mic clinger

 

 

 

The Park Theater Mall Fire

 

It's not very often that I have the material for a three-point-in-time TaN (Then-and-Now) but here it is.

(Soon, this is going to be a very unique shot, probably the only one that will have a four-point-in-time!)

I put this set of matches I put together around 2008 not knowing how important they would

become given the disatrous fire of the Park Theater Mall on October 2009.

This sequence starts with a shot taken sometime in the 1920's, then to 1938, and ends in 2004.

I intend to go to go up when weather permits to retake it for a fourth in the series

that captures the scene as it appears now after the fire, without the Park Theater Mall.

I also intend to seek permission to go up to the balcony of the Seybold building

in order to take a shot from there as well as we used in our book "Estes Park and

Rocky Mountain National Park, Then and Now", pages 102-103.

History is an interesting phenomenon. Before you now it, all of the sudden you realize

that you are a spectator of history, and then sometimes you participate in it.

It is sad at times to witness changes that destroy familiar sites, but nature is a

very powerful force with capabilities way beyond that of our own. I can't say

that I always desire for the changes that happen, but we are left with very little

than to document those changes. I am grateful to have been allowed the priviledge to

preserve history from time to time, especially when it comes to such a wonderful

legacy as that for Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

 

Downtown Estes Park from Little Prospect, ca.1920

 

Downtown Estes Park from Little Prospect, 1938

 

Downtown Estes Park from Little Prospect, 2004

 

 

 

 

 

Soon to appear, Downtown Estes Park from Little Prospect, 2017!