Lowry Ruin · Photo: Gloria Wadzinski · CC BY-SA 4.0 Share
– Not graded History · Dove Creek
Dove Creek’s post office opened in 1915, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940 Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1940.
1915 first post office
0 on the National Register
11% homes built before 1940
1 old photo or paper
1 famous people
From Dove Creek’s archive · credits on each photo Quick answers
How Dove Creek began When was Dove Creek founded? 1915
The Dove Creek post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 418 in 1940 2020 census: 635 111 years
What stands out about Dove Creek’s past Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out Start Dove Creek’s collection The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dove Creek’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos 00s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album. People over time
Dove Creek, census by census 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 Peak: 986 Peaked at 986 in 1960; 635 people lived here in 2020.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dove Creek’s Wikipedia page.
The story How Dove Creek came to be From Wikipedia’s history of Dove Creek.
Read it all → The Old Spanish Trail trade route passed through the area of Dove Creek from 1829 into the 1850s.
The Dove Creek, Colorado, post office opened on January 16, 1915.
There are several area prehistoric and historic sites listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties:
Brewer Archaeological District of two large prehistoric settlement sites: Brewer Mesa Pueblo (11th century) and Brewer Canyon Pueblo (13th century)
P.R. Butt & Sons Building, built in 1914, generally considered the town's second building
Text from Wikipedia , licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 .
At a glance
First post office 1915
Half its homes built before 1975
Oldest item in the archive 1972
First census count 418 in 1940
Most people 986 in 1960
People in 2020 635 The houses today → By decade Dove Creek, decade by decade One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1980s–1990s nothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these years Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album On the map Dove Creek on the map, 1964 to 1994 Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dove Creek. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1964Dove Creek sheet · 1:24,000 1964 1994 ▶ Play
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dove Creek.
Then & now Stand where they stood No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view ABANDONED AUTO. (FROM THE DOCUMERICA-1 EXHIBITION. FOR OTHER IMAGES IN THIS ASSIGNMENT, SEE FICHE NUMBERS 40, 41.), 1972 Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dove Creek’s page.
Retake this view · +15 Places that used to be Places now gone Dove Creek’s post office has been open since 1915.
Gone or out of use Fritz and Erickson Minemine
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Dove Creek’s history What year was Dove Creek founded? The Dove Creek post office opened in 1915, 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
What used to stand where something else is now in Dove Creek? → Who remembers Dove Creek in the 1950s? → A family story from old Dove Creek → Does anyone have photos of Dove Creek from the 1990s? → 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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.
2020
2020
2006
2006
2005
