In the early 50's, a couple of prominent Gunnison locals bought several sections of land and formed the Island Acres Subdivision, which included a drive-in movie theater (the shell still stands). Development was slow, spotty and carries quite a bit of local color.

The extent of this development is widely forgotten. The "island" now refers only to the small piece of property located between the two branches of the Gunnison River. The term "Island Acres" refers now only to the 1950's motel that was built on the south tip of the island.

What we do know:

• Early records show that the famous Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad intended to extend their rail lines to the west over this property.
• The original motel consisted of three buildings, all were "Gunnison Homes" construction, named not for Gunnison, CO but for its creator, Forest Gunnison, an engineer. This was a modular wall panel system, popular in the days of rapid growth following the war.
• When the motel was built, the first guests would have accessed the property from the original Highway 50. This highway, while not as famous as its sister, Route 66, served the same purpose: carrying the automotive tourists cross country. Highway 50 stretched from Ocean City, MA to San Francisco, CA.
• In the 1960's the Rio Grande Railroad pulled up their tracks in Gunnison County. The highway was then moved south to the railroad's bed. Fortunately, a small section of the original highway was left to serve as a frontage road to this neighborhood, leaving the two steel overhead "twin bridges" that span the Gunnison river on either side of our property. One bridge is dated from 1929 and the other from 1930. Visualize driving your Model T over narrow bridges like this, where current traffic has to take turns crossing.
• Two of our original building still stand: the modern style office/owners quarters and the building which houses rooms 1-5. A twin to this building, which flanked the office on the other side burned to the ground during the off-season in 1959.
• We have two Lok (pronounced 'lock') Log buildings, a log building system that was the creation of Gunnison resident and that operated from the '50's to the '80's. One of these buildings replaced the original building that burnt. The other building was moved from a dude ranch, the Rippling River Ranch, that was in the way when Blue Mesa was created. Some say this building is haunted by a friendly but mischievous spirit.
• No one is sure when the building that houses 18 & 19 was built. It was apparently built just before the fire of 1959.
• The two buildings that also face the park area and added to the "tourist court" appearance seem to have be built in the 1970s.
• One of the previous owners also purposed creating a restaurant at Island Acres. The neighbors organized in opposition. Their battle cry was to "keep alcohol off the island."