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History · Ignacio

Ignacio’s post office opened in 1882, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1920.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ignacio’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ignacio began

When was Ignacio founded?

1882

The Ignacio post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 290 in 19202020 census: 852144 years
Founding year: the first Ignacio post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ignacio’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19084 editions of the USGS map, 1908 to 1983. Watch Ignacio change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ignacio’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas Cou…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Ignacio on the map, 1908 to 1983

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

Ignacio on the 1908 USGS mapIgnacio on the 1924 USGS mapIgnacio on the 1968 USGS mapIgnacio on the 1983 USGS map1908Ignacio 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 Ignacio.

The story

How Ignacio came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ignacio.

Read it all →

On February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded northern Mexico (including all of the future State of Colorado) to the United States.

On December 30, 1849, Chiefs of Ute signed the Peace Treaty of Abiquiú with the United States.

The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861.

The Consolidated Ute Reservation was created on March 2, 1868.

On September 13, 1873, the Brunot Treaty removed the San Juan Mountains from the Consolidated Ute Reservation.

On November 9, 1878, the Consolidated Ute Reservation was replaced by the much smaller Southern Ute Indian Reservation.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ignacio, 1882 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Ignacio post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1912Born hereEsther Martinez is born here
  6. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
By decade

Ignacio, 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
Date unknown3 to date
Photographic copy of photograph, photographer unknown, ca. 1930 (original print located at Colorado Historical Society,…Date?Photographic copy of photograph, photographer unknown…Photographic copy of photograph, photographer unknown, ca. 1930 (original print located at Colorado Historical Society,…Date?Photographic copy of photograph, photographer unknown…Southern Ute Boarding School, Boy's Dormitory, Ouray & Capote DrivesDate?Southern Ute Boarding School, Boy's Dormitory, Ouray …
Today4 recent
Southern Ute Tribal Administration Building2019Southern Ute Tribal Administration BuildingSouthern Ute Cultural Center and Museum2019Southern Ute Cultural Center and MuseumIgnacio, Colorado2019Ignacio, ColoradoCOMap-doton-Ignacio2005COMap-doton-Ignacio
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 Ignacio’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Ignacio, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020852

Grew from 290 people in 1920 to 852 in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Ignacio’s history

What year was Ignacio founded?

The Ignacio post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (7), the Library of Congress (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) 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.