New Castle began in the early 1880s as prospectors and miners drifted to the area for the rich coal viens in the rugged surrounding Colorado Mountains. Jasper Ward, ws the first settler in 1882, was a frieght supplier, farmers on one of the town's first Anglo settleers.
Jasper Ward was the first settler in 1882, homesteading a 160 acre tract of land. He built the first cabin along the west bank of Elk Creek at its confluence with the Colorado River, formerly the Grand River. Names of Grand Butte and Chapman were used prior to Incorporating the Town of New Castle in 1888. Coal veins were found in what is now known as the Grand Hogback. In 1883, with the Colorado Midland Railway and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, Coal became New Castle's main industry and grew to a population of over 2,000. At the turn of the Century, the population diminished rapidly after mine explosions, which resulted in the closing of the mines, to less then 800 by the 1930's. In 1980, the population was still around 800. The population started to raise in the mid 1990, today New Castle exceeds a population 3,500.
Surrounded by rugged, natural, Colorado beauty, it's easy to see why early Anglo settlers chose New Castle. Prospectors and miners arrived in the early 1880s leading to the discovery of rich coal veins.
The founding father of New Castle was Jasper Ward, a freight supplier, farmer and one of the town's first Anglo settlers. Ward and his family built a one-room, dirt-floor cabin along the west bank of Elk Creek. The cabin became the town's first post office and Ward the first postmaster. The Ute Indian Chief Colorow was a friend who often visited the cabin.
Ward also served as the town's deputy sheriff and led a posse to try to calm a Ute uprising that followed the Meeker Massacre. Ward died by gunfire at age 37 during a Ute and Colorado National Guard conflict in August 1887.
First known as Grand Buttes and later Chapman, the town was incorporated as New Castle on February 2, 1888. English miners suggested the name after Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a town in England noted for its coal mines.
Garfield County was home to various mines including two major mines in New Castle, the Consolidated Mine just west of downtown on Ward's Peak (now Burning Mountain) and the Vulcan Mine to the southeast on Roderick's Ridge across the Grand River (now the Colorado River). By 1892, some 400 miners were employed in town.
During the peak of mining activity in the 1890s, New Castle was home to a population ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 people. Coal was transported by railway to fire the silver smelters in Aspen and Leadville. New Castle was home to such businesses as a cannery, brickyard, brewery, banks, cement factory, dance halls, printing office, saloons and restaurants, three livery stables, two bakeries and several hotels.
