Parkville (sometimes called Park City) is a ghost town located in, and the original county seat of, Summit County, Colorado, U.S. Parkville was a gold mining camp that flourished from 1860 to 1866 near the confluence of the middle and south forks of the Swan River. History Parkville was established around 1860 in Georgia Gulch near Swan River, with cabins by 1861. The population of the site soon rose to around 1,800. When the new Territory of Colorado created its 17 original counties on November 1, 1861, Parkville was designated the of Summit County seat. At its creation, Summit County covered roughly the entire northwest portion of the Colorado Territory. Parkville was the site of among the earliest Freemason lodges in Colorado, with Summit Lodge No.2 among the lodges established with the formation of the Grand Lodge of Colorado. The earliest minutes from the Summit County commissioners shows that they rented the masonic hall for meetings and county and district court. The region's gold rush drove much of Parkville's 1861 growth, with its discoveries among the most valuable in Colorado history; up to $800 () of gold was mined daily. This saw the production of territorial gold token mintage at Parkville during the summer of 1861. These tokens–valued at $2.50, $5, and $10–were coined by J.J. Conway & Co. out of gold dust. These tokens did not look like standard U.S. coinage and were of varying weight, thus losing the confidence of the townsfolk. A vote was held in 1861 on what town should be the county seat and Parkville, then the largest town in the region, lost by 11 votes to Breckenridge. Parkville, which had at one point been in the running as the territorial capital, would eventually become a ghost town. The former Parkville townsite is preserved as part of the Parkville Open Space, a 44-acre lot owned and operated by Summit County. See also List of counties in Colorado List of ghost towns in Colorado Notes References External links 1861 establishments in Colorado Territory Ghost towns in Colorado Gold mining in Colorado