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History · Sawpit

Sawpit’s post office opened in 1896

Below: the census since 1900.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Sawpit began

When was Sawpit founded?

1896

The Sawpit post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 94 in 19002020 census: 38130 years
Founding year: the first Sawpit post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sawpit’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 Sawpit are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 121 in 1910; 38 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sawpit’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sawpit’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
People over time

Sawpit, census by census

01001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 121

Peaked at 121 in 1910; 38 people lived here in 2020.

9 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story so far

Sawpit, in brief

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

Sawpit is a statutory town in San Miguel County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 38 at the 2020 census, making Sawpit the fifth least populous incorporated town in the state of Colorado. The Telluride Post Office (ZIP Code 81435) serves Sawpit.

Its first post office opened in 1896. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 40 to 38 (-5%).

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

Timeline

Sawpit, 1896 to 1926

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Sawpit post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 121
  5. 1926Post officeThe Sawpit post office closes
By decade

Sawpit, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Sawpit, Colorado2019Sawpit, ColoradoCOMap-doton-Sawpit2005COMap-doton-Sawpit
Famous people

Famous people close to Sawpit

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

See all →
Dalton TrumboAmerican screenwriter · b. 1905
A
Al TaliaferroAmerican comics artist · b. 1905
Sievert Allen RohwerU.S. entomologist · b. 1887
I
Ingo SwannIngo Swann - pionier in remote viewing · b. 1933
William Lee KnousAmerican jurist · b. 1889
Beulah BookerAmerican actress · b. 1901
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Sawpit had its own post office from 1896 to 1926.

Sawpit
1896–1926
18901960today
Gone or out of use
Lone Tree Minemine

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

Questions about Sawpit’s history

What year was Sawpit founded?

The Sawpit post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (2), 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.