Fairplay was settled in 1859 during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush and incorporated in 1872, making it one of Colorado's oldest mountain towns and the seat of Park County. Early miners panned the gravels of the South Platte River running through town — the same waters that flow past Beaver Ridge today.
The surrounding basin, known simply as South Park, is a roughly 900-square-mile high-elevation valley ringed by the Mosquito and Front Ranges. While the richest strikes were up in the mountains at nearby Alma and Breckenridge, Fairplay grew as the supply town for those camps — a role its Main Street storefronts still hint at.
Today the town's mining-era buildings, many relocated to the open-air South Park City Museum, preserve that boomtown history, while the surrounding wilderness — Buffalo Peaks, the Mosquito Range, and the headwaters of the South Platte — still offers the same hiking, fishing, and prospecting that first brought people here.
"The Real South Park" — Fairplay's town nickname, long before the cartoon borrowed the name.
- 1859Gold discovered along the South Platte River; Fairplay settled during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.
- 1861Park County established; Fairplay becomes the county seat.
- 1872Town of Fairplay formally incorporated.
- 1900sLarge bucket-line gold dredges work the river; their tailing piles are still visible today.
- 1959South Park City Museum opens, relocating 30+ historic buildings from nearby mining camps and ghost towns.
- TodayFairplay remains a working gateway town for hiking, fishing, and recreational gold panning in South Park.