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r ~ <br />L J <br />Quarrying and IIrban Growth and Development, 1870-1900. <br />Denver and northeastern Colorado experienced a decade of rapid <br />growth between 1870 and 1880 that continued for another fifteen <br />years until the mid 1890x. During the later part of the period <br />real estate promoters is the city began to turn their attentions to <br />the open farm and ranch lands that surrounded Denver ae locales for <br />urban development. In downtown Denver speculators such as Donald <br />Fletcher and Samuel M. Perry began to buy properties and replaced <br />older wood and brick buildings with ones made of atone. Their <br />activity was part of an overall real estate boom in Denver that <br />made many paper millionaires; while in or near the Study Area land <br />changed from an agriculture use to quarrying for building stone. <br />stone from the Lyons area quarries found its way into many Deaver <br />buildings and was shipped all over the united States as other <br />cities grew and matured during the late 19th century. atone <br />quarrying was popular in other areas of the state as well. Ft. <br />Collins was estimated to have over a dozen stone quarries <br />• operational in the 188os to provide building supplies. <br />in 1880 E. 8. Lyons settled in the area to be named after him. <br />Recognizing the market for stones, Lyons began quarrying and <br />hauling the stone to Longmont for shipment to Denver. Se also <br />engaged in promotional and construction work in the Lyons area. <br />The quarry business proved very successfully and by 1900 the area <br />was the third largest stone producing region in the Dnited States. <br />Approximately 1.5 miles northeast of Lyons was the town of <br />Noland. A bustling community in the 188os and 1890x, its primary <br />industry was quarrying. Estimates of population vary from 1,000 to <br />3,000 at any one time. <br />Transportation for the quarries resulted in a branch line of <br />the Colorado and Southern Railroad from Longmont being constructed <br />to the south of the Study Area. This little short line provided <br />transportation for the stone as well as for passengers and other <br />goods. <br />• <br />25 <br />