Grand Lake

History

Established in 1881, Grand Lake sits at an elevation of and derives its name from the lake on whose shores it is situated: Grand Lake, the largest natural body of water in Colorado. The town of Grand Lake was originally an outfitting and supply point for the mining settlements of Lulu City, Teller City, and Gaskill, but today is a tourist destination adjacent to the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, which surrounds the lake and the town on three sides. Grand Lake was the Grand County seat of government from 1882 to 1888. It was incorporated on June 23, 1944. Frederick Nicholas Selak (1865–1926) was an early pioneer of the Grand Lake area. He operated a stage line with his brother as well as saloons and other businesses in the early days of Grand Lake. When he died he owned 300 acres of land in and around Grand Lake as well as interest in two mining operations. In 1926 Selak lived alone in a small log cabin about 3 miles outside of Grand Lake. He was referred to as "The Hermit of Grand Lake", but was known to have loaned money to locals, and rumored to have stashed up to $500,000 on his property. After friends became concerned they had not seen Selak for over a week, they checked on him, found his house had been ransacked, floorboards torn up, and Selak nowhere to be found. An investigation by the local Sheriff was unable to identify any leads. Selak's sister in California, Lillian Coffee, and her husband, Lawrence W. Coffee, were notified when Selak went missing. The two traveled to Colorado to assist in locating her brother. Lawrence Coffee was credited for helping identify the two suspects that would later confess to Selak's murder. The two men had hanged Selak July 21 as retaliation related to a fencing dispute. When found on August 17, Selak's…

Geography

Grand Lake is located in northeastern Grand County. U.S. Route 34 (Trail Ridge Road) runs through the western side of the town, entering Rocky Mountain National Park just north of town and leading across the mountains to Estes Park. To the southwest, US 34 leads to Granby. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of including of water. Due to its elevation, Grand Lake has a subalpine climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc) with a short growing season, averaging just 49 days per year. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mountain Chickadee

  Poecile gambeli (Ridgway, 1886) · Aves
  6,085
• Steller's Jay

  Cyanocitta stelleri (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  5,675
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  5,519
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,112
• Broad-tailed Hummingbird

  Selasphorus platycercus (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  3,524
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  3,476
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,408
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,064

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2025-11-30
  15 km SSW of Walden, Colorado
• M 2.7 — 2025-06-13
  7 km SE of Erie, Colorado
• M 2.5 — 2020-10-24
  2 km ESE of Georgetown, Colorado
• M 2.6 — 2018-07-03
  17 km SW of Walden, Colorado
• M 2.7 — 2018-06-21
  16 km SSW of Walden, Colorado
• M 2.6 — 2016-08-23
  2 km SSE of Eaton, Colorado