Walt Disney started an American race to build theme parks when he opened Disneyland. In fact, some of Disney’s top former staffers attempted a sequel-in-spirit just a few years later. They built it on Colorado’s Front Range and named it Magic Mountain. Things didn’t go quite like they planned, but their failure produced one of Colorado’s oddest artifacts: A history-themed town that became historic itself.
The place, now called Heritage Square, is most likely going to be demolished. I followed along for a few months, and finally had the chance to land a story in Westword about its imminent closure.