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History · Garfield

Garfield’s post office opened in 1880, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Garfield was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Its Register listing is the Gimlett/LeFevre Cabin. Below: maps from 1940 on.

1880first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Garfield began

When was Garfield founded?

1880

The Garfield post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 27146 years
Founding year: the first Garfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Garfield’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 Garfield are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Garfield’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Garfield’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garfield’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
The story so far

Garfield, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Garfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Garfield is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The population of the Garfield CDP was 27 at the United States Census 2020. The Salida post office (ZIP Code 81201) serves the area.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 15 to 27 (+80%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Garfield, 1880 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Garfield post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1963Post officeThe Garfield post office closes
By decade

Garfield, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Gimlett-LeFevre Cabin2020Gimlett-LeFevre Cabin
On the map

Garfield on the map, 1940 to 1994

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

Garfield on the 1940 USGS mapGarfield on the 1982 USGS mapGarfield on the 1994 USGS map1940Garfield sheet · 1:62,500

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Garfield

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2018
Gimlett/LeFevre Cabin
All 1 listings
Gimlett/LeFevre CabinBuilding · listed 2018

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Garfield had its own post office from 1880 to 1963.

Garfield
1880–1963
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Black Tiger Minemine

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

Questions about Garfield’s history

What year was Garfield founded?

The Garfield post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Garfield?

One place: the Gimlett/LeFevre Cabin (listed 2018).

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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.