Founding year: the first Loma post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Loma’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Loma is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Loma’s overall grade.
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 Loma’s 7.4 sits above most of its state (67% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Loma’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The name "Loma" is derived from a Spanish word meaning "small hill".
The area was first inhabited by the Ute people, who had left by 1881.
In 1882, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad completed a narrow-gauge railroad through Loma. A standard-gauge track was installed in 1890.
Homesteaders began arriving in Loma in the late 1880s. Agriculture became a dominant feature in Loma's early economy, enabled by the completion of the Kiefer Extension irrigation canal in 1899. The railway provided easy shipment of crops and livestock to larger cities like Denver and Salt Lake City.
The Loma post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Loma rank for history?
Loma is more historic than 25% 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 Loma?
One place: the Loma Community Hall (listed 1995).
How old are the homes in Loma?
5% of Loma’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (4), 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.
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