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History · Eads

Eads’ post office opened in 1887, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the American Legion Hall, the Crow-Hightower House and the Eads School Gymnasium. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1920.

1887first post office
3on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Eads began

When was Eads founded?

1887

The Eads post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 406 in 19202020 census: 672139 years
Founding year: the first Eads post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Eads’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1984. Watch Eads change.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,015 in 1950; 672 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Eads’ homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Eads’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas Cou…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Eads on the map, 1892 to 1984

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

Eads on the 1892 USGS mapEads on the 1968 USGS mapEads on the 1984 USGS map1892Lamar sheet · 1:125,000

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

People over time

Eads, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,015

Peaked at 1,015 in 1950; 672 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Eads came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Eads.

Read it all →

Eads was established in 1887 as a railroad town and was named after James Buchanan Eads, a structural engineer with the Missouri Pacific Railroad, who designed and built the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis in 1874 and went on to design and build the system of levees on the Mississippi Delta which made the river navigable by ocean-going vessels. The Eads, Colorado, post office opened on November 18, 1887. Kiowa County was created on April 11, 1889, and Eads was made the county seat in 1902. The Town of Eads was incorporated on January 29, 1916.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Eads, 1887 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Eads post office opens
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
  6. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 1,015
By decade

Eads, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]1940Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Eads, Colorado downtown2026Eads, Colorado downtownEads, CO2025Eads, COSand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Visitor and Education Center2024Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Visitor an…Colorado Pacific Railroad EMD SD40-2 east of2024Colorado Pacific Railroad EMD SD40-2 east ofColorado Pacific Railroad EMD SD40-2 east of Eads, Colorado-22024Colorado Pacific Railroad EMD SD40-2 east of Eads, Co…Kiowa County Courthouse July 20202020Kiowa County Courthouse July 2020Eads, Colorado2013Eads, ColoradoEads School Gymnasium2013Eads School GymnasiumEads Community Church2013Eads Community ChurchAmerican Legion Hall2013American Legion HallCOMap-doton-Eads2005COMap-doton-Eads
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.

Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
Retake this viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)], 1940

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Eads’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Eads

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2007
American Legion Hall
American Legion HallCrow-Hightower HouseEads School Gymnasium
Buildings
American Legion HallBuilding
Crow-Hightower HouseBuilding
Eads School GymnasiumBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Eads’ history

What year was Eads founded?

The Eads post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Eads?

Three places: the American Legion Hall (listed 2007), the Crow-Hightower House (2013) and the Eads School Gymnasium (2013).

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 Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.