COLORADO - When exploring the history of the Centennial State, the timeline leads south to the San Luis Valley, near the New Mexico border. The small town of San Luis, established in 1851, is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Colorado.
The Founding: April 5, 1851
San Luis’s origins are tied to the northern expansion of Hispanic settlers from New Mexico, occurring just after the region became U.S. territory following the Mexican-American War.
- The Sangre de Cristo Grant: In the 1840s, the Mexican government issued massive land grants to encourage settlement in the dangerous northern frontier.
- The Settlement: On April 5, 1851, Dario Gallegos and a group of settlers from Taos founded the town on the Culebra River. They built adobe homes and a church, and critically, they established the San Luis People’s Ditch (La Acequia de la Gente). This communal irrigation canal, dug in 1852, holds the first adjudicated water right in Colorado and is still in use today.
Indigenous Roots
Long before the adobe bricks were laid, the San Luis Valley was a sacred and vital landscape for the Ute, Apache, and Navajo peoples. The valley, flanked by the Sangre de Cristo mountains, was known as a "Land of the Blue Sky People." It served as a rich hunting ground for buffalo and elk. The arrival of settlers led to tensions, and the town of San Luis was built with a central plaza and fortified walls (a defensive layout known as a plaza) to protect against Ute raids in the early years.
A Technical Distinction: The Gold Rush Cities
While San Luis is the oldest settlement, it remained a small agricultural village. The first cities to officially incorporate and develop major municipal governments were born from the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858-1859.
- Denver City: Founded in November 1858 by William Larimer, Denver quickly became the dominant metropolis. It was incorporated by the Territorial Legislature in November 1861.
- Central City & Black Hawk: These mining hubs also formed around the same time and were incorporated in the early 1860s. However, San Luis predates them all by nearly a decade in terms of permanent habitation.
San Luis is the oldest town in Colorado, founded on April 5, 1851, by Hispanic settlers from New Mexico. It represents the state's deep Hispano roots and is home to the oldest water rights in Colorado. While the Ute people utilized the valley for centuries, San Luis marks the beginning of permanent non-indigenous settlement. The gold rush cities, like Denver, followed nearly ten years later, becoming the first legally incorporated municipalities.
Sources
- Colorado Encyclopedia. "San Luis."
- History Colorado. "San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant."
- National Park Service. "Old Spanish National Historic Trail."
- Town of San Luis. "History and Heritage."
- Colorado State Archives. "Municipal Incorporations."