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About Silverton and San Juan
County
Silverton is a rural
southwest Colorado community of .81 square miles,
located 50 miles north of Durango and 23 miles south of
Ouray. It is accessed by Highway 550 (The Million
Dollar Highway/San
Juan Skyway) across Red Mountain, Molas and
Coal Bank Passes, each of which exceeds 10,500 feet in
elevation. Silverton, which was incorporated in
1874 and is home to 550 year-round residents, was
primarily a mining community until the 1980’s, when
mining completed its departure and left the economy of
the community reliant upon seasonal tourism. The
Victorian and mining-inspired flavor of the town center
and dramatic setting at 9,300 feet in the San Juan
Mountains, impart an historic, rural ambience which the
town cherishes.
  
For those of us who make
Silverton our home, this town and its community are a
source of tremendous pride. We have retained political,
social, age, economic and ethnic diversity. We have
avoided the gentrification so many mountain communities
wish they had averted. We celebrate our Victorian
heritage without being ‘cutesy’. Though we lost the
mainstay of our economy in the 1980’s - mining - we have
refused to lose the soul of our town the way some of our
neighboring communities have. We are resisting
homogeneity.
  
That said, Silverton is not
for everyone. If a person craves external sources of
stimulation - constant cultural events, malls, sushi and
movie theaters - Silverton will be a disappointment. In
the summer months, the
Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge
Railway brings 170,000 tourists to town to
shop and eat in local restaurants. The scenic by-ways
bring thousands more. But in November, many local
businesses close their doors for the winter and town is
quiet. Each year, fewer and fewer tourist businesses
close for the winter thanks to
Silverton Mountain ski
area and small business growth, but change comes slowly.
Locals and leaders agree that adding year round jobs
will preserve Silverton’s vitality.
  
Silverton is home to some
of the most spectacular mountain vistas Colorado and the
West have to offer. We receive 150 inches of snow a year
on average. The high country of the San Juans, which is
accessed by motor vehicle and on foot, fills with
wildflowers in July and August. Hiking trails, mountain
biking trails and jeep roads crisscross the range from
Durango north to Ouray. But these trails (and our
surrounding highways) are not for the faint of heart. To
get a true feel, it is worth a visit. Words are
inadequate.
Silverton’s Public School
embarked on an ambitious school reform effort in 2004
and converted the school’s curriculum to the
Expeditionary Learning Outward
Bound (ELOB) model. Silverton currently
has one public school which includes elementary, middle
and high school grades (K-12) with a total of 60-70
students enrolled each year. School enrollment
declined steadily over the past several decades but has
stabilized recently. Most remarkably, the State's
academic ranking of The Silverton Public Schools was
elevated recently to "HIGH" for Elementary and High
Schools, and "AVERAGE" for Middle School.
Silverton Schools were recently "Accredited with
Distinction" for going above and beyond the expectations
of the accreditors. These rankings are
exceptional for a small, rural school.
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