A Town Is Born

Map Of Mt. Vernon

Map of Mt. Vernon in 1868
Town limits reached as far as today's Heritage Square and Dinosaur Ridge
Courtesy Gardner Family Collection

In 1859 George Andrew Jackson discovered gold at the area of today's Idaho Springs, and once word got out many gold rushers followed. They blazed a new thoroughfare up the canyon south of the new Golden City, and soon several of the gold rushers realized there was opportunity at the strategic location at the route's entrance.

Dr. Joseph Casto was a Baptist clergyman from Ohio who arrived in the gold rush region of Colorado in the spring of 1859. First locating at Jefferson County's first town, Arapahoe City, he was proprietor of the freighting firm of Casto, Kendall & Company, and soon became postmaster of Mountain City in the heart of the Central City/Black Hawk gold mining area. Eyeing opportunity of his own, on October 27, 1859 Casto created the new townsite of Mt. Vernon at the entrance of the road to the gold fields at Idaho Springs. Also newly arrived was Robert Williamson Steele, the popularly elected Governor of the new provisional Jefferson Territory. Steele was a devoted admirer of George Washington, and reportedly named the town for Washington's beloved home.

Mt. Vernon Advertisement

The Mt. Vernon Town Company quickly proceeded to advertise in the Rocky Mountain News and Western Mountaineer newspapers, saying that town lots would be donated to those who would build on them. Not long after Steele, Casto and J.F. Owens were building homes at Mt. Vernon along with several others.

Cornerstones Of Mt. Vernon