Estes Park Women's Monument Project

Welcome to the Estes Park Women's Monument project Home Page!

The local community has succeeded in creating and installing the Estes Park Women's Monument along the Riverwalk in downtown Estes Park to honor historical Women of Estes Park in the Fall of 2021.  Enhancements were made in 2022 with the installation of two new sculptures in September and the official renaming of the area by the Town to be called the "Women's Heritage Plaza".

The official dedication occurred on September 30, 2021 at 1:30 PM at the new Estes Park Women's Monument site in downtown Estes Park!  It was very well attended and inspirational.  A new enhancement created in the early Summer of 2023 is a nice concrete path through the artwork, which makes the monument easily accessible!  Please visit Estes Park and experience one of the first monuments honoring historical women in the USA.

Congratulations and Thank You to everyone involved!!!! 

The original intent of the Estes Park Women’s Monument project was to raise $100,000 to create and install a significant monument to honor the historical women of Estes Park in a prominent downtown location. The basic concept of the monument was for a life-size representational bronze statue of a historical Estes Park Woman (Eleanor Hondius) along with her story. In addition, the artwork contains sculptures and the stories of eleven other historical women of Estes Park and some associated decorative gardens and stone elements. The monument is installed in a prominent, park-like setting, along the Riverwalk in downtown Estes Park. This project was supported by the Town of Estes Park and was being championed by the Parks Advisory Board (PAB). In addition, the Town donated the land that was required for this important monument.  The project partnered with the Art Center of Estes Park and was run as a sub-project of the Art Center to garner its non-profit status. The fundraising effort had broad public support and was a success!

The Artist for this exciting project is renown sculptor Jane DeDecker of Loveland, Colorado.  Visit Jane's Website for more information about herself, her studio and her art.

This project keeps Estes Park on the forefront of current public art projects with its unique focus on the historical women of Estes Park. There are not many communities in the USA that have commissioned public art specifically recognizing women. There are so many women who helped shape the Estes Park that we know and love today. We now have a new and significant piece of public art that honors the Historic Women of Estes Park located in our beautiful downtown.

The Estes Park Women's Monument project was a grassroots, community-based, all-volunteer effort that was hosted by the Art Center of Estes Park, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.  The Federal Tax Id for the hosting organization is #74-250-4613.  All donations were held in a separate account at the Art Center of Estes Park that was solely used for this exciting project.  There was no overhead for this project as all efforts and resources were donated, so all donations went completely to the monument itself.  

Thanks So Much for Being a part of the future by honoring the past!

Sincerely,

Ron Wilcocks, Fundraising Chair – Estes Park Women’s Monument project