You Can Now Buy Your Very Own Town Square

Enough money can get you twenty-house compounds, entire buildings for single families, and private islands. It can also get you a historic town square in an old mining town.

As first reported by Realtor.com, the town square of Colorado's Silverton is currently listed on Realtor.com for $1.6 million. A three-hour drive from Moab and six hours from Denver, the 600-person settlement is hardly prime real estate territory but historically important due to its past as a mining town.

During the Colorado Gold Rush of the 1850s, mining executives built it as a strategic stop along the San Juan Mountains. Prospectors would also come to search for gold in nearby Baker's Park. 

The last operating mine closed in 1992.

A Town Square Can Be A Business Opportunity

Tourists interested in Gold Rush or simply passing by occasionally stop in Silverton on drives between Utah and Denver -- the town square is designed as a mining town from that era with some old-style building fronts, an Emporium gift shop, and Swanee's Old Mine Sluice for children to learn about how gold was extracted.

Many of the buildings, such as the old-time photo studio storefront and San Juan County Courthouse, were built for everyday use in the 1900s and moved to Silverton from nearby areas to create a single preserved mining town in a single place.

For the last 40 years, 0.21-acre of the 5,340-square-foot plot of land containing the historic town square and tourist businesses was maintained by a family that had planted roots in Silverton. They kept up the historic feel of the park and leased businesses to locals interested in running a gift shop or a tourist attraction.

But with the owners getting on in years, they finally listed the town square for $1.6 million -- with the goal, ideally, of someone continuing to do the same thing and run it as a mining town park for tourists.

Own A Piece Of History (And Put In The Work)

"This is the first time the entire square and boardwalk, with business opportunities available, are for sale," reads the listing description. "Own a piece of history while creating your own."

Olivia Barrett of Re/Max Pinnacle is the listing agent representing the property and has been positioning it as a business opportunity for those willing to throw themselves at the job of running a tourist destination.

The $1.6 million price tag includes both the historical buildings and businesses like the general store -- the new owner would work with those currently running them on whether to continue or do something different.

The lot also comes with a residential property that, when the current owners ran it, brought in approximately $35,000 a year from those leasing it out to spend the night in a historic mining town.

While one could live in the property or rent it out, anyone buying the lot would need to have either preservation or the tourist industry in mind as tearing down so many historic buildings is not likely to go over well with local authorities.

“If somebody is looking to escape their normal life in the city and they’re wanting to do something different, they really could move here and live in the unit and run the businesses," Barrett told Realtor.com. "They could work all summer long and take winter off as they please.”