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History · Flagler

Flagler’s post office opened in 1888, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Flagler Hospital. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1979 on, and the census since 1920.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Flagler began

When was Flagler founded?

1888

The Flagler post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 544 in 19202020 census: 567138 years
Founding year: the first Flagler post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Flagler’s 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.Boom and bustPeaked at 793 in 1950; 567 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Flagler’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Flagler’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Flagler’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
People over time

Flagler, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 793

Peaked at 793 in 1950; 567 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Flagler came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Flagler.

Read it all →

The town was established in 1888 as a small settlement near the then-new Rock Island Railroad. The area has had several names, and prior to the settlement of the town, the location had been home to a combined general store and post office, owned by W.H. Lavington, and named Bowser in memory of the owner's favorite dog who had died. When the town was founded, the town was named Malowe after Rock Island Railroad attorney M. A. Lowe. The town was later renamed after Henry Flagler, railroad builder and oil man, at the request of his daughter who liked the area.

The Flagler, Colorado, post office opened on October 12, 1888, and the Town of Flagler was incorporated on November 2, 1916.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Flagler, 1888 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Flagler post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
  5. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 793
  6. 1979On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Flagler, 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
Today5 recent
Flagler-Colorado-Grain-Elevators2016Flagler-Colorado-Grain-ElevatorsFlagler, Colorado2014Flagler, ColoradoFlagler, Colorado2013Flagler, ColoradoFlagler Hospital Front 22012Flagler Hospital Front 2COMap-doton-Flagler2005COMap-doton-Flagler
On the map

Flagler on the map, 1979 to 1984

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

Flagler on the 1979 USGS mapFlagler on the 1984 USGS map1979Flagler 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 Flagler.

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 Flagler’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Flagler

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1991
Flagler Hospital
Flagler Hospital
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Flagler HospitalVernacular

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

Questions about Flagler’s history

What year was Flagler founded?

The Flagler post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Flagler?

One place: the Flagler Hospital (listed 1991).

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 (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.