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DHistory
History · Niwot

Niwot’s post office opened in 1873

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #107 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it

Most of Niwot was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1990.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
0.8%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Niwot began

When was Niwot founded?

1873

The Niwot post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Modoc (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 2,666 in 19902020 census: 4,306153 years

How historic is Niwot?

D

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Niwot post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Niwot’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Niwot is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #107 of 159 in Colorado. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Niwot’s overall grade.
Founding era1873, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.8% of homes (±1.5) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical CO town 1.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 14%
NewerOlder
Colorado towns of 2,500+ (159)Ahead of 33%

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 Niwot’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. 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 Niwot’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Niwot are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19044 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1971. Watch Niwot change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Niwot’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Niwot on the map, 1904 to 1971

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

Niwot on the 1904 USGS mapNiwot on the 1950 USGS mapNiwot on the 1967 USGS mapNiwot on the 1971 USGS map1904Niwot sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Niwot.

The story

How Niwot came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Niwot.

Read it all →

Niwot is named for Arapaho Chief Niwot, a tribal leader in the Boulder area during the nineteenth century. The name means "left-handed".

The town of Niwot was first platted in 1875 along either side of the Colorado Central Railroad. Initially, the town's commercial district was to the west of the railroad, while the residential was to the east. By the early 1900s, the bulk of the town shifted to the east side of the track, while the buildings to the west were either relocated or burned down.

Niwot is recognized for being the former headquarters of footwear company Crocs, Inc. for more than a decade prior to June 2020.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Niwot, 1873 to 1904

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Niwot post office opens
  3. 1874Post officeThe Modoc post office opens
  4. 1879Post officeThe Modoc post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Niwot, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Niwot, Colorado sign2017Niwot, Colorado signEclipse 20172017Eclipse 2017The Eagle Catcher2015The Eagle CatcherFrangeniwot2013FrangeniwotCOMap-doton-Niwot2005COMap-doton-Niwot
People over time

Niwot, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,50020002020Peak: 4,306

Between 2,666 and 4,306 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Niwot’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Modoc, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Niwot
1873–today
Modoc
1874–1879
18701950today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Boulder22 historic placesB

Questions about Niwot’s history

What year was Niwot founded?

The Niwot post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Niwot rank for history?

Niwot is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #107 of 159 in Colorado. 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.

How old are the homes in Niwot?

0.8% of Niwot’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1983.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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.