Carbon Valley

Guides

The longer reads: Carbon Valley with kids, and how the town got this way. Each says where its facts came from.

Families

The Carbon Valley Regional Library on Park Avenue in Firestone under a grey summer sky: a round stone-and-glass entrance tower behind a flagpole, with the library's name in white letters over the doors and benches on the walk.

Families · October 5, 2026

Carbon Valley with kids: a lazy river, two splash pads, a foam pit and a speedway with a family section

The rec center pools and their rules, Kid Zone, the gymnastics foam pit, the library's storytimes, the splash pads in Frederick and Dacono, a pump track, a BMX track, karts, fishing and the three towns' family calendar. Where to go with children in Frederick, Firestone and Dacono.

History

Firestone's former Town Hall at 151 Grant Avenue in the original townsite in March 2015: a low beige building with a blue metal roof and a gable reading Firestone Town Hall, with the Colorado and US flags out front under a clear sky.

History · October 5, 2026

Carbon Valley history: three coal towns in two years, the mines that closed, and the boom that came up I-25

Fort Junction and the McKissick brothers, a coalfield of 2.56 billion tons, Frederick, Firestone and Dacono incorporated within a year of each other, the strikes, the mines closing one by one, oil and gas, and growth from 7,400 people to 37,000 in twenty years. The short history of the Carbon Valley, with sources.