Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Naturita

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Naturita

Naturita’s post office opened in 1882

Most of Naturita was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1960.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
13old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Naturita’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Naturita began

When was Naturita founded?

1882

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

First census: 979 in 19602020 census: 485144 years
Founding year: the first Naturita post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Naturita’s past

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

Mystery photos13 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.A town in old photos13 old photos, postcards and papers.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Naturita’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo13 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewVanadium Corporation of America (VCA) N…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
By decade

Naturita, decade by decade

Date unknown13 to date
Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & San Miguel Ri…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Laboratory, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & S…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Dryers, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & San M…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Mine Warehouse, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Mill Warehouse, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Mechanic Shed, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 …Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Water Tower, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & …Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Office Building, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 14…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Grinding Rod Mill, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway …Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Weighing Office & Station, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between …Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Brick Skimmer Salt Roaster, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Steel Skimmer Salt Roaster, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, Sampling Building & Ore Receiving Platform, 3 miles Northwest of N…Date?Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, …
Today9 recent
Naturita, Colorado welcome sign2026Naturita, Colorado welcome signLDS meetinghouse in2026LDS meetinghouse inEast Main Street in2026East Main Street inBasin Clinic2026Basin ClinicSan Miguel River in2020San Miguel River inNaturita, Colorado town hall2020Naturita, Colorado town hallNaturita city limit sign2020Naturita city limit signNaturita, Colorado2013Naturita, ColoradoNaturitaType2007NaturitaType
The story so far

Naturita, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Naturita yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Naturita is a statutory town in Montrose County, Colorado, United States. The population was 485 at the 2020 census, down from 546 in 2010. The post office in Naturita was opened on October 21, 1881, under the name "Chipeta"; the name was changed to Naturita September 15, 1882, and has used that name since then. Naturita is a name derived from Spanish meaning "little nature".

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 546 to 485 (-11%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Naturita, 1882 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Naturita post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1956Born hereVicki Been is born here
  5. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Naturita on the map, 1964 to 1994

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

Naturita on the 1964 USGS mapNaturita on the 1994 USGS map1964Naturita 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 Naturita.

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.

Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & San Miguel Ri…
Retake this viewVanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & San Miguel Ri…

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Naturita, census by census

02004006008001,0001960198020002020Peak: 979

Between 434 and 979 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Naturita’s post office has been open since 1882.

Gone or out of use
April MinemineBay State MinemineCummings MinemineLexington MinemineRepublican MinemineSimplot MinemineUte MinemineVanadite MinemineWoods Placer Group Minemine

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

Questions about Naturita’s history

What year was Naturita founded?

The Naturita 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 (9), the Library of Congress (13), 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.