It was the first settlement established in the Roaring Fork Valley, after gold was struck in the vicinity on Independence Day, July 4, 1879, hence its name.

Like other early settlements in the upper Roaring Fork Valley, it lost population over the course of the decade as Aspen emerged as the ideal location for commerce in the region,[2] and then became the county seat.

It was never able to overcome the severe winters that resulted from its location at a high elevation in the mountains, and at the end of the 19th century all but one of the remaining residents abandoned Independence en masse after a particularly heavy snowstorm to settle in Aspen.

It is called the Intern Cabin, since it housed one who lived at the site during the summers to maintain it and offer interpretive tours to visitors.

[7] In 1879 prospectors began heading west from Leadville over the Divide and into the Roaring Fork Valley, drawn by reports of vast mineral deposits there.

Reports reached Leadville, where some earlier prospectors had retreated following hostility from the Ute Native American tribe that had led Colorado governor Frederick Pitkin to issue an order barring any European settlers from crossing the Divide.

With the trip from that city to the other mining towns further down the valley taking 2–5 days, Independence also did business as an overnight stage stop.

[6][7] Despite this economic supremacy, Independence lost its bid to be the seat of the newly created Pitkin County to the last of the original mining settlements in the valley, Ute City, now renamed Aspen after the abundance of that tree in the area.

Aspen also had a milder climate—at Independence's high elevation, the town was under heavy snow cover from late October to mid-May every year.

Later that year the first railroads reached Aspen, greatly reducing the stage traffic over the Divide, another pillar of the local economy.

Five years later, the end of Aspen's boom, with the Sherman Act's repeal in response to the Panic of 1893, made it even more difficult for Independence to endure.

They humorously billed their escape as the "Hunter Pass Tenderfoot Snowshoe Club Race", with an entry fee of one ham sandwich each.

In the 1930s the Colorado Women's Club organized a program which used Civilian Conservation Corps labor to replant the slopes and end the avalanche danger.

Later in the century, after its listing on the Register, the Aspen Historical Society and other groups worked with the U.S. Forest Service to restore the log cabins, build the path network, add interpretive plaques and pay for an intern to live there during the summer months.