Route 550 Gifts

Route 550 Gifts Specializing in gifts for children, ladies and men. Including apparel, drinkware, stickers, socks, metal signs, flip-flops, cards, calendars, name plates, tote bags, ornaments, patches and much more! Something for everyone that their mama!

Wanting to celebrate the retro-culture of her Baby Boomer parents that she loved so much, Gina was looking for a theme for her new storefront. Getting to Silverton can be a bit of white-knuckle drive on Highway 550, and she knew the tourists often joked or even hyperventilated about their adventures of getting to Silverton. The northern entrance to Silverton includes passing forty potential avalanche paths, and the southern entrance tangles with the River of Lost Souls. So mixing the retro idea of Route 66 with Highway 550 gave birth to the Route 550 Gifts storefront in the May of 2011.

Aside from Highway 550, Silverton has its own adventure in history. Or, as one past local puts it, "Silverton: A gritty little mining town with Victorian pretensions!" Once the stomping ground of silver kings and railroad giants, Silverton survives today as one of Colorado's most endearing destinations. The Silverton district opened legally to miners in 1874, following the Brunot Treaty with the Utes. An estimated 2000 men moved into the region that year. They came from across the U.S., many parts of Europe and even China, to endure severe winters and dangerous mining conditions in their pursuit of the minerals they hoped would make them rich. Not all who settled were miners. By 1875 the 100 "sturdy souls" who lived in Silverton proper worked in the post office, sawmills, blacksmith shop, mercantile, newspaper, liquor stores, smelters, or assay office. The town's population grew to 500 by 1876. Life was not easy for any of them. Statistics from Silverton's cemetery note causes of death in early Silverton as 117 from snow slides, 143 from miner's consumption, 161 from pneumonia, 138 from influenza (most in the 1918 epidemic) and 202 from mine accidents.

Gina's specialty is now creating one-of-a-kind whimsical designed souvenirs inspired by past and present day Silverton.