The Smith and Duffy families have helped shape Glenwood Springs since the 1930s. In 1938, Nelly and James Duffy purchased three parcels of land, leaving a lasting mark on the community. Their daughter, Marian Duffy Smith, became the first female mayor of Glenwood Springs and the first woman to serve as a Garfield County commissioner.

Part of their land, the pasture directly north of the Glenwood Springs Colorado Mountain College campus has been a staple of Blake Street longer than the street has been paved. CMC recently took ownership of three parcels of land that stretch from mountain to Grand Avenue, and are in the preliminary stages of setting up a park and affordable housing in a prime location. 

Before her death in 2024, Duffy Smith expressed her wish for the land to go to CMC to support the college and the broader Glenwood Springs community.

The college took ownership of three parcels of land behind City Market, starting near the Doc Holiday trailhead and finishing on the sidewalk of Grand Avenue, on December 31 2024. After land appraisal came back, the three parcels were all transferred in one transaction. The relationship between family and school remained strong after a seamless transaction.  

“Throughout the process, we were trying to stay fair to the family, and stay fair to the school. That was what Marion wanted, so that’s what we were trying to do,” CMC President Matt Gianneschi said. 

According to Gianneschi, preliminary plans promise to keep the pasture as an outdoor area, potentially an extension of their early childcare center. The other two parcels are in the toddler stages of investigations, digging for the reality of affordable housing built up on currently untapped land. 

“Our plan for the pasture next to the campus is to keep it as open space,” Gianneschi said. “We are working with Aspen Valley Land Trust to keep that as permanent open space, so that will always be preserved. It’s one of the few remaining original open spaces that looks like it did 200 years ago. We are looking at the open space on the west side of Blake for affordable housing for faculty and staff. The goal is, that we are able to develop that to be an area where professionals or young families in the area who are having to deal with the very high cost of housing in our region, can have access to tasteful, appropriate, affordable housing.”

The college and Marian worked together through her final years, but were never able to close the deal. On the last day of 2024, CMC acquired the land to invest in the future of Glenwood Springs. 

“My mom had talked to CMC about possibly working with the college so they could purchase the land. For a variety of reasons, it never really took off,” Marian’s daughter Maylinn Smith said. “It wasn’t until after my mother and uncle passed when they reached out again and asked if we were still interested. They fully reflected the goals that my parents have expressed so we were interested in doing it.”

Gianneschi reiterated the college’s commitment to upholding the strong relationship between the school and family. 

“We feel both a sense of permanence and community,” Gianneschi said. “We are deeply connected to every community we serve, and we want to honor that whenever we can. In this particular transaction, it allowed us an opportunity to fulfill what we believed, while simultaneously upholding our relationship with the community.”

After acquiring the land just two months ago, the plans are still in predevelopment, and tangible evidence may not be visible until 2026.

“Sometimes you plan and it never happens, and then sometimes you sort of have an idea, and then all of a sudden, everything comes together,” Gianneschi said. “So it’s hard to know exactly what may or may not happen, but I would say our goal is to have a formal plan within the next 18 months.”