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History · La Veta

La Veta’s post office opened in 1876, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Francisco Plaza, the Lamme Hospital and the Smith, Edwin L. Building. Its Register listings are the Francisco Plaza, the Lamme Hospital and the Smith, Edwin L. Building. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1880.

1876first post office
3on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From La Veta’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How La Veta began

When was La Veta founded?

1876

The La Veta post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 165 in 18802020 census: 862150 years
Founding year: the first La Veta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about La Veta’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Old housesHalf of La Veta’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · The story

How La Veta came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of La Veta.

Read it all →

Col. John M. Francisco, the sutler at Fort Garland, and his business partner, Henry Daigre, purchased 48,000 acres of land in Cuchara Valley in 1862. The land was part of the Vigil land grant. They established a settlement for farmers and ranchers, with Francisco Fort as the commercial center. The 100-foot-square building was constructed with 2-foot thick adobe walls, interior rooms, that opened up to a central plaza. It was built with a flat roof with gun ports along the parapets. In 1863, the fort was attacked by a band of Ute Indians. Men got on the roof to defend the fort, and a volunteer rode to Fort Lyon. The Utes departed before the troops arrived.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

La Veta, 1862 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862BuiltFrancisco Plaza is built
  3. 1876Post officeThe La Veta post office opens
  4. 1877In the archiveLa Veta, Colorado ca 1903
  5. 1895Born hereBob McGraw is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902In the archiveAerial view of
  8. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
  9. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

La Veta, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1900s4 items
La Veta, Colorado ca 1903c. 1877La Veta, Colorado ca 1903Aerial view ofc. 1902Aerial view ofAerial view ofc. 1902Aerial view ofShops inc. 1902Shops in
1910s–1930snothing 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
1940s2 items
Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]1940Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]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
Today11 recent
La Veta, Colorado - Flickr - jaygannett2016La Veta, Colorado - Flickr - jaygannettWhitmore Gallery2014Whitmore GalleryPronghorn2014PronghornLavetacolorado2014LavetacoloradoRio Grande Scenic Railroad2012Rio Grande Scenic RailroadRio Grande Scenic Railroad2012Rio Grande Scenic RailroadLamme Hospital2012Lamme HospitalRio Grande Scenic Railroad2011Rio Grande Scenic RailroadX1 85xRP - Flickr - drewj19462008X1 85xRP - Flickr - drewj1946Ritterschoolhouse2007RitterschoolhouseCOMap-doton-LaVeta2005COMap-doton-LaVeta
On the map

La Veta on the map in 1963

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Veta.

La Veta on the 1963 USGS map1963La Veta 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 La Veta.

Every building

La Veta, building by building, 1912

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.

La Veta fire insurance map, 1912, sheet 11912Sheet 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.

La Veta, Colorado ca 1903
Retake this viewLa Veta, Colorado ca 1903, c. 1877

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in La Veta

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
Francisco Plaza
Francisco Plaza, built 1862Lamme HospitalSmith, Edwin L. Building
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Hispanic Style1
Territorial Style1
Eclectic1
Francisco PlazaHispanic Style · Built 1862
Lamme HospitalEclectic
All 3 listings
Smith, Edwin L. BuildingBuilding · listed 2020

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

People over time

La Veta, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 924

Between 165 and 924 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Help out

Finish La Veta’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLa Veta, Colorado ca 1903: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about La Veta’s history

What year was La Veta founded?

The La Veta post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in La Veta?

Three places: the Francisco Plaza (listed 1986), the Lamme Hospital (1993) and the Smith, Edwin L. Building (2020).

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 (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.