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C−History
History · Parker

Parker’s post office opened in 1882, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #91 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it

Most of Parker was built recently: 0.2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2004. Its Register listing is the Ruth Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 1980.

1882first post office
1on the National Register
0.2%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Parker began

When was Parker founded?

1882

The Parker post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1981.

First census: 290 in 19802020 census: 58,512144 years

How historic is Parker?

C−

More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Parker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1981.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Parker’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Parker is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #91 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Parker’s overall grade.
Founding era1882, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.2% of homes (±0.2) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 0.2 per 10,000 residents · typical CO town 1.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 22%
NewerOlder
Colorado towns of 2,500+ (159)Ahead of 43%

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 Parker’s 0.2 sits near the middle of its state (45% 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 (±0.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1981.

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 Parker’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 Parker are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Parker’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Parker’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
The story

How Parker came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Parker.

Read it all →

The first known people to live in the area were ancient and Plains Woodland peoples. Utes, Arapaho, and Cheyenne were in the area by the 1800s. They were all hunter-gatherers who established seasonal camps to acquire food. A nearby rock shelter, Franktown Cave, shows evidence of habitation beginning in the early Archaic period about 6400 BC and continuing through each of the intervening cultural periods to 1725 AD.

ChaptersNative AmericansPine GroveParkerHistoric places

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Parker, 1882 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Parker post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1996Born hereHayden Dalton is born here
  6. 21st century
  7. 2000Born hereCohlton Schultz is born here
By decade

Parker, decade by decade

Today18 recent
Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (1)2011Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (1)Dog Park2011Dog ParkDog Park - panoramio (3)2011Dog Park - panoramio (3)Dog Park - panoramio (1)2011Dog Park - panoramio (1)Castlewood Park2011Castlewood ParkCastlewood Park - panoramio (3)2011Castlewood Park - panoramio (3)Castlewood Park - panoramio (2)2011Castlewood Park - panoramio (2)Castlewood Park - panoramio (1)2011Castlewood Park - panoramio (1)Park - panoramio (25)2010Park - panoramio (25)Old Dam2010Old DamDam - panoramio (3)2010Dam - panoramio (3)Parker North2008Parker NorthParker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (6)2008Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (6)Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (5)2008Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (5)Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (3)2008Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (3)Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (2)2008Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (2)Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (1)2008Parker North, Parker, CO, USA - panoramio (1)COMap-doton-Parker2005COMap-doton-Parker
On the map

Parker on the map, 1949 to 1980

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

Parker on the 1949 USGS mapParker on the 1957 USGS mapParker on the 1965 USGS mapParker on the 1971 USGS mapParker on the 1980 USGS map1949Parker 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 Parker.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Parker

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
Ruth Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church
Ruth Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1
Gothic1
Ruth Memorial Methodist Episcopal ChurchLate 19th and 20th Century Revivals

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

People over time

Parker, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00065,00019802000202058,512

Grew from 290 people in 1980 to 58,512 in 2020, more than tenfold.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Parker

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

See all →
Cohlton SchultzAmerican Greco-Roman wrestler · b. 2000
Hayden DaltonAmerican basketball player · b. 1996
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Parker’s post office has been open since 1882.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Clarke FarmsSaddlebrook
Gone or out of use
Madis Minemine
1cemetery inside Parker
Parker

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.

StonegateIts storyD−Stepping StoneIts storyD−Grand View EstatesIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAurora10 historic placesC

Questions about Parker’s history

What year was Parker founded?

The Parker post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1981.

How does Parker rank for history?

Parker is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #91 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.

What is on the National Register in Parker?

One place: the Ruth Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 1989).

How old are the homes in Parker?

0.2% of Parker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 2004.

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.