Hideaway Park, Colorado
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Hideaway Park was the early name of the resort town now known as Winter Park, in Grand County, Colorado, nestled in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States. Located along U.S. Route 40 midway between Fraser and West Portal (the location of present-day Winter Park Resort), the village began in 1932 and quickly developed into the fourth town in the Fraser Valley, after Fraser, West Portal, and Tabernash.
Hideaway Park was developed and built by L.O. "Doc" Graves, a merchant in the valley since 1922. Doc began by building 26 tourist cabins and a cafe and service station called "Doc's Place." He also installed a water wheel on Vasquez Creek to generate all the electricity necessary to operate his business. The village grew rapidly, considering that the entire country was in the depth of a serious depression at that time. The construction of a water tunnel parallel to the existing Moffatt railroad tunnel had a positive effect on the local economy. Over a stretch of two years, the village added three more businesses — a saloon, a garage, and a nightclub — and nearly doubled in population.
As the business center of the area gradually shifted from West Portal (an area still known as "Old Town Winter Park") to the Hideaway Park area, the original businesses disappeared and were replaced with the present-day town. When the town was incorporated in 1978, it was given the name Winter Park.[1] For many, the closure of the Ski Idlewild novice ski area in 1986 marked the end of the Hideaway Park era.
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