Westcliffe, Colorado

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Westcliffe is a statutory town that is the county seat of Custer County, Colorado, United States.<ref name="GR6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=CountySeatsCO/> At the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 435.<ref name="Census 2020" />

History

• 
  The restored D&RGW depot in August 2022
• 
  Shopping lane in downtown Westcliffe

Westcliffe had its start in 1881 when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad was extended to that point.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Geography

Westcliffe is located west of the geographic center of Custer County in the Wet Mountain Valley, between the Wet Mountains to the east and the Sangre de Cristo Range to the west. The town of Silver Cliff is immediately to the east of Westcliffe.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of Template:Convert, all of it land.<ref name="Census 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Dark skies

Westcliffe, and neighboring Silver Cliff, Colorado, are recognized as IDA International Dark Sky Communities by The International Dark-Sky Association. Gentle persuasion has resulted in residents and business in the towns and surrounding ranch land reducing the amount of light pollution.<ref name="NYT81216">Template:Cite news</ref>

Locals have set up a free observatory in an old period building with a "roll-off" roof to open up the 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with computer-guided pointing and tracking to the skies overhead. Named the Smokey Jack Observatory, it was built in 2015.<ref name=dp20190718>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=darkskies20190721>Smokey Jack Observatory, Dark skies of the Wet Mountain Valley, www.darkskiescolorado.org, accessed July 21, 2019.</ref>

Notable people

• Gordon Clark (1902–1985), philosopher and theologian, buried near Westcliffe
• Anne Kimbell (1932–2017), actress and founder of the Westcliffe Center for the Performing Arts<ref name=wmt>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Adolph Treidler (1886–1981), artist, born in Westcliffe

See also

• Custer County, Colorado

External links

• Town of Westcliffe official website