 At first it was called Ute City, after the local Native American tribe, but by the early 1880s it had been renamed Aspen, after the trees abundant in the area.Jerome Wheeler, at the time co-owner of Macy's, visited Aspen in 1883 while on vacation in Colorado.He was impressed by the potential he saw, and began investing in the community, completing a smelter started earlier so that ore did not have to be taken back to Leadville.