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Fort Lupton, ColoradoPhoto: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0
B−History
History · Fort Lupton

Fort Lupton’s post office opened in 1861, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #38 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Ottesen Grain Company Feed Mill. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1890.

1861first post office
1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Fort Lupton began

When was Fort Lupton founded?

1861

The Fort Lupton post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 113 in 18902020 census: 7,955165 years

How historic is Fort Lupton?

B−

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Fort Lupton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Fort Lupton’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fort Lupton is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #38 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fort Lupton’s overall grade.
Founding era1861, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194012.5% of homes (±5.8) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 3 historic buildings, 3.4 per 10,000 residents · typical CO town 1.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 52%
NewerOlder
Colorado towns of 2,500+ (159)Ahead of 77%

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 Fort Lupton’s 3.4 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 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 Fort Lupton’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 Fort Lupton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1908 to 1917, drew every building in Fort Lupton.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fort Lupton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fort Lupton’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
Every building

Fort Lupton, building by building, 1908–1917

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.

Fort Lupton fire insurance map, 1908, sheet 11908Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Fort Lupton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fort Lupton.

Read it all →

The city was named for Lieutenant Lancaster Lupton, who built a trading post on Adobe Creek in 1838. The trading post, Fort Lupton, has been reconstructed near the site of the original fort using some of the original adobe bricks at the South Platte Valley Historical Park, which was established by the South Platte Valley Historical Society northwest of the city of Fort Lupton. It is a historical park about early area settlement.

The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861, and the Fort Lupton, Colorado Territory, post office opened on January 18, 1869. Colorado became a state on August 1, 1876. The Town of Fort Lupton was incorporated on January 15, 1890.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fort Lupton, 1861 to 1949

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Fort Lupton post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1914Born hereJohn Naka is born here
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Fort Lupton, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Fort Lupton Public & School Library2019Fort Lupton Public & School LibraryFort Lupton Public & School Library Interior2019Fort Lupton Public & School Library InteriorJ.M. Shafer Generating Station2016J.M. Shafer Generating StationAims Community College, Fort Lupton Campus2016Aims Community College, Fort Lupton CampusFort Lupton, Colorado2015Fort Lupton, ColoradoFt. Lupton, Colo., flood area (DVIDS2013Ft. Lupton, Colo., flood area (DVIDS
On the map

Fort Lupton on the map, 1949 to 1979

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

Fort Lupton on the 1949 USGS mapFort Lupton on the 1950 USGS mapFort Lupton on the 1969 USGS mapFort Lupton on the 1979 USGS map1949Fort Lupton 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 Fort Lupton.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Fort Lupton

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1998
Ottesen Grain Company Feed Mill
Ottesen Grain Company Feed Mill
Buildings
Ottesen Grain Company Feed MillBuilding

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

People over time

Fort Lupton, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00019001920194019601980200020207,955

Grew from 113 people in 1890 to 7,955 in 2020, more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Fort Lupton’s post office has been open since 1861.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Powars
1cemetery inside Fort Lupton
Hillside

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

DaconoIts storyDBrighton4 historic placesC+FirestoneIts storyD−

Questions about Fort Lupton’s history

What year was Fort Lupton founded?

The Fort Lupton post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Fort Lupton rank for history?

Fort Lupton is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #38 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 Fort Lupton?

One place: the Ottesen Grain Company Feed Mill (listed 1998).

How old are the homes in Fort Lupton?

13% of Fort Lupton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1980.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.