Morrison (1873, 5,800 feet, NRD) was established by George Morrison, a Scottish stonecutter from Montreal. In 1864 Morrison homesteaded this area along Bear Creek, where he found fine red sandstone and opened one of Colorado's first quarries. After the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad arrived, as many as six quarries provided pinkish-red sandstone for buildings statewide. Morrison and former governor John Evans, principal backer of the Denver, South Park & Pacific, founded the Morrison Stone, Lime, and Town Company. Morrison remains a quaint little town protected from a sea of suburban development by the Morrison Hogback on the east, Red Rocks Park on the north, and steep foothills on the west. The stone ruins of a proposed summer White House (1919, Jacques Benedict), a never-completed marvel based on Prince Ludwig's castle in Bavaria, are a reward for a short hike to the top of Mt. Falcon.
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