This Tiny Colorado Town Is the Highest Incorporated Municipality in the United States

Today, Park County, Colorado, is perhaps best known as being home to the semi-fictitious setting for the popular cartoon South Park, but it is also home to actual towns that sit at high altitudes, like Fairplay, Hartsel, and the Bigfoot capital of the state, Bailey.

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However, one other tiny town in Park County holds the distinction of being the highest incorporated municipality in the United States.

The Colorado Town of Alma is the Highest Incorporated Municipality in the U.S.

The town that holds the distinction of being the highest incorporated municipality in the United States is Alma, Colorado.

Founded in 1873, prior to Colorado becoming an actual state, Alma began as a mining community due to the area’s proximity to Buckskin Gulch, a part of Colorado in which gold was discovered.

At its peak, Alma was home to an estimated 10,000 residents. However, when the gold mining in the area declined, that number dropped significantly. In fact, the most recent census data shows that Alma is currently home to a mere 296 people.

While the title of the highest incorporated city goes to Leadville, and the title of the highest incorporated town goes to Winter Park, with an elevation of 10,361 feet, Alma is considered the highest incorporated municipality in the nation.

Read More: LOOK: Abandoned Colorado Motel in Sparsely Populated Ghost Town

Today, the majority of Colorado is a far cry from its Wild West roots, but Alma has served as a reminder of the state’s outlaw days in fairly recent memory as in 1998, a resident of Alma named Thomas Leask went on a rampage that cost the town’s former mayor his life while doing around $100,000 worth of damage to buildings in the town in the process.