Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Paonia

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
A−History
History · Paonia

Paonia dates to 1880, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 76% of U.S. towns. What drives it

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1910.

1880founded
4on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Paonia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Paonia began

When was Paonia founded?

1880

Paonia dates its founding to 1880 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 1,007 in 19102020 census: 1,447146 years

How historic is Paonia?

A−

More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1882.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Paonia’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paonia is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paonia’s overall grade.
Founding era1880, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194025.2% of homes (±6.9) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register4 listings, 8 historic buildings, 48.2 per 10,000 residents · typical CO town 1.1 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 76%
NewerOlder

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 Paonia’s 48.2 sits above most of its state (86% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1880.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Paonia’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Paonia’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewChildren playing in: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

4 historic places in Paonia

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
Curtis Hardware Store
Curtis Hardware StoreMathews HousePaonia First Christian ChurchBross Hotel, built 1906
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Victorian Commercial1
Late Victorian: Queen Anne1
Late Victorian: Romanesque Revival1
Curtis Hardware StoreVictorian Commercial
Mathews HouseLate Victorian: Queen Anne
Paonia First Christian ChurchLate Victorian: Romanesque Revival
Bross HotelBuilt 1906

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

The story

How Paonia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Paonia.

Read it all →

Captain John W. Gunnison of the United States Army became the first European American to explore the area in 1853. Gunnison was on an expedition for the Corps of Topographical Engineers to locate a suitable pass through the Rocky Mountains.

The North Fork Valley was inhabited by the Ute people until 1880, when the Ute Indian Reservation was closed by the federal government following the infamous Meeker Massacre.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Paonia, 1880 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880
    FoundingPaonia is established
  3. 1882Post officeThe Paonia post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveChildren playing in
  6. 1906BuiltBross Hotel is built
  7. 1910In the archiveChild packing a shipment of metal cans
  8. 1924Born hereRobert E. Huyser is born here
  9. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
  10. 1946Born hereTerence McKenna is born here
  11. 1950Born hereDennis McKenna is born here
  12. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 1972Born herePaolo Bacigalupi is born here
By decade

Paonia, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1940s4 items
Children playing in1900Children playing inPortrait of women in1900Portrait of women inChild packing a shipment of metal cansc. 1910Child packing a shipment of metal cansColorado [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
Today1 recent
COMap-doton-Paonia2005COMap-doton-Paonia
On the map

Paonia on the map, 1965 to 2001

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

Paonia on the 1965 USGS mapPaonia on the 1979 USGS mapPaonia on the 2001 USGS map1965Paonia 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 Paonia.

Every building

Paonia, building by building, 1908–1914

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 year, then a sheet.

Paonia fire insurance map, 1908, sheet 11908Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
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.

Children playing in
Retake this viewChildren playing in, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Paonia, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,600192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,497

Between 925 and 1,497 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Paonia

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

See all →
Terence McKennaAmerican ethnobotanist and mystic · b. 1946
P
Paolo BacigalupiAmerican science fiction and fantasy writer · b. 1972
Dennis McKennaAmerican ethnopharmacologist and author · b. 1950
Robert E. HuyserUnited States Air Force general · b. 1924
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Paonia’s post office has been open since 1882.

Gone or out of use
Community Care Hospital of Americahospital

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

Questions about Paonia’s history

What year was Paonia founded?

In 1880, according to Wikidata. Paonia’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1910 counted 1,007 people here.

How does Paonia rank for history?

Paonia is more historic than 76% 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 Paonia?

4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Curtis Hardware Store (listed 1989, the first). 8 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Paonia?

25% of Paonia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1971.

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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.