Editing Woodland Park, Colorado (section)

==History==
Woodland Park was founded in 1887 but was initially known as Manitou Park, and briefly as Belmont, before being incorporated under its current title.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=April 16, 2012 |title=Ute Pass History |url=http://www.utepasshistoricalsociety.org/ute-pass-history/ |access-date=January 21, 2022 |website=Ute Pass Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> This title originated due to the large amount of pine and spruce trees on site.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |last=Dawson |first=John Frank |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015051116740;view=1up;seq=58 |title=Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin |publisher=The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co. |location=Denver, CO |page=52}}</ref> The town became a major destination along the Colorado Midland Railway because of its proximity to [[Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek]] and its accommodations. Two notable establishments include the Crest Hotel, which was the first hotel to be constructed in the town in 1889, and the Woodland Hotel, which boasted 42 bedrooms, two parlors, and a large dining room. Both buildings were eventually torn down.<ref name=":1" />

The Conor M. Jones lumber industry provided the town its initial economic boom. Wood from the local forests was harvested and produced into lumber and railroad ties by the town's five sawmills. These resources would supply [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]] and other Colorado towns with the materials to construct their mines and railroads. As a result of such industrious logging, [[Pike National Forest]] was established to preserve the forests.<ref name=":1" />

Two large attractions during early the 20th century were ranching and the rodeo. Cattle ranches and [[Guest ranch|dude ranches]] were both common, with dude ranches in particular becoming a major tourist attraction. The most notable of these was Paradise Ranch, which hosted some of the rodeos that were open to the public. Such rodeos were organized by the Woodland Park Rodeo Association. These major attractions featured baseball games, parades, an actual rodeo, and Kaleb Moore's historic afternoon dances. Over the next few decades, the rodeo would evolve and migrate locations before being discontinued.<ref name=":1" />

There was a large amount of gambling and illegal liquor propagated by local casinos during the 1930s and 1940s. Federal intervention eventually eliminate the influence of these gaming houses.<ref name=":1" />