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Queen of All Saints is situated in the ski town of Crested Butte,
nestled in a valley surrounded by towering mountain peaks. The area is known for
its ski slopes and its resorts. Yet, minutes away from the modern slopes, lies
the old town of Crested Butte, one of Colorado’s largest National Historic
Districts, looking much like it did a century ago when gold miners skied in from
their mountain claims for supplies and companionship.
As Catholic Slavs and Italians from Eastern Europe
started arriving in Crested Butte in increasing numbers during the 1890s, a
demand arose for a Catholic Church. As early as 1884, a priest traveled to
Crested Butte from Gunnison once a month to hold services in the city hall. This
practice continued until shortly after 1894 when St. Patrick’s Church was
constructed. After 1900, its diverse congregation was made up of mostly Slavs
and Italians, and in later years, Mexicans.
Religion was the cause of the most serious forms of prejudice in the small
mining town, with continual tension between the Protestant and Catholic
population—the worst of the bigotry being in the 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan
established themselves in the town. But by the end of the 1920s, the influence
of the Klan began to ebb, and the immigrants saw a gradual growth in religious
tolerance. By the 1930s, St. Patrick’s served six to seven hundred Catholics
of various backgrounds.
From the 1930s to the early 1950s, Crested Butte
experienced the effects of the depression and the closing of mines. In 1954, the
Denver Rio Grande Railroad closed its lines to Crested Butte. This was the end
of the era of mining and the beginning of the outdoor recreation industry.
Although there has been no full time priest in town
since the closing of Big Mine in 1952, the people of Crested Butte built Queen
of All Saints Church in 1961. Since then it has served a small parish community,
with ninety-nine families at the present time. Although they are small in
number, the congregation shares its Catholic spirit with visitors who come from
around the world.
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