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History · Sedgwick

Sedgwick’s post office opened in 1885, and 61% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1920.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
61%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sedgwick’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sedgwick began

When was Sedgwick founded?

1885

The Sedgwick post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 380 in 19202020 census: 172141 years
Founding year: the first Sedgwick post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sedgwick’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 Sedgwick’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 444 in 1930; 172 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sedgwick’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sedgwick’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 viewThreshing wheat near Sedgwick, Colo., S…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Sedgwick came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sedgwick.

Read it all →

The town was named for Fort Sedgwick, which was named after John Sedgwick, who was a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Sedgwick, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 444

Peaked at 444 in 1930; 172 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Timeline

Sedgwick, 1885 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Sedgwick post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveThreshing wheat near Sedgwick, Colo., South Platte Valley on Union Pacific
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 444
  6. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Sedgwick, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Threshing wheat near Sedgwick, Colo., South Platte Valley on Union Pacific1900Threshing wheat near Sedgwick, Colo., South Platte Va…
1910s–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
Today2 recent
Sedgwick, Colorado2017Sedgwick, ColoradoCOMap-doton-Sedgwick2005COMap-doton-Sedgwick
On the map

Sedgwick on the map in 1953

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sedgwick.

Sedgwick on the 1953 USGS map1953Sedgwick 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 Sedgwick.

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.

Threshing wheat near Sedgwick, Colo., South Platte Valley on Union Pacific
Retake this viewThreshing wheat near Sedgwick, Colo., South Platte Valley on Union Pacific, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Sedgwick’s history

What year was Sedgwick founded?

The Sedgwick post office opened in 1885, 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), the Library of Congress (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.