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History · Vilas

Vilas’ post office opened in 1887, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1940.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Vilas’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Vilas began

When was Vilas founded?

1887

The Vilas post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 129 in 19402020 census: 98139 years
Founding year: the first Vilas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Vilas’ 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 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1984. Watch Vilas change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Vilas’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vilas’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 viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas Cou…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Vilas on the map, 1892 to 1984

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

Vilas on the 1892 USGS mapVilas on the 1978 USGS mapVilas on the 1984 USGS map1892Vilas 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 Vilas.

The story

How Vilas came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Vilas.

Read it all →

The community was named after William Freeman Vilas, a United States Senator

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Vilas, 1887 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Vilas post office opens
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1916Born hereCoye Dunn is born here
  6. 1940In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
By decade

Vilas, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

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
Today3 recent
Vilas, Colorado2019Vilas, ColoradoSH100End2019SH100EndColorado State Highway 1002019Colorado State Highway 100
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.

Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
Retake this viewColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)], 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Vilas, census by census

010019401960198020002020Peak: 132

Between 83 and 132 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Questions about Vilas’ history

What year was Vilas founded?

The Vilas post office opened in 1887, 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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.