon-Ton means fashionable, vogue, “all the rage.” The Bon-Ton’s construction was crude - it was nothing more than a 16’ x 24’ tent with back wall of stone and dirt. It was located behind the site of the present hotel, against the mountainside on the other side of the alley. The floor was sawdust, and the tables “were less than even,” but the place was very clean and neat. The food was excellent. A typical breakfast was beefsteak, bacon, fried eggs, fried potatoes, corn bread, biscuits, butter and coffee - all for 50 cents.

The nearby makeshift hotel was also 16’ x 24’ tent and had a sawdust floor, boards with straw on them for beds, and a blanket. There were no sheets or pillows. Lodging cost 50 cents per night.

Over thirty silver and gold mines were operating in the hills around Pitkin in 1880. The first stage line began operating that year. A new toll road was built to Alpine, and sleighs and stagecoaches were running year round. Newcomers were pouring in at a rate of 25 per day to take advantage of the mining boom, so the little tent hotel and restaurant must have done booming business. There were between 1,500 and 2,000 residents by the end of 1882. The Denver and South Park Railroad had come over the Continental Divide through the Alpine Tunnel, down through Woodstock, and into Pitkin. Three sawmills operated around the clock, trying to saw enough lumber to keep up with the building boom.

The present Pitkin Hotel was originally named the Bon-Ton Hotel. It was built in 1904 by the Masons. We know little about them except that Mrs. Mason ran the hotel with a strong hand and kept red geraniums blooming in the front windows year round. The hotel was very elegant, and was billed as “the most modern and best equipped mountain hotel in Colorado.” It was built of stone because stone was readily available and because the town of Pitkin had burned down three times by 1898.

From 1904 until 1910, when the center of the Alpine Tunnel collapsed, forcing its permanent closure, politicians from all over came for important business meetings at the Town Hall next door. A covered walkway was built over the back alley to enable hotel visitors to walk to town hall without getting snowed on.

Hotel guests who came to Pitkin by train or stagecoach were picked up by touring cars. Actors who came from “back east” to act on the stage of Town Hall stayed in the hotel. There was no indoor plumbing, just an elegant rock toilet behind the hotel with two doors designated “Men” and “Women.” Water for drinking and washing was drawn from the well in the basement. Electricity was generated by seven Delco batteries hooked together. Before that lighting was provided by kerosene lamps.