HISTORY

Welcome - History of Subdivision

The Aspen Ridge Property Owner's Association would like to welcome you to this website  and to the community.  Whether you are a long-time owner or have just purchased property, the Board wants you to feel like family as you recreate in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  The subdivision, on a treed knoll at the North end of Island Park, was formed in 1962 and a plat with 110 lots was filed with Fremont County by the Mickelsons and Harts. According to Mr. Irving "Bud" Shearer who purchase three lots with other individuals in 1967, it was a summer home area and people would "park off highway 20 and walk or snow machine to their cabins in the winter.  This lasted until about 1995". He adds that one property owner, Orin Harmon, then began to plow out roads and charge homeowners. "The roads were unimproved and often resembled wandering trails," Shearer remembers.  Roads had been officially named by the county who furnished signs, but property owners had to install them with a two-man post-hole digger loaned to them. 

The Association was formed in 1995. Picnics were held each summer for several years. 

Demand for services has grown over the years along with new cabins and inhabitants.  Now we have several year-round residents.  Island Park Water operates a system that was installed years ago (summer home era) and drained each fall.  The company always advises leaving a trickle running from a faucet to avoid freezing as lines in the road are not buried deep enough to handle the -40 degree temps.

In the 1990's, the Island Park Sewer System was completed.  Businesses and cabin areas along the highway 20 corridor were connected including those at Aspen Ridge.

In the summer of 2022 trenches were dug by a contractor for Blackfoot Communications and fiber optic internet lines were installed.

Two or three cabins are built in most summers.  At last count, of the 110 lots most have homes on them.  Some cabins in the Aspen Ridge Subdivision also double as short-term rentals for tourists visiting the Yellowstone-Teton Region.