Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Silverthorne, CO

Silverthorne is a home rule town in Summit County, Colorado, sitting along the Blue River between the Gore Range to the west and the Continental Divide to the east.

The town is named for Judge Marshall Silverthorn, who served as judge of the miners' court in Breckenridge and claimed a section of the Blue River in 1881, patenting the claim in April 1882.

Silverthorn was disappointed by how little gold his claim produced, and after his death in 1887 the land passed to his daughters and was sold several times to mining companies.

In 1953 Clayton Hill bought the old Silverthorn property and subdivided it for homes and stores, laying the groundwork for the modern town.

Silverthorne served as a makeshift camp for workers building the Dillon Reservoir from 1961 to 1963 and later became a stop along Interstate 70.

The town was incorporated in 1967 and has expanded several times since then through annexation.

Silverthorne sits at an elevation of 8,790 feet, with Buffalo Mountain and Red Mountain among the prominent peaks surrounding the valley.

The town covers about 4.1 square miles, of which roughly 1.6 percent is water.

At the 2020 census, Silverthorne had 4,402 residents, up 13.2 percent from 3,887 in 2010.

The 2020 census counted 1,684 households and 2,551 housing units in Silverthorne, with about 34 percent of the housing units vacant, reflecting the area's many second homes.