Fondis, Colorado
Not too many people visit Fondis these days. In the hustle and bustle of the modern world which encompasses most of Colorado in nearby counties, Fondis is a forgotten remnant of days gone by.
No one knows for sure how Fondis was named, some sources say it was named for a hotel in Italy, where one of the town’s first settlers had met his wife. Other sources claim the town was named after the town of Fondi, Italy.
Fondis came into existence as a farming, ranching, and logging center. Yep, logging on the high plains! The hill country of Elbert County was, and still is, dotted with dense stands of pine trees- An anomaly among the high plains region. Throughout the 1800s and early-1900s, Elbert County supplied much of the wood used to build the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs.
Fondis dates to the 1890s. A Post Office was founded in 1895 and served local residents and ranchers until 1954. There were a pair of General Stores, on opposite sides of Fondis’ one intersection of roads- One, a wooden frame structure dating the 1890s, the second a red brick building built in 1902. Both stores still stand today, the brick building in an advanced state of decay, and the wood frame store undergoing restoration on mylast visit.
Fondis is located in the gorgeous, pine dotted, hill country 40 miles east of Castle Rock, Colorado at the junction of County Roads 98 and 69, which are south of Highway 86 and west of County Road 77 (lost yet?)
There are a hanful of people wholive in and around the old Fondis town site still. There is an operational church, and some of the historic buildings were being refurbished as part of a Veteran’s project when I visited last.
Check Out My Book- Release Date August 24, 2020!!!- Pre-Order Here!
Thanks for visiting! Please “share” on you social media pages!
Life...Death...Iron 