Westcliffe, Colorado

Westcliffe is a statutory town that is the county seat of Custer County, Colorado, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 435.

History
Westcliffe had its start in 1881 when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad was extended to that point. In 1976, Sangre de Cristo Seminary was founded near Westcliffe, where it still operates.

Geography
Westcliffe is located west of the geographic center of Custer County in the Wet Mountain Valley, between the Wet Mountains to the east and the Sangre de Cristo Range to the west. The town of Silver Cliff is immediately to the east of Westcliffe.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.2 km2, all of it land.

Dark skies
Westcliffe, and neighboring Silver Cliff, Colorado, are recognized as IDA International Dark Sky Communities by The International Dark-Sky Association. Gentle persuasion has resulted in residents and business in the towns and surrounding ranch land reducing the amount of light pollution.

Locals have set up a free observatory in an old period building with a "roll-off" roof to open up the 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with computer-guided pointing and tracking to the skies overhead. Named the Smokey Jack Observatory, it was built in 2015.

Notable people

 * Gordon Clark (1902–1985), philosopher and theologian, buried near Westcliffe
 * Anne Kimbell (1932–2017), actress and founder of the Westcliffe Center for the Performing Arts
 * Adolph Treidler (1886–1981), artist, born in Westcliffe