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History · Ramah

Ramah’s post office opened in 1889, and 54% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the First Presbyterian Church of Ramah. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1930.

1889first post office

1on the National Register

54%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

Add an old photo Share a memory

Quick answers

How Ramah began

When was Ramah founded?

1889

The Ramah post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 171 in 19302020 census: 111137 years

Founding year: the first Ramah post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ramah’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Ramah’s homes were built before 1938.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ramah’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas Cou…: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Ramah came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ramah.

Read it all →

The area was first settled in a place called Old Zounds, which was 27 miles southeast of Kiowa. The post office, called O.Z. because the applicant just used the initials, existed until at least 1881. The post office was moved from Old Zounds to nearby Ramah in 1889.

Ramah began as a small railroading town along the Rock Island Railroad in the late 1800s. It was incorporated on July 18, 1927. During its peak, it was home to several hundred residents. Eventually, by the mid-1900s, the railroad was shut down, and Ramah suffered, since the railroad connected it to Colorado Springs, forty miles to the southwest. Despite its decline, Ramah continues to exist, with ranching as the mainstay of its economy.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ramah, 1889 to 1970

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

19th century
1889Post officeThe Ramah post office opens
20th century
1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Ramah, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item

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

Today3 recent

2018Ramah, Colorado

2014MLF Unforgettable 911W

2013Ramah, Colorado

On the map

Ramah on the map, 1970 to 1983

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

1970Ramah South 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 Ramah.

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.

Retake this viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)], 1940

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

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

1 historic place in Ramah

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1988

First Presbyterian Church of Ramah

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1

Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival1

First Presbyterian Church of RamahLate 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

Ramah, census by census

Between 94 and 186 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Questions about Ramah’s history

What year was Ramah founded?

The Ramah post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ramah?

One place: the First Presbyterian Church of Ramah (listed 1988).

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

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