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May 1942. "Central City, an old mining town in the mountainous region of Central Colorado." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Ya gotta mine something, might as well be tourist pockets, right?
Below is the same view from October of 2012.
It's amazing that those decidedly odd light poles at the entrance to the Teller Hotel have survived all these years later, although the further one in the 1942 Picture is missing it's globe.
Today Central City looks almost identical to its appearance in this photo except for one key element. Gambling was voted in in the '80s, and today most of the buildings in town have been gutted and turned into one continuous casino space inside. It's a sad example of how a town can die from too little money - or too much.
for an aging "ghost town" like CC; the most important being a firehouse: for half-deserted and closely-built towns such as this, burning was the biggest danger (or a very close second to obsolescence).
Except that Central City is a bunch of casinos now.
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