Clark

Clark

Clark began as a stage stop in the early 1880's and was named for Worthington Clark, co-partner in the operation of the stage stop. It became a small scattered community as ranching and mining activity in the area developed. In 1902 Jim Norvell built the Congregational Church near the Whitmer Ranch. The first store, post office and log schoolhouse were located in the same area until 1914. The store was run by a blind man named Cessna until 1914 when the store, post office and a telephone exchange were built on the Elk River at the Glen Eden Bridge in a building which still stands. The Clark school was built at its present location in 1915. In the early 1940's owner, Jim Sayers, built a new store and post office a mile south, just across the road from the present Clark Store. The telephone exchange was moved to the switchboard in Steamboat Springs in the 1940's but the store remained until it burned in the late 1950's. The Clark community included various sawmills, a blacksmith shop at the old Glen Eden store, and a community hall built in 1912 by the Woodmen of the World near the Whitmer Ranch which stood until the early 1920's. The hill above the Whitmer Ranch is the site of Clark's Pioneer Cemetery which contains the graves of many Elk River families.

The Clark store is still a popular stopping place for visitors traveling up CR#129 to Steamboat Lake and North Routt county. They are well known for their ice cream in the summer time.

Community Centers