Redstone Coke Oven Historic District

Redstone Coke Oven Historic District
Round stone structures with large openings on the left built into a grassy hillside behind a wooden fence. There is a snow-capped mountain in the rear.
View south to Chair Mountain past remaining ovens, 2010
A map of Colorado showing county boundaries and major rivers. There is a red dot in the western corner of Pitkin County in the western central region of the state
A map of Colorado showing county boundaries and major rivers. There is a red dot in the western corner of Pitkin County in the western central region of the state
Location within Colorado
LocationRedstone, CO
Nearest cityAspen
Coordinates39°10′52″N 107°14′29″W / 39.18111°N 107.24139°W / 39.18111; -107.24139
Area4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built1899 (1899)
ArchitectColorado Fuel and Iron
MPSHistoric Resources of Redstone
NRHP reference No.89002385
Added to NRHPFebruary 7, 1990

The Redstone Coke Oven Historic District is located at the intersection of State Highway 133 and Chair Mountain Stables Road outside Redstone, Colorado, United States. It consists of the remaining coke ovens built at the end of the 19th century by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. In 1990, it was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Two hundred were built, because the coal in the surrounding mountains was ideal for refining into coke. At their peak, they were producing almost 6 million tons a year. The development was the beginning of the modern settlement of Redstone. There are very few coke ovens of their type remaining in the West;[1] the ovens are themselves the only remnant of the sizable coking operation in the area, the largest at the time in Colorado.

Within ten years of their construction the ovens fell into disuse when the mines closed. Their support steel was removed during the scrap metal drives of World War II, and later they were used as living space by hippies who moved into Redstone.[2] The possibility that some might be demolished to build a gas station eventually led Pitkin County to acquire the land in the mid-2000s,[3] and since then some have been restored.[4]

  1. ^ "Pitkin County". History Colorado. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  2. ^ Johnson, Kirk (September 24, 2011). "Giving New Life to Brick Ovens Where Hippies Once Roamed". The New York Times. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  3. ^ Frey, David (February 7, 2004). "Redstone coke ovens preserved" (PDF). Aspen Daily News. Aspen, CO. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  4. ^ Urquhart, Janet (May 30, 2011). "Redstone coke ovens return to former glory". Aspen Times. Aspen, CO. Retrieved January 16, 2012.