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History · Rico

Rico’s post office opened in 1879, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Rico City Hall, the William Kauffman House and the Dey Building. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.

1879first post office
3on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rico’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rico began

When was Rico founded?

1879

The Rico post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 894 in 18802020 census: 288147 years
Founding year: the first Rico post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rico’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1980, then grew 3-fold.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1899, drew every building in Rico.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rico’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBird's-eye view of Rico from Piedmont: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Rico, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200188019001920194019601980200020201,134 in 1890Low: 76

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1980, then grew 3-fold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Every building

Rico, building by building, 1886–1899

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.

Rico fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 11886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story so far

Rico, in brief

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

Rico is a town in eastern Dolores County, Colorado, United States. It was settled in 1879 as a silver mining center in the Pioneer Mining District; today it functions as a historic and tourism site. The population was 288 at the 2020 census. Its current form of government is that of a home rule municipality. Rico is a name derived from Spanish meaning "rich".

Its first post office opened in 1879. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 265 to 288 (+9%).

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

Timeline

Rico, 1870 to 1897

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870In the archiveBird's-eye view of Rico from Piedmont
  3. 1879Post officeThe Rico post office opens
  4. 1890CensusPopulation peaks at 1,134
  5. 1891BuiltWilliam Kauffman House is built
  6. 1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rico, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s2 items
Bird's-eye view of Rico from Piedmontc. 1870Bird's-eye view of Rico from PiedmontView of log houses in Rico, Dolores Coc. 1870View of log houses in Rico, Dolores Co
Today4 recent
Abandoned Rio Grande Southern Water Tank at2021Abandoned Rio Grande Southern Water Tank atA Rio Grande Southern Water Tank At2021A Rio Grande Southern Water Tank AtWilliam Kauffman House2019William Kauffman HouseRico Fire Department2008Rico Fire Department
On the map

Rico on the map, 1897 to 1960

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

Rico on the 1897 USGS mapRico on the 1960 USGS map1897Rico 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 Rico.

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.

Bird's-eye view of Rico from Piedmont
Retake this viewBird's-eye view of Rico from Piedmont, c. 1870

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Rico

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Rico City Hall
Rico City HallWilliam Kauffman House, built 1891Dey Building
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Romanesque1
Two-Part Commercial Block1
Rico City HallBuilding
William Kauffman HouseBuilt 1891
Dey BuildingRomanesque

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Rico

Nobody well known was born in Rico itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stuart RoosaAmerican astronaut · b. 1933
Sepp KussAmerican road cyclist · b. 1994
Tom TullyAmerican actor · b. 1908
Quinn SimmonsAmerican cyclist · b. 2001
Turrell V. WylieAmerican tibetologist · b. 1927
I
Ingo SwannIngo Swann - pionier in remote viewing · b. 1933
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Rico’s post office has been open since 1879.

Gone or out of use
Alma Mater MinemineAtlantic Cable MinemineBadger Tunnel MinemineBancroft MinemineBen Group MinemineBurns Group MinemineEagle Tunnel MinemineEighty-eight Tunnel MinemineEnterprise MinemineFutura MinemineGolden Fleece MinemineGraysill MinemineHibernia MinemineHicks MinemineIron Dollar MinemineKey Group MinemineLarson MinemineLucky Boy Minemine

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

Questions about Rico’s history

What year was Rico founded?

The Rico post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Rico?

Three places: the Rico City Hall (listed 1974), the William Kauffman House (1982) and the Dey Building (1999).

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 (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.