Cañon City in Fremont County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Filmed in Cañon

Filmed in Canon Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025

1. Filmed in Canon Marker

Inscription.
Silent Movie Era
From 1911 to 1914, the Selig Polyscope Company and the Colorado Motion Picture Company shot movies in and around Cañon City. The films starred silent film actors such as Tom Mix, Myrtle Stedman, and Josephine West. The companies also hired locals to work as extras.

Buckskin Joe Era
Buckskin Joe was an old west town developed as a movie set and a tourist attraction from 1958 to 2010. An art director for MGM, Malcom Brown designed the town. Local photographer Karol Smith acquired 75 old buildings from around Colorado for the set. Don Tyner provided land near the Royal Gorge for the attraction.

Cat Ballou was the first movie filmed at Buckskin Joe. The old town was the set of other westerns like The White Buffalo, The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, The Cowboys and the T.V. movies The Sacketts and True Grit: A Further Adventure.

In 2010 Greg Tabuteau, the owner of Buckskin Joe, sold the attraction to billionaire William Koch for $3.1 million. Mr. Koch had the buildings moved to his ranch near Gunnison.

Cañon City and the surrounding area continue to draw the occasional film crews. Netflix, WGN-TV, and the Oxygen Channel filmed full-length movies and documentaries here in recent years.

For more information please visit the Royal

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Gorge Regional Museum & History Center at 612 Royal Gorge Blvd.

Erected by Cañon City Rotary Club.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment • Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the Rotary International series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1911.

Location. 38° 26.348′ N, 105° 14.604′ W. Marker is in Cañon City, Colorado, in Fremont County. It is at the intersection of Main Street and South 3rd Street, on the right when traveling east on Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Canon City CO 81212, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley

and in Pikes Peak Region.

It is also in the American Mountain West.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comanchería

and also the Republic of Texas.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: W. C. Catlin (within shouting distance of this marker); Raynolds Bank (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Raynolds-McGee Block (1883) / McClure/Strathmore Hotel (1874) (about 500 feet away); 405 Main Street (about 600 feet away); First People, Explorers & Settlers (about 600 feet away); Health, Wellness ~ Entertainment (about 800 feet away); Cañon City (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Banana Belt of Colorado (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Cañon City.

Also see . . .
1. Hollywood in Colorado (The Obscurinomicon).

2. Marker detail: Colorado Motion Picture Company logo
ca. 1913

(By Travis Gulbrandson) Excerpt: Being that filmmaking was still in its earliest days, the prospect of a movie company setting up permanent shop in the small town of Cañon City, Colorado, was seen as an especially exciting event. Initially incorporated in Denver, the Colorado Motion Picture Company first came to Cañon City in October 1913 to make a three-reeler at the state penitentiary with the full cooperation of warden Tom Tynan. Based on what was reported in the trades, the company found the area had some of the finest mountain scenery to be had in the United States, which was a necessity for the military pictures and Westerns in which the company specialized.

(Submitted on August 16, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

2. Buckskin Joe (Wikipedia).

Excerpt: Buckskin Joe was built as a film set in 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer director Malcolm F. Brown, by bringing together old buildings from around central Colorado, and assembling them into an old western-style town. The name was taken from the former mining town, now ghost town, of Buckskin Joe, west of Fairplay, Colorado. The only building in the theme park from the original Buckskin Joe is the general store originally owned by Colorado
Courtesy Royal Gorge Regional Museum

3. Marker detail: Colorado Motion Picture Company; 1914
pioneer Horace Tabor. In 1958 the owners began admitting tourists between filmings, and developed the location into a western theme park.
On September 2, 2010, owner Greg Tabuteau announced the sale of Buckskin Joe and its associated attraction the “Royal Gorge Scenic Railway,” to an anonymous purchaser. The owner was later identified as Florida billionaire William Koch who planned to move the historic ghost town to his ranch near Gunnison. The final day of operation for the town was September 12, 2010.
The town was a western movie filming location with more than 21 films to its credit. The final movie to be filmed at Buckskin Joe was “Cactus Creek.”

(Submitted on August 16, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

3. Fremont County Heritage and the Western Movie (ColoradoInfo.com).

Excerpt: The county was a top location for early silent Western movie production companies. Filmmakers liked the area’s scenic beauty, varied topography, the Arkansas River, mild climate, and good light. The area was welcoming, with good railroad access, a supportive business community led by the Cañon City Businessmen’s Association, and plenty of available housing. Area ranchers were happy to get additional revenue by providing herds of cattle, horses, and
Courtesy Royal Gorge Regional Museum

4. Marker detail: Buckskin Joe; ca. 1960
ranch hands as backdrops and extras.
When Selig Polyscope left Cañon City for California, the Colorado Motion Picture Company, with backing from Denver investors, took over filming in 1913 and made over a dozen films here.
The Cañon City Film Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, carrying on the earlier tradition of the Businessmen’s Association, worked to attract filming. Established in 1950 at the suggestion of Cañon City resident Karol Smith, a photographer who had worked as a production coordinator on the 1948 film “Cañon City,” the organized effort resulted in 14 films being shot here over the next three decades.

(Submitted on August 17, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Filmed in Cañon Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2025

5. Filmed in Cañon Marker

Looking northeast across Main Street; 3rd Street crosses in the background.

Credits. This page was last revised on August 17, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 14, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 218 times since then and 64 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on August 16, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.