Granby
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- Granby 80446
- Town Hall - 887-2501
- Police, non-emergency - 887-3007
- Fire District Office - 887-3380
- Post Office - 887-3612
- Granby Chamber of Commerce - 887-2311
- 800-552-5671
www.granbychamber.com
The Heart of Something Grand
The Waldorf Astoria in New York City once proudly advertised on its menu that it served Granby iceberg lettuce. In the 1920s, lettuce was introduced and cultivated in irrigated tracts in the area where Lake Granby is today. This mountain crop was shipped to eastern hotels in railroad boxcars refrigerated with ice, hence the name “iceberg.” In the mid 1940s, as part of the Big Thompson Water Project, a reservoir was built in the lettuce fields to catch the winter snowmelt. Today the lettuce is gone but the lake that replaced the lettuce fields is now famous for year-round fishing for mackinaws, rainbows, browns and kokanee salmon.
Granby was settled in 1904 and became an important railroad center when David Moffat built a much needed rail route for the movement of goods between Denver and Salt Lake City. Moffat succeeded in opening the valley by laying railroad tracks over the top of the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass. Summer visitors also rode the train into Granby before continuing to the nearby “tourist camps” such as Monarch, Grand Lake, Hot Sulphur Springs and Kremmling.
Today, conveniently located with easy access to all parts of Grand County, Granby is popular for dude ranches, fishing, boating and winter sports. Two distinctive golf courses are located at the southern edge of Granby. The Grand Elk Golf Course, designed by PGA champion golfer Craig Stadler, is characteristic of the British heathland course style; SolVista Basin at Granby Ranch is a distinctive links-style golf course. As the crossroads of the county’s two main highways and directly between Grand Lake and Winter Park, Granby has become the area’s commercial and tourist center.
