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B+History
History · Hayden

Hayden’s post office opened in 1875, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1910.

1875first post office
5on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hayden’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hayden began

When was Hayden founded?

1875

The Hayden post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1894.

First census: 314 in 19102020 census: 1,941151 years

How historic is Hayden?

B+

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Hayden post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1894.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Hayden’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hayden is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hayden’s overall grade.
Founding era1875, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194019.6% of homes (±8.0) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register5 listings, 9 historic buildings, 43.8 per 10,000 residents · typical CO town 1.1 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 71%
NewerOlder

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 Hayden’s 43.8 sits above most of its state (85% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1894 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

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 Hayden’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.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hayden’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hayden’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 viewHayden CO 1942: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

5 historic places in Hayden

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
9
each building in a district counts
first listed
1992
Hayden Depot
Hayden DepotHayden Rooming House, built 1910Hayden Co-Operative Elevator CompanySolandt Memorial Hospital
BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

20th Century Vernacular1
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1
Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements1
Craftsman1
Gambrel Roof1
Hayden Depot20th Century Vernacular
Hayden Rooming HouseLate 19th and 20th Century Revivals · Built 1910
Hayden Co-Operative Elevator CompanyStructure
All 5 listings
Solandt Memorial HospitalBuilding · listed 2011Kimsey-Bolten Ranch Rural Historic LandscapeDistrict · listed 2012

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

The story

How Hayden came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hayden.

Read it all →

The Ute people used the area for summer hunting before the town was settled. Trappers worked in the area in the early 1800s.

The area was first settled in 1875, with the town established in 1894 and incorporated in 1906. Hayden was named for F.V. Hayden, head of a survey party for the U.S. Geological & Geographic Survey in the late 1860s. Hayden explored western Colorado during the late nineteenth century.

The Denver and Salt Lake Railway reached Hayden by 1913, and the rail line continues on today as part of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Historically a center of coal mining and agriculture, it consists today of a small cluster of homes and businesses.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hayden, 1875 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Hayden post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910BuiltHayden Rooming House is built
  5. 1920On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1942In the archiveHayden CO 1942
By decade

Hayden, decade by decade

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

1940s1 item
Hayden CO 19421942Hayden CO 1942
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
Hayden, Colorado2014Hayden, ColoradoHayden Rooming House2014Hayden Rooming HouseHayden Generating Station2014Hayden Generating StationHayden Depot2014Hayden DepotDawson-Carpenter Ranch2014Dawson-Carpenter Ranch
On the map

Hayden on the map, 1920 to 1971

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

Hayden on the 1920 USGS mapHayden on the 1971 USGS map1920Daton Peak 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 Hayden.

Every building

Hayden, building by building, 1914

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 sheet.

Hayden fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

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.

Hayden CO 1942
Retake this viewHayden CO 1942, 1942

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Hayden, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001920194019601980200020201,941

Grew from 314 people in 1910 to 1,941 in 2020, 6 times over.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Hayden’s post office has been open since 1875.

Gone or out of use
Hayden Gulch Coal Minemine

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

Questions about Hayden’s history

What year was Hayden founded?

The Hayden post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1894.

How does Hayden rank for history?

Hayden is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. 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 Hayden?

5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Hayden Depot (listed 1992, the first), 1 historic district, the Kimsey-Bolten Ranch Rural Historic Landscape, with 6 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 9 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Hayden?

20% of Hayden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1976.

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), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, 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.