Montrose

The Uncompahgre (Tabeguache) band of the Ute people lived across western Colorado for centuries; Spanish explorers of the 1776 Domínguez–Escalante expedition recorded meeting Ute leaders near present-day Montrose.

The official town of Montrose took shape in the early 1880s after settlers began arriving in the Uncompahgre Valley in the 1870s and the federal relocation of the Ute people in September 1881 opened the way for land purchase. The first stake went in that December and the town became official in 1882. Early names included Pomona, Dad’s Town, and Uncompahgre Town before Joseph Selig proposed Montrose, inspired by a character in Sir Walter Scott’s novel. The new community supplied nearby mining camps, then agriculture rose as the mainstay as farmers and ranchers worked the fertile valley soils.

Rail service arrived in 1882 when the Denver and Rio Grande built a narrow gauge main line through town on the corridor between Denver and Salt Lake City. Standard gauge reached Grand Junction in 1890, which left Montrose on the narrow gauge lines to Salida, Grand Junction, and Ouray until standard gauge conversion from Grand Junction to Montrose in 1906 improved connections. These links supported a transportation and trade hub that still benefits travelers today.

Water transformed the valley. In 1909 the Gunnison Tunnel began carrying river water to local fields, an achievement celebrated with a presidential visit at the West Portal. The project spurred irrigated agriculture and shaped the economy and landscape visible around town.

The city’s cultural lens begins with the Ute Indian Museum, where exhibits and grounds interpret the heritage of the Ute people on the homestead site of Chief Ouray and Chipeta. Downtown visitor services run by the city help travelers connect that story to present day experiences in parks, galleries, and events.

A growing arts community adds shows and classes, while the Rotary Amphitheater brings live music into a riverside setting that locals and visitors share through the warm months. Together these places frame Montrose as a welcoming base where history, outdoor life, and community programming meet in one compact, walkable destination.

The opening of the Gunnison Tunnel in 1909 marked a turning point as reclaimed water reshaped farms and livelihoods across the valley, an event recorded by contemporary photographs of President William Howard Taft at the portal. In recent years the Rotary Amphitheater has become the backdrop for free summer concerts that draw families to the river corridor and show how the park system now anchors community life. At the water’s edge, the city built an accessible whitewater park where spectators watch kayakers and tubers just a short walk from downtown.

1. Chief Ouray (Tabeguache/Uncompahgre Ute) — diplomat and peace-first negotiator; his and Chipeta’s homestead site is today the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose.
2. Chipeta — revered Uncompahgre Ute leader and advocate; buried on the museum grounds at Ute Memorial Park.
3. Dalton Trumbo — Oscar-winning screenwriter (Roman Holiday, Spartacus), born in Montrose.
4. Al Taliaferro — Disney artist who helped define Donald Duck in newspapers; born in Montrose (a 2003 Disney Legend)
5. Anna Lee Aldred — first U.S. woman to receive a professional jockey’s license; born (and later died) in Montrose.
6. Dirk Johnson — NFL punter (notably with the Eagles); later a coach at Montrose High.

• A riverside whitewater park here was designed to be accessible to paddlers and spectators of varying mobility, making river recreation a true community space.
• The movie True Grit (1969), starring John Wayne, was filmed nearby in Ridgway and Ouray, and Montrose served as a support hub during production.
• Peaches, apples, corn, and wine grapes thrive in the valley thanks to irrigation from the Gunnison Tunnel.