County Past
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Montezuma County, Colorado

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
41historic places
—earliest paper
1889formed
25,849pop. 2020
15cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 41 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1966; 2 are also National Historic Landmarks. Most listings are in or near Cortez, Yellow Jacket, Mancos.

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 Montezuma titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

13 of 41 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

41 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Albert Porter PuebloYellow JacketSite1999
Anasazi Archeological DistrictDoloresDistrict1984
Archeological Site no. 5MT4700Yellow JacketSite1999
Bass SiteYellow JacketSite1999
Bauer Bank BlockMancosBuilding2003
Cannonball RuinsCortezSite1997
Chapin Mesa Village Historic DistrictMesa Verde National ParkDistrict2024
Cortez High SchoolCortezBuilding2016
Entrance Residence, Check Station ResidenceMesa Verde National ParkBuilding2025
Ertel Funeral HomeCortezBuilding1995
Escalante RuinDoloresSite1975
Exon & Rush Meat Market and MercantileDoloresBuilding2024
Haynie SiteMancosSite2017
Hovenweep National MonumentCortezDistrict1966
Indian Camp Ranch Archeological DistrictCortezDistrict2012
Joe Ben Wheat Site ComplexYellow JacketSite2004
Lancaster, James A., SitePleasant ViewSite1980
Lebanon SchoolDoloresBuilding1996
Lost Canyon Archeological DistrictMancosDistrict1988
Lowry Ruin NHLPleasant ViewStructure1966
Mancos High SchoolMancosBuilding1991
Mancos Opera HouseMancosBuilding1988
Mesa Verde Administrative District NHLMesa Verde National ParkDistrict1987
Mesa Verde National ParkCortezDistrict1966
Mitchell Springs Archeological SiteCortezSite2001
Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company Flume No. 6CortezStructure2012
Montezuma Valley National Bank and Store BuildingCortezBuilding2009
Mud Springs PuebloCortezSite1982
Painted Hand PuebloPleasant ViewSite2014
Park Point Fire LookoutMesa Verde National ParkBuilding2024
Pigge SitePleasant ViewSite1980
Rock Springs Ranger StationMesa Verde National ParkBuilding2024
Roy's RuinCortezSite1992
Sand Canyon Archaeological DistrictCortezDistrict2005
Seven Towers PuebloYellow JacketSite1999
Southern HotelDoloresBuilding1989
Wallace RuinCortezSite2005
Woods Canyon PuebloYellow JacketSite1999
Wrightsman HouseMancosBuilding1997
Yellowjacket Pueblo (5-MT-5)Yellow JacketSite1985
Yucca House National MonumentCortezStructure1966

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Montezuma was formed in 1889 (1889-04-16) from La Plata.

MONTEZUMA created from LA PLATA.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Montezuma County population from 1890 to 2020 (Census historical series).

26k14k1,52918901920196020002020
189019001920194019501960198020002020
1,5293,0586,26010,4639,99114,02416,51023,83025,849

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

National Park Service sites nearby

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
Mesa Verde National ParkPark unit16.1 km
Hovenweep National MonumentPark unit41.9 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

15 cemeteries and 3 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 15 of 15 listed
NameLatLon
Arriola Cemetery37.42054-108.64675
Cedar Grove Cemetery37.33555-108.28813
Cortez Cemetery37.35473-108.54578
Fairview Cemetery37.5439-108.7405
Goodman Point Cemetery37.41267-108.71286
Lamb Cemetery37.34182-108.8101
Lebanon Cemetery37.45094-108.59049
Majors Cemetery37.31551-108.66648
Memorial Garden37.39972-108.62176
Sheek Cemetery37.37971-108.23785
Summit Ridge Cemetery37.45301-108.50052
Sunnyside Cemetery37.5013-108.66002
Sylvan Cemetery37.57943-108.88564
Ute Mountain Tribal Cemetery37.19655-108.72896
Webber Cemetery37.31375-108.28894
Historical populated places — 3 of 3
NameLatLon
Badger House Community37.18861-108.53453
Echo House37.16777-108.50009
Swallows Nest37.15722-108.46787

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 Montezuma County, Colorado

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