Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #3 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
15 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 97 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1883 on, and the census since 1890.
Salida dates its founding to 1880 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Salida is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #3 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Salida’s 201 sits above most of its state (98% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 118 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1883Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Salida.
The Arkansas, Colorado, post office opened on June 16, 1880, but was renamed Salida on March 28, 1881. Salida, meaning "exit" in Spanish, was named on account of its location near the point where the Arkansas River flows out of the valley and into Bighorn Sheep Canyon, upstream from the Royal Gorge. The Town of Salida was incorporated on March 23, 1891.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCO Salida 1882BuiltE.W. Corbin House is built
In the archiveDenver & Rio Grande 409, 267, 404, 401, 274, 268, 280, etc. Salida, CO, 1890s. Denver Pub…
In the archiveDenver and Rio Grande RR No. 218 and other engines at Salida, Colorado, ca 1900BuiltManhattan Hotel is built
BuiltValley View School is builtBuiltF Street Bridge is built
In the archiveSalida 1910
In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]5 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Salida’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 2,586 people in 1890 to 5,666 in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Salida’s Wikipedia page.
Salida’s post office has been open since 1881.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1880, according to Wikidata. Salida’s post office opened in 1881, and the census of 1890 counted 2,586 people here.
Salida is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #3 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.
15 listings: 11 buildings, 3 historic districts, the Salida Downtown Historic District, the Salida Livestock Commission Company and the Hutchinson Ranch, with 97 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 118 historic buildings in all.
36% of Salida’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1972.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (7), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (16), Wikipedia, 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.
1899![Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/1856/47751b32d15027a442a6-s.jpg)
1940