The community became the incorporated town of Montclair in 1888. In 1893, the crash of the silver market and the ensuing Panic of 1893 brought all development to a halt. Baron von Richthofen then began to promote the town as a health retreat, calling it the 'Carlsbad of Colorado'. However, due to his sudden death from appendicitis in 1898, plans for a health spa, art museum, hotel, gymnasium, casino and pavilions never materialized. By 1900, the US Census recorded only eighty-eight families living in Montclair.