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| Custer County Historical & Genealogical Society |
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| Contact: | Dorothy Urban, Office Manager |
| Phone: | (719) 783-9448 |
| Email: | Email |
| Mailing Address: | PO Box 419, Westcliffe, CO, 81252 |
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Calendars, with a different local theme for each year, are available for sale. Call 719-783-2837 for prices and mailing.
| The Custer County Historical and Genealogical Society strives to provide a means through which organizations and individuals interested in the history and genealogy in Custer County can work together to collect, organize, and preserve materials which may help to establish and illustrate the history and genealogy in Custer County. We concern ourselves with its exploration, settlement, development, and other activities and promote the publication of the pertinent and factual results.
It is our intent to stimulate interest in, and the understanding of, the history and genealogy in Custer County and to encourage educational institutions to disseminate the results. We feel it is important to cooperate in the placing, marking and the dedication of historical signs, monuments, and cemeteries; to assist in listing, marking, and mapping the location of the museums, libraries, historic buildings, sites, trails, tour routes, and tourist attractions, and to assist in promoting exhibits featuring the history and geology of the area as well as promote tours to historic areas. We work with the museums and libraries in Custer County and assist them in maintaining their places in the commun¬ity. We list the buildings that have historic value and cooperate with the State of Colorado Committee for the Preservation of Historic Buildings to preserve these buildings.
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| Many think of Custer County history beginning with the German colony that arrived in 1870. Before this time, however, the Ute Indians roamed the mountains and valleys and left relics of their inhabitance. The Spanish Conquistadors searched for gold here during the 16th century and were responsible for naming the mountains, the Sangre de Cristo on the west and the Sierra Mojada on the east. Zebulon Pike and John C. Fremont explored the area during the 19th century as well as Kit Carson who left evidence of his presence that is still in existence today. The trappers and mountain men came soon after.
The German colony company was dissolved because of a brutally cold winter and the shortage of food, yet some of the members remained to found prominent valley families, farms, and ranches. Some present-day Custer County residents are descendants of these folk as well as of other settlers who came from England and France during the 1870’s. When silver and gold were discovered in Custer County during the 1870’s, an influx of a hearty mining population resulted that founded the communities of Rosita, Querida, and Silver Cliff. The population of Silver Cliff exploded and, a few months after its founding in 1879, it was the third largest city in the state, after Denver and Leadville. |
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| At first the only transportation serving Custer County was the stage coach. A branch line of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was completed in 1881 following Grape Creek. After being plagued by floods and washouts this road was dismantled in 1889. A second line along Texas Creek was built in 1901 and sustained until it was dismantled in 1938. These railroads served the needs of the mining, truck farming, and dairy farming communities of Custer County and resulted in the founding of Westcliffe, one mile west of Silver Cliff. |
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 | The book "Cemeteries of Custer, Fremont and Herfano Counties, Colorado" is for sale. Call 719-783-2837 for prices and mailing.
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 | Won't you join us?
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