Idledale, Colorado

A Brief History of Idledale

Idledale is an unincorporated Bear Creek Canyon community in Jefferson County. John Starbuck acquired the site in 1906 and developed cabin lots under the Starbuck name. Road improvements in 1911 encouraged automobile tourism, followed by a tent park and the Denver Motor Club’s purchase of land in 1916 for a stone clubhouse. Residents built an elementary school in 1921. Severe floods in 1935 and 1937 reshaped the community’s transportation needs, and the clubhouse burned in 1938. Around that period, the Starbuck name gave way to Idledale, while the former resort settlement gradually became a residential community.