Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
Black Hawk dates its founding to 1859 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1870.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Black Hawk.
Black Hawk was established in 1859 as the mining camp of Black Hawk Point in the Territory of Kansas. Black Hawk was incorporated on March 11, 1864, by an act of the Colorado Territorial Legislature (House Bill 22), and is recognized as the second incorporated city in Colorado Territory, following Denver.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 1,540 in 1880; 127 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Black Hawk’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Black Hawk. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Black Hawk.
Passages that mention Black Hawk, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Pleasant Valley Mining Company is Alfred Owens, of Central, and the superintendent, Walter O'Connor, who is one of the pioneers of the county, and an experienced and efficient miner. Root & Queen, who are operating in Gregory gulch, within the limits of the town of Black Hawk, have sunk a shaft to the "bed rock," about thirty feet, and are running drifts along this for considerable distances in every direction. By steam power, they hoist the " pay dirt" to the surface, and sluice it in a surface flume. Owing to the expense of keeping the mine free from water, and supplied with suffi-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Nearly east of Central, on Clear creek, is the city of Black Hawk, also surrounded and traversed by belts of rich gold lodes, paved with placer and gulch diggings, and resonant with the clang of machinery and the thud of the ponderous ore stamp.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveView of "Black Hawk Point" - Haerting lith. ; lith. Chas. Shober ; J.E. Dillingham del
In the archiveBlack Hawk, Colo. 1882
In the archive1897 Saloon Blackhawk
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCOLORADO--BLACK HAWK4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Black Hawk’s page.
Retake this view · +15Black Hawk’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1859, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Black Hawk’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1870 counted 1,068 people here.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (18), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1864
c. 1867
1882
1887
1972
1972
1977
2009
2009
2009
2009
2009
2009
2005