The Colorado State Register of Historic Properties (SRHP) recently approved CC alum Amalie Hipp’s ’22 nomination of the South Fork Passenger Shelter with a vote of 13-0, paving the way for more acknowledgement of the historic passenger shelter.
Hipp had been documenting the historic Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad passenger shelter, located in South Fork, Colorado, since 2020 as part of her anthropology thesis. Her study evaluated the passenger shelter’s potential as a nomination to the Colorado SRHP, and upon graduating, Hipp submitted the nomination to the Colorado State Register Review Board.
“The implications of the SRHP listing are significant for the owners, me, and the South Fork community,” Hipp says.
The listing signifies that the Colorado SRHP acknowledges the importance of the South Fork Passenger Shelter. It also means that the nomination documents are part of a searchable SRHP database, which makes them accessible to a broader audience.
“I hope that other Coloradans will be inspired to nominate similar rural properties with compelling architectural or, in this case, social history components,” says Hipp, who focused on archaeological anthropology while at CC.
Hipp says that the wooden passenger shelter was associated with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad from 1920 to 1971. Since its probable construction between 1892 and 1912, tourists and locals used the shelter, which was previously located along the Creede Branch of the railroad.
“The current owners, the Marvels, moved the structure across the Rio Grande River to their South Fork, Colorado, property in 1971-1972,” Hipp says. “It was through a mutual friend and mentor, archaeologist Marilyn Martorano, that I met the Marvels, who invited me to study their structure.”
“Although Marilyn showed me pictures, it was only in person that I saw the potential and novelty of the shelter for what lies within,” Hipp says. “The interior walls are covered in historical graffiti from 1912-1948 in the form of names, jobs, places, and even successes by trout fishermen. With over 335 inscriptions to analyze, the structure has massive potential to tell us more about the local South Fork and the social history of those connected to the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad during Colorado’s railroad era.”
Therefore, Hipp was able to successfully argue that the inscriptions meet the fifth criterion: The possibility of important discoveries related to prehistory or history.
The SRHP Board met twice—in September 2022 and May 2023—to evaluate Hipp’s nomination, and ultimately voted unanimously in favor of the South Fork Passenger Shelter.
“The support of Colorado College and the Anthropology Department was integral to the success of my thesis and nomination,” says Hipp. “The flexibility of the Block Plan enabled me to take blocks to conduct fieldwork at the structure in South Fork and write and research.”
The Anthropology Department awarded Hipp the Kathleen A. Jones Memorial Fund, which offset the costs of fieldwork and books.
“The guidance of Scott Ingram and assistance from Josh Birndorf ’20 of the Anthropology Department was incredibly beneficial,” Hipp says. “Dr. Ingram’s course for Anthropology seniors on thesis planning catalyzed the pace of my workflow. Mr. Birndorf, then the department’s paraprofessional, lent me his photography skills, GIS knowledge, and Subaru, towards gathering supplementary information for the nomination.”
At CC, Hipp was co-president and then president of the Student Anthropological Society, where she facilitated meetings to discuss anthropology news, helped to create a community for anthropology students, and scheduled guest speakers.
This fall, Hipp will begin her first year as an Anthropology Ph.D. student at the University of Kansas, where she will study Mesoamerican archaeology for the next five years under Dr. John Hoopes. She will also work as a graduate teaching assistant for an underclassman biological anthropology course.
“My Ph.D. is a significant step in realizing my dream of becoming a professor of anthropology, possibly leading me back to CC one day!” says Hipp.
