Downtown Basalt, with its charming historic buildings and the modern Willits Town Center are Basalt’s two vibrant hubs.

You’ll find unique boutiques, sporting goods, fishing gear and guide services, galleries and a variety of excellent restaurants, some featuring local musicians. The Arts Campus at Willits (TACAW) is alive with performing arts, speakers, live music and community functions.The Basalt Summer Concert Series takes place in the Old Town in the serene Basalt River Park. 

Downtown Basalt sits at the confluence of the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers and at the base of Basalt Mountain.  Mt. Sopris is the backdrop for both Willits and Old Town Basalt. Basalt’s location midway in the Valley, lets residents conveniently access the unparalleled recreational opportunities of the Roaring Fork Valley. 

Basalt Past & Present

Basalt’s history as a railroad town is ever present. The local bank office was once the railroad depot and Arbaney Park is home to the Fryingpan Kilns built in the late 1880’s to refine charcoal. The Colorado Midland Railroad, built to carry coal and silver ore between Leadville and Aspen, established the town of Frying Pan Junction in 1887. Incorporated as Basalt in 1901, the town filled with immigrants from Switzerland and Northern Italy to work for the railroad and in mining. From 1883 to 1918, the Midland Railroad brought passengers and freight to the Roaring Fork Valley through Basalt via Hagerman Pass. It’s a rocky and rugged pass, and the train ride was filled with rockslides, snowdrifts, derailments and coal shortages.

Today the dangers of yesteryear have been put to rest, replaced by a modern-day town filled with fine amenities and about 4,000 folks who call Basalt home. The railroad right-of-way is now the Rio Grande Trail, a paved 40-mile Rails to Trails project that runs between Aspen and Glenwood Springs. The Willits Town Center marks a new era in the valley with its commercial and residential core plus homes and townhomes in a park like setting.