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Politically, Colorado is a bastion of western conservatism. As a result, the vast majority of Coloradans view the decidedly less-than-conservative city of Boulder either as an amusing curiosity
or, less benignly, as an irritating oddity. For many of the state's residents, Boulder is too idiosyncratic, too idealistic, too liberal, too pretty, too different, and too weird.
And,
ironically enough, that is almost exactly how the majority of Boulder residents view the little town of Ward.
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Founded in 1860 by Calvin Ward, who
was drawn to the area by its rich veins of minerals, the town has endured the collapse of its mining backbone, the evaporation of its brief status as a tourist mecca, the departure of its only railroad, and two
devastating fires, which some locals still argue were actually arsons instigated by envious folk from down the road in Central City. The Ward that has survived these trials is an anachronistic village that is still
housed in many of the frame or stone buildings that somehow escaped the last of the big fires at the end of the nineteenth century.
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