“They’re shells of buildings - banks won’t give you a mortgage just based on the conditions.” There’s residential property mixed with commercial property, and then there’s the liability aspect with the condition of the property,” Johnson said. “All of the people that come out here absolutely love it, but they can’t get proper financing. Unfortunately, it’s been difficult to find a successor because of issues with financing, despite a surge in visitors and interested buyers in recent weeks. “Let’s just say my beard had no gray in it when I purchased the lot the first time around,” Johnson said. “We actually had the daughter of a former owner stop by some years ago with her son. She worked as waitress in the cafe here,” Johnson said “That’s it, I just want to make sure somebody remembers it, because it means something to somebody.”īut Johnson said he feels it’s time to pass the baton to someone who shares a similar dream. Winters said it wasn’t until Johnson purchased Cabin Creek that the lot had seen a rightful owner in decades. 36, and the lot returned to a state of abandonment with a smattering of families coming through and out again, staying only for a few years at a time. The rise of I-70 was the demise of Cabin Creek in the early 1970s as traffic was drawn away from U.S. They turned that old gas station into a cafe, and with increase in traffic, they decided to start work on the motel,” Winters said. “In the 1950s is when the commercial side kind of took off - Eugene moved the gas station and built the garage and service station, they even had lifts so they could work on cars. 36 from Cabin Creek, can confirm Johnson’s imagination.Īccording to Winters, a man named Frank Snavely took it over in the 1920s when it was just one shack and two gas pumps. He passed it on to his grandson Eugene Stephens in the 1930s, and the Stephens family expanded the tiny town to what current infrastructure stands today.
![ghost town in colorado ghost town in colorado](https://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/pub/media/magefan_blog/CC-AshcroftHotelAndyCook_1_.jpg)
He lived with his family in the main house.įriend and neighbor Dwight Winters, who grew up on the lot across U.S. Johnson sold all of his belongings to purchase the property in 2000 and began revamping the lot in hopes of creating what he imagined to look like a 1950’s pit-stop town. Colorado’s Craigslist ghost town can’t find a buyer – The Denver Post