History of Lookout Mountain Antenna Tower Land

Early Twentieth Century Lookout Mountain

the Scenic Lariat Trail from 1910 to completion in 1914. Professional engineers marvel today at the extraordinary 4.6 mile road of 56 perfectly banked (seven hairpin) curves and switch backs rising from Golden
to Buffalo Bill’s Grave. The Lariat Trail was the first reliable road to Lookout Mountain.

The entrepreneur who tenaciously platted and re-platted Lookout Mountain for 30 years was British real estate developer Rees Vidler. He and other investors purchased the “City on the Hill” 2,390 acres in the early 1900s. To gain water taps for his development, Vidler gave a right-of-way for Golden City pipelines to cross Lookout (from the Beaver Brook watershed near Mount Evans) to Cedar Lake Reservoir in 1905. Vidler and other investors installed a “funicular” in 1912 to bring visitors up from Golden to his “ Lookout Mountain Park.” The scar from the tracks are visible today from Golden, ending where the Tribune (KWGN-Channel 2) and Clear Channel towers now rise east of Buffalo Bill’s Grave. Visitors enjoyed several restaurants, dance pavilions, hiking and camping sites on Lookout Mountain.

The earliest Lookout Mountain subdivision plat
recorded by Jefferson County on May 31, 1910 was
for a hotel resort surrounded by residential lots.
It is now filled with homes inPanorama Estates,
Panorama Heights and Lookout Mountain Park
subdivisions. Vidler helped attract visitors to his
residential lots by encouraging the completion of
the Lariat Trail in 1912-14. He enthusiastically
cooperated with Denver when the city began to
develop its Mountain Park system with the purchase
of Genesee Mountain in 1913.

The Evolution of Residential Development on Lookout Mountain

• 1909 Golden builds Cedar Lake Reservoir to hold water from Beaver Brook
• 1914 Funicular lifts visitors to a Dance Pavilion that overlooks Cedar Lake
• 1915 Vidler revises Lookout Mountain Park plat; Denver acquires Colorow Point, a .37 acre “scenic overlook”; Denver builds a fence at Genesee Park for Buffalo from Yellowstone
• 1917 William Buffalo Bill Cody buried at the Denver acquired Lookout Mountain Park; Charles Boettcher builds his “Lorraine Lodge” (now known as Boettcher Mansion on Colorow Road)
• 1918 Lookout Mountain Lodge on Colorow Road is established; Local and Denver volunteers build the Beaver Brook Trail for an “ Outdoor Museum” for visitors
• 1919 Restaurant next to Vidler’s real estate office; Denver’s “Cactus Club” is an outdoor theatre in Rilliet Park (near Cody Park); the Genesee Ski Jump is built
• 1922 Mt. Vernon Country Club Place is established (65 homes by 1928); Denver builds Pahaska Lodge
  to house William Cody’s artifacts; “Robin’s Nest” restaurant built
• 1924 Lookout Mountain Park subdivision #6 plat filed (Cedar Lake Road) with 275 residential lots
• 1925 Flying Horse Inn and cabins built (became “Lighted Lantern” in 1950s)
• 1928 Clear Creek Heights subdivision platted (west of Boettcher Mansion and Lookout Mountain
  Nature Center)
• 1937 U.S. Hwy 40 built high above Mt. Vernon Canyon (creek & historic dirt road); JeffCo Commissioner John “Jack” R. Browne acquires Lookout lots and acreage for back taxes
• 1941 JeffCo adopts first comprehensive flat-land zoning resolution
• 1942 Lookout Mountain Trading Post replaces Vidler’s office (Buffalo Corral)