Founding year: the first Brush post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Brush’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brush is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #10 of 159 in Colorado. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brush’s overall grade.
Few Colorado towns list much on the Register (a typical Colorado town has 1.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Brush’s 9.4 sits above most of its state (72% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Brush’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 year, then a sheet.
The Brush, Colorado, post office opened on September 19, 1882, and the Town of Brush was incorporated on November 24, 1884. Brush was named for Jared L. Brush, who was a Colorado cattle pioneer. Brush had never lived in Brush, Colorado, instead helping to settle what is now known as Greeley. Brush later served as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and liked to visit "his town" often. An alternative thought for how the town received its name was that in 1883 the town mayor told his councilmen that he would come up with the town's name in a fortnight's time. Two weeks later, he was approached in his horse stable, and when he was asked what the town shall be named, he looked down at the object he was brushing his horse with and declared it should be called 'Brush'.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 112 and 5,463 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brush’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Old burying grounds
Brush’s post office has been open since 1882.
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brush
Brush MemorialEben EzerJ. L. Brush Memorial
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Brush’s history
What year was Brush founded?
The Brush post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Brush rank for history?
Brush is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #10 of 159 in Colorado. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Brush?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the All Saints Church of Eben Ezer (listed 1982, the first).
How old are the homes in Brush?
33% of Brush’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.5 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1972.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2011
