SUN VALLEY, Idaho — Nestled in the mountains of central Idaho, Sun Valley is known today as a world-class ski destination. But nearly 90 years ago, it became something America had never seen before: the nation's first destination ski resort.
As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, Idaho News 6 is taking a look at how this small Idaho town helped reshape recreation, tourism and winter sports across the country.
WATCH: The history of the first ski resort in America
The story of Sun Valley is one of boom, bust and reinvention.
Long before skiers arrived, the Wood River Valley was home to the Shoshone-Bannock people. In the late 1800s, silver mining transformed the region into one of the busiest communities in the American West. The railroad soon followed, bringing people, commerce and opportunity.
But when silver prices collapsed, so did the local economy. By the 1930s, the once-thriving mining community had dwindled to only a few hundred residents.
"It’s incredible to think that this town had gone from 2,000 people in the 1890s to 200 people," said Kristine Bretall, the Public Programs Director with the Sun Valley Museum of Art. "It had been this very international town in the 1890s with mining and then had become almost nothing."
That changed in 1935 when Union Pacific Railroad Chairman Averell Harriman set out to create a destination ski resort unlike anything in the United States.
The resort opened a year later with a 220-room lodge, heated outdoor pools and what would become one of its greatest innovations.
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"They have also invented the chairlift, first in the world. Period. End of statement," Bretall said.
The world's first chairlifts debuted in Sun Valley in 1936, helping introduce generations of Americans to downhill skiing and creating a model for ski resorts that would later spread across the country.
But Sun Valley wasn't just selling skiing.
"It was essentially social media before it was social media," Bretall said. "They would take pictures of famous people, whether it was Ernest Hemingway, whether it was Marilyn Monroe, whether it was Gary Cooper."
Hollywood stars, Olympic athletes and renowned authors helped put Sun Valley on the map. Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and Gary Cooper all spent time in the area. Sun Valley's own Gretchen Fraser became the first American to win an Olympic medal in skiing.
Among the town's most enduring connections is author Ernest Hemingway.
"He came and really fell in love with this place," Bretall said. "He loved hunting here and really made great friends here."
Hemingway first visited Sun Valley in 1939 at the resort's invitation. What began as a promotional trip became a lifelong connection. He eventually made the Wood River Valley his home, spending his final years there before his death in 1961. He is buried at the Ketchum Cemetery, where visitors from around the world continue to pay their respects.
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Nearly 90 years after the resort opened, Sun Valley's influence can still be seen at ski resorts across the United States, from the chairlifts that carry skiers uphill to the destination resort experience that began in the mountains of central Idaho.
