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History · Silver Cliff

Silver Cliff’s post office opened in 1878, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Silver Cliff’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Silver Cliff began

When was Silver Cliff founded?

1878

The Silver Cliff post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 5,040 in 18802020 census: 609148 years
Founding year: the first Silver Cliff post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Silver Cliff’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1970, then grew 4-fold.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1906, drew every building in Silver Cliff.
★ What stands out · People over time

Silver Cliff, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,500188019001920194019601980200020205,040 in 1880Low: 126

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1970, then grew 4-fold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Every building

Silver Cliff, building by building, 1886–1906

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.

Silver Cliff fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 11886Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

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

The story

How Silver Cliff came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Silver Cliff.

Read it all →

Silver Cliff was formed in the late 1870s to house the miners of its namesake, the Silver Cliff mine, and other silver mines in the neighborhood, such as the Bull-Domingo. The town, incorporated in 1879, had 5,040 residents by the 1880 census, making it the third most populous town in Colorado, after Denver and Leadville.

Silver Cliff was the county seat from 1886 (when the town won the seat from Rosita) to 1928 (when the seat moved to nearby Westcliffe).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Silver Cliff, 1870 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870In the archiveMarket. Cor. Main & Mill Sts., [...] Silver Cliff, Colo
  3. 1878Post officeThe Silver Cliff post office opens
  4. 1880CensusPopulation peaks at 5,040
  5. 1890In the archiveSing Lee Silver Cliff, Colo laundryman / M. Lowe photographer Cliff Studio Silver Cliff, …
  6. 20th century
  7. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
  8. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Silver Cliff, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1890s3 items
Market. Cor. Main & Mill Sts., [...] Silver Cliff, Coloc. 1870Market. Cor. Main & Mill Sts., [...] Silver Cliff, Co…Silver Cliff, Colo. [showing a group of men, some with burros]c. 1870Silver Cliff, Colo. [showing a group of men, some wit…Sing Lee Silver Cliff, Colo laundryman / M. Lowe photographer Cliff Studio Silver Cliff, Colorado1890Sing Lee Silver Cliff, Colo laundryman / M. Lowe phot…
1900s–1930snothing 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
1940s1 item
Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]1940Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
1950s–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
Date unknown1 to date
Silver Cliff District, Colorado. (to accompany) Pocket Mining Atlas. Compiled From The Latest Official Surveys (IA dr s…Date?Silver Cliff District, Colorado. (to accompany) Pocke…Map
Today4 recent
Silver Cliff, Colorado2018Silver Cliff, ColoradoSilver Cliff Town Hall2018Silver Cliff Town HallOriginal Silver Cliff Firehouse & Town Hall2018Original Silver Cliff Firehouse & Town HallCOMap-doton-SilverCliff2005COMap-doton-SilverCliff
On the map

Silver Cliff on the map in 1955

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Silver Cliff.

Silver Cliff on the 1955 USGS map1955Westcliffe 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 Silver Cliff.

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.

Market. Cor. Main & Mill Sts., [...] Silver Cliff, Colo
Retake this viewMarket. Cor. Main & Mill Sts., [...] Silver Cliff, Colo, c. 1870

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Silver Cliff

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

See all →
Donald Howard MenzelAmerican astronomer · b. 1901
E
Ernest PaganoScreenwriter · b. 1901
Richard N. CurrentAmerican historian · b. 1912
Emory S. LandUnited States admiral · b. 1879
J
Jan AngelAmerican politician
S
Stan BlakeAmerican politician · b. 1954
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Silver Cliff’s post office has been open since 1878.

Gone or out of use
C H Connor Minemine
1cemetery inside Silver Cliff
Silver Cliff

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

Help out

Start Silver Cliff’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewMarket. Cor. Main & Mill Sts., [...] Si…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Westcliffe4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Silver Cliff’s history

What year was Silver Cliff founded?

The Silver Cliff post office opened in 1878, 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 (9), Wikipedia, 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.