The story
Read it all →How Welby came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Welby.
The community was named after one General Welby, a railroad official.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
D−History
History · Welby
Welby’s post office opened in 1910
More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #138 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Most of Welby was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1938 on and the census since 1970.
1910first post office
0on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Welby began
When was Welby founded?
1910
The Welby post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 6,875 in 19702020 census: 15,553116 years
How historic is Welby?
D−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 3% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Welby post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Welby’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Welby is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #138 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Welby’s overall grade.
Founding era1910, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19400.4% of homes (±0.5) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical CO town 1.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 3%
NewerOlder
Colorado towns of 2,500+ (159)Ahead of 13%
Few Colorado towns list much on the Register (a typical Colorado town has 1.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Welby’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D−. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Welby’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Welby’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Welby’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Welby, 1910 to 1938
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Welby, decade by decade
2024
2016
2016
2005On the map
Welby on the map, 1938 to 1980
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Welby. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1938Derby sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Welby.
People over time
Welby, census by census
Grew from 6,875 people in 1970 to 15,553 in 2020.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Welby’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Welby
Nobody well known was born in Welby itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Welby had its own post office from 1910 to 1911.
Welby
19101970today
Gone or out of use
Alternative No 1 High SchoolschoolNorthwestern Engineering Company Pitmine
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Welby’s history
What year was Welby founded?
The Welby post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Welby rank for history?
Welby is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #138 of 159 in Colorado. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Welby?
0.4% of Welby’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1974.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), 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.