Known also as "Grand Encampment", this town along the Colorado-Wyoming border was, at the turn of the twentieth century, a booming center of copper mining and smelting.

At one point a sixteen-mile tramway was built to carry copper ore from the mountains into the town for smelting.

[5] A sharp drop in copper prices and disastrous fires drove the mining company into bankruptcy.

It highlights the copper mining, ranching, logging history in the area.

A research library is located in the main gallery, the Doc Culleton Interpretive Center.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.60 square miles (4.14 km2), all land.

The racial makeup of the town was 97.52% White, 0.45% Native American, 0.68% Asian, and 1.35% from two or more races.

Public education in the town of Encampment is provided by Carbon County School District #2.