Chivington, Colorado, Kiowa County is a ghost town that stands as a demonstration to the ever-changing dynamics of settlement and abandonment in the American West. Once a bustling community, it now echoes the past as a silent witness to history. Below is detailed information about the town.
County: Kiowa County
Zip Code: Not available
Latitude / Longitude: 38.4425° N, 102.5394° W
Elevation: 4,183 feet (1,275 meters)
Time Zone: Mountain Time Zone (MT)
Established: 1887
Disestablished: Not available
Comments: Chivington was named after Colonel John Chivington, infamous for his role in the Sand Creek Massacre. The town was established in the late 19th century during westward expansion and settlement.
It was meant to be a significant railroad town but never reached its anticipated potential, leading to its decline.
Remains: Little remains of Chivington today. Visitors can find a few crumbling structures and foundations that hint at its past existence. The townsite is largely overgrown with vegetation, starkly contrasting the bustling activity that once characterized the area.
Chivington was named for the Reverend John Chivington, a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War, who was celebrated as the hero of the 1862 Battle of Glorieta Pass and commanded the 700 Union soldiers who perpetrated the Sand Creek massacre, a slaughter of Native Americans in a nearby gulch.
The United States Congress Joint Committee condemned the massacre on the Conduct of the War, and Territorial Governor John Evans lost his job for encouraging Chivington.
Current Status: Chivington is classified as a ghost town. It no longer has a functioning community and is largely abandoned, with only remnants left to mark its historical significance.
A few newer homes are still occupied in Chivington, but the town consists mostly of a few abandoned but still-standing ruins, more partially collapsed buildings (the former schoolhouse degrades, year-by-year), and many piles of bricks mark where the town once stood.
Standard green highway markers (“Chivington”) identify what these ruins once were. The post office existed into the 1980s but nearby Eads today offers the nearest postal service and amenities like stores and gas stations.
Lamar is the closest remaining “significant” town on Colorado’s eastern plains. Like much of eastern Colorado, Chivington appears to be returning to its sparse grassland and prairie land origins.
One of the former town’s buildings contains a ghost sign asking Chivington citizens to vote for Jan King, who ran for the office of Kiowa County clerk. The famous TransAmerica Cycling Trail passes through Chivington and is frequented by hundreds of cyclists annually.
Remarks: Chivington poignantly reminds us of the transient nature of human settlements and the factors that can lead to their rise and fall. The connection to Colonel Chivington adds a layer of historical intrigue and controversy, making it a point of interest for those exploring the narratives of the American frontier.
Chivington (est. 1887) was one of several railroad towns in Kiowa County on eastern Colorado’s plains along the Missouri Pacific Railroad line. In the late 19th century, eastern Colorado had a lot of agriculture and related commerce.
Railroad workers also briefly contributed to the local economy as the Missouri Pacific extended into Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Palmer Lake, and eventually brought service into Denver.
As new towns along this railroad line formed, they were named alphabetically, which might explain why “Chivington” was chosen—with the massacre site only about 9 miles away, “C” brought the name “Chivington” to mind. And in Colorado, the massacre was not as infamous as in the rest of the nation.
