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Coal Creek, Fremont County, ColoradoPhoto: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0
–Not graded
History · Coal Creek

Coal Creek’s post office opened in 1873, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1900.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Coal Creek began

When was Coal Creek founded?

1873

The Coal Creek post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 698 in 19002020 census: 364153 years
Founding year: the first Coal Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Coal Creek’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Coal Creek are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1900 and 1990, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Coal Creek’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Coal Creek’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Coal Creek, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020698 in 1900Low: 157

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1900 and 1990, then more than doubled.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Coal Creek’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Coal Creek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Coal Creek.

Read it all →

The Coal Creek, Colorado Territory, post office opened on November 4, 1873. The community was named for the local coal mining industry. The Town of Coal Creek was incorporated on February 11, 1882. The spelling of the post office was changed to Coalcreek, on May 31, 1894, but the spelling was changed back to Coal Creek on July 1, 1964.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Coal Creek, 1873 to 1959

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Coal Creek post office opens
  3. 1884Born hereTom Hughes is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 698
  6. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Coal Creek on the map, 1959 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Coal Creek. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Coal Creek on the 1959 USGS mapCoal Creek on the 1994 USGS map1959Rockvale sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Coal Creek.

Questions about Coal Creek’s history

What year was Coal Creek founded?

The Coal Creek post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.