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Baptist Church in Lake City, ColoradoPhoto: Tim Engleman from Saxonburg, PA · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
History · Lake City

Lake City’s post office opened in 1875, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Lake City was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 195 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1874 on.

1875first post office
1on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lake City’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lake City began

When was Lake City founded?

1875

The Lake City post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 432151 years
Founding year: the first Lake City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lake City’s past

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

A historic districtThe Lake City Historic District takes in 195 historic buildings.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 195 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
195
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Lake City Historic District
Lake City Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Italianate1
Late Victorian1
Rustic1
Lake City Historic DistrictQueen Anne

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

The story

How Lake City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lake City.

Read it all →

With the completion of the first road into the mountains in this region, Lake City served as a supply center for the many miners and prospectors flooding into the area. As a supply center, the town boomed to as many as 3,000 to 5,000 settlers. But as the first-discovered deposits were found to be only moderately productive and no new extensive or rich deposits of minerals were found, by 1879 the boom had subsided. With the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1889, Lake City saw a second upturn in the economy that lasted into the 1890s. The railroad cut the cost of shipping gold and silver ores to smelters, reduced the cost of shipping supplies into Lake City, and provided shipment of cattle and sheep into the area for summer grazing in the high Alpine meadows.

ChaptersEarly history

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lake City, 1874 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874In the archiveHarpers Illustration 1cropped
  3. 1875Post officeThe Lake City post office opens
  4. 1879Born hereIrene Aloha Wright is born here
  5. 1880In the archiveLake City c1880, Crofutt's Gripsack Guide 1884 cropped
  6. 1885Born hereCharles Jasper Bell is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1923In the archiveLake City CO Presby PHS916
  9. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
By decade

Lake City, decade by decade

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

1870s–1880s2 items
Harpers Illustration 1cropped1874Harpers Illustration 1croppedLake City c1880, Crofutt's Gripsack Guide 1884 cropped1880Lake City c1880, Crofutt's Gripsack Guide 1884 cropped
1890s–1910snothing 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
1920s–1940s4 items
Lake City CO Presby PHS9161923Lake City CO Presby PHS916Colorado [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)]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
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.

Harpers Illustration 1cropped
Retake this viewHarpers Illustration 1cropped, 1874

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Lake City

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Charles Jasper BellAmerican politician · b. 1885
I
Irene Aloha WrightAmerican historian · b. 1879
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Lake City’s post office has been open since 1875.

Gone or out of use
Dawn of Hope MinemineHappy Day MinemineHoosier Boy MinemineMonte Queen MineminePalmetto MinemineRodney Number One Minemine

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

Help out

Finish Lake City’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 viewHarpers Illustration 1cropped: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Lake City’s history

What year was Lake City founded?

The Lake City post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Lake City?

One place: the Lake City Historic District (listed 1978).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.