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Bridge over Burro CanonBridge over Burro Canon · Photo: Jeffrey Beall from Colorado, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
History · Segundo

22% of Segundo’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1891 on.

0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Segundo’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Segundo’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.On the map since 18913 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1982. Watch Segundo change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Segundo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Segundo’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 viewChildren at a Mine in: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Segundo on the map, 1891 to 1982

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

Segundo on the 1891 USGS mapSegundo on the 1900 USGS mapSegundo on the 1982 USGS map1891Trinidad sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Segundo.

The story

How Segundo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Segundo.

Read it all →

Segundo was founded by Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) as a company town to house its workers for a local coal mine. The town was the second mining community developed by CF&I in 1904 behind Primero and was referenced in the town's name, with segundo meaning "second" in Spanish. CF&I offered adequate housing for the time, and promoted upward mobility through its sponsorship of a YMCA center, an elementary school, small businesses, and a company store. Segundo was a prosperous town until the 1920s, when the population began to decline due to constant health issues related to air pollution and outdated housing that lacked indoor plumbing. Declines in demand for metallurgical coke led to workers being laid off and, following a major fire in 1929, CF&I ceased their operations in Segundo. The town's population plummeted to the point that it almost became a ghost town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Segundo, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Children at a Mine in1920Children at a Mine in
1930s–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
Today1 recent
Segundo, Colorado2012Segundo, Colorado
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.

Children at a Mine in
Retake this viewChildren at a Mine in, 1920

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

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ValdezIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Segundo’s history

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), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.