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Derry Mining Site CampDerry Mining Site Camp · Photo: Donald J Holmgren · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Twin Lakes

Half of Twin Lakes’ homes were built after 2000

Most of Twin Lakes was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: 5 old photos and papers and maps from 1935 on.

0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Twin Lakes’ archive · credits on each photo
The story

How Twin Lakes came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Twin Lakes.

Read it all →

Lake County, one of the original 17 counties created by the Colorado legislature in 1861, was named for the Twin Lakes. As originally defined, Lake County included a large portion of western Colorado to the south and west of its present boundaries. The Twin Lakes District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Twin Lakes, 1898 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898In the archiveUpper Twin Lake
  3. 20th century
  4. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1941In the archiveTwin Lakes with Mount Elbert in background. Colorado
By decade

Twin Lakes, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Upper Twin Lake1898Upper Twin Lake
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
1940s4 items
Twin Lakes with Mount Elbert in background. Colorado1941Twin Lakes with Mount Elbert in background. ColoradoTwin Lakes with Mount Elbert and Mount Harvard after the blizzard. Colorado1941Twin Lakes with Mount Elbert and Mount Harvard after …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Twin Lakes with Mount Elbert in background. Colorado1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Twin Lakes with …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Twin Lakes with Mount Elbert in background. Colorado1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Twin Lakes with …
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
Today1 recent
Twin Lakes, Colorado2004Twin Lakes, Colorado
On the map

Twin Lakes on the map, 1935 to 1994

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

Twin Lakes on the 1935 USGS mapTwin Lakes on the 1967 USGS mapTwin Lakes on the 1982 USGS mapTwin Lakes on the 1994 USGS map1935Mount Elbert sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Upper Twin Lake
Retake this viewUpper Twin Lake, 1898

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Twin Lakes

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

See all →
G
Gabe NewellAmerican computer programmer and businessman · b. 1962
Alex FerreiraAmerican freestyle skier · b. 1994
A
Alexi GrewalRacing cyclist · b. 1960
Jeremy AbbottAmerican figure skater · b. 1985
June MathisAmerican screenwriter, producer and film studio… · b. 1887
A
Alphonse BurnandSailor · b. 1896
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gone or out of use
Pennsylvania Placermine

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Twin Lakes’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewUpper Twin Lake: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Twin Lakes’ 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), the Library of Congress (4), 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.