County Past
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Chaffee County, Colorado

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
49historic places
—earliest paper
1879formed
19,476pop. 2020
7cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 49 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1973. Most listings are in or near Buena Vista, Salida, Granite.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Colorado is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Chaffee titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

24 of 49 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

49 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Alexander HouseSalidaBuilding2007
Behrman RanchBuena VistaDistrict2012
Bode-Stewart HouseSalidaBuilding2008
Bonney, J. M., HouseBuena VistaBuilding1994
Bridge over Arkansas RiverBuena VistaStructure1985
Brown's Canyon BridgeSalidaStructure2013
Buena Vista Ranger StationBuena VistaBuilding2022
Chaffee County Courthouse and Jail Buildings (Additional Documentation)Buena VistaBuilding1979
Chaffee County Courthouse and Jail Buildings (Boundary Increase)Buena VistaBuilding2023
Chaffee County Poor FarmSalidaBuilding1985
Cleora CemeterySalidaSite2017
Comanche Drive-InBuena VistaDistrict2015
Commercial HotelGraniteBuilding2015
Corbin, E.W., HouseSalidaBuilding1996
Crescent Moly Mine No. 100 and Mining CampVicksburgDistrict2003
F Street BridgeSalidaStructure1985
Fay, William and Anna, HouseBuena VistaBuilding2015
First Baptist Church of SalidaSalidaBuilding2024
Gas Creek SchoolNathropBuilding2018
Gimlett/LeFevre CabinGarfieldBuilding2018
Grace Episcopal ChurchBuena VistaBuilding1978
Gray, Garret and Julia, CottageSalidaBuilding1980
Head Lettuce Day-Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo GroundsBuena VistaDistrict2016
Heister HouseSalidaBuilding2008
Hutchinson RanchPoncha SpringsBuilding1973
Hutchinson Ranch (Boundary Increase)SalidaDistrict2005
Jackson, F.A., HouseSalidaBuilding1999
Jacobs BuildingBuena VistaBuilding2011
Kelley-McDonald HouseBuena VistaBuilding2015
Littlejohn Mine ComplexGraniteBuilding1978
Manhattan HotelSalidaBuilding1983
Maxwell Park SchoolBuena VistaBuilding2020
Maysville SchoolMaysvilleBuilding1999
McFadden BarnBuena VistaBuilding2022
McFadden Brothers Ranch East HeadquartersBuena VistaDistrict2023
Morley BridgeRomleyStructure2003
Nachtrieb-Kelly RanchBuena VistaDistrict2017
Ohio-Colorado Smelting and Refining Company SmokestackSalidaStructure1976
Pedro-Botz HouseSalidaBuilding2015
Pine HallGraniteBuilding2016
Poncha Springs SchoolhousePoncha SpringsBuilding1990
Rock Ledge Ranch-Franzel RanchBuena VistaDistrict2015
Salida Downtown Historic DistrictSalidaDistrict1984
Salida Livestock Commission CompanySalidaDistrict2015
Smith-Friskey RanchBuena VistaDistrict2017
St. Elmo Historic DistrictSt. ElmoDistrict1979
Valley View SchoolSalidaBuilding2003
Vicksburg Mining CampBuena VistaDistrict1977
Winfield Mining CampBuena VistaSite1980

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Chaffee was formed in 1879 (1879-02-10) from Lake.

CHAFFEE created from LAKE; CHAFFEE included all of LAKE that remained following the creation of CARBONATE (extinct) on 8 Feb 1879.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Chaffee County population from 1880 to 2020 (Census historical series).

19k13k6,512188019201950196020002020
188019001920194019501960198020002020
6,5127,0857,7538,1097,1688,29813,22716,24219,476

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

7 cemeteries and 10 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 7 of 7 listed
NameLatLon
Centerville Cemetery38.68166-106.09112
Cleora Cemetery38.50916-105.96889
Fairview Cemetery38.53996-106.02988
Granite Cemetery39.04571-106.2816
Mount Olivet Cemetery38.83555-106.14535
Winfield Cemetery38.99693-106.37279
Woodlawn Cemetery38.51471-105.99973
Historical populated places — 10 of 10
NameLatLon
Alpine38.71111-106.27697
Hancock38.63972-106.36083
Iron City38.70861-106.33808
Nathrop38.74722-106.07557
Romley38.675-106.37002
Saint Elmo38.70472-106.34808
Shavano38.60277-106.2903
Shirley38.42444-106.12835
Stonewall38.63111-106.35975
Swan38.68-106.04196

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Chaffee County, Colorado

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.