As one of America’s favorite ski towns, Breckenridge is known for its beautiful scenery, excellent skiing, and having tons of local culture. There’s a lot more to this small town than just fresh powder. With no further ado, here are 20 interesting facts about Breckenridge.
- The permanent population is 4,540. At its peak Breckenridge has a population of 37,145, including visitors.
There are 97 total restaurants in Breckenridge. 89 have bars, 17 do not.- The town of Breckenridge has free Wi-Fi.
- Breckenridge gets an average of 330 inches of snowfall each year.
- Breckenridge has an average of 300 sunny days.
- The highest chairlift in North America is Breckenridge’s Imperial Express. At its peak it reaches 12,840 feet.
- Breckenridge has the largest historic district in Colorado with 300 historic structures.
- Breckenridge resort opened in 1961.
- The average temperature in the winter in 20 degrees during the day.
- In 1984 Breckenridge was the first major resort to allow snowboarding.
- Dumb and Dumber was filmed partly in Breckenridge. The scene when Harry’s tongue gets stuck to the chair lift was filmed on the A-Chair.
- The elevation at the top of peak 8 is 12,998 feet.
- The town of Breckenridge is 7 miles long and 2 miles wide.
- When originally founded the name of the town was spelled BreckINridge, after the vice-president at the time. After the VP sided with the confederate army in the Civil war the town changed the spelling to BreckENridge.
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Courtesy of Gold Pan Facebook page. The Gold Pan Saloon is one of the oldest running pubs in the country. It was founded in 1859.
- The town was inadvertently left off of the U.S. map in the 1800’s. When the mistake was realized Breckenridge was added to the map under the name “Colorado’s Kingdom”. To celebrate this historical inaccuracy the town holds an annual Kingdom Days celebration.
- More than 3 million people visit Breckenridge each year.
- Nearly 70 lbs. of gold was said to be mined in Breckenridge during the gold rush.
- The Edwin Carter Museum in Breckenridge has an impressive collection of animal and plant specimens. Many of these specimens came from the private collection of local naturalist Edwin Carter. Carter died of arsenic poisoning due to the chemicals he used to preserve his specimen.
- After the success of Star Wars, 20th Century Fox needed to invest the profits, so they bought 100% of the shares for Breckenridge in 1970. 20th Century Fox owned these shares from 1970 to 1981.
Now that you know a few fun facts about this amazing mountain town, you should start planning your trip to Breckenridge! For any adventure needs give us a call at 877.RAFTING.
