Eagle: The County Seat That Had to Wait

Eagle County was carved from Summit County in eighteen eighty-three during a mining boom on Battle Mountain, but the town of Eagle was not the first choice for county seat. That honor went to Red Cliff, high in the mountains. Eagle grew slowly as a supply stop for mining camps to the south, and its very name was in flux for years before residents settled on it in eighteen ninety-six.

The town incorporated on April fifth, nineteen oh five, and finally wrested the county seat designation away from Red Cliff in nineteen twenty-one. Ranching and potato farming became the economic backbone after the mining boom faded, and Eagle remained a quiet agricultural hub for most of the twentieth century.