Local History Timeline
**Click on the images for more information.**
10,000 BCE to 300 BCE
Paleoindians and Archaic peoples passed through the Animas Valley, hunting for big game and gathering plants.
300 BCE to 500 CE
Basketmaker II peoples were living and farming year round in the Animas Valley.
1100 CE
Ancestral Puebloans start building the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, they are abandoned by 1285.
1765
Juan Maria Antonio de Rivera, searching for gold and silver, names the Rio de los Animas.
Pre 1874
The Utes had summer camps and hunted throughout the Animas Valley.
August 8 & 9, 1776
Franciscan friars Francisco Dominquez and Silvestre Escalante pass through today’s La Plata County on their expedition to find an overland route from Santa Fe to Monterey, California.
1829 - 1848
Traders and travelers from Santa Fe pass through La Plata County on the Old Spanish Trail en route to California.
Learn more about the Old Spanish Trail.
1860
Baker Party arrives in Animas Valley.
1874
Brunot Agreement signed by President Grant: Utes cede land in San Juan Mountains for mining and settlement.
September 6, 1876
Plat of Animas City filed in the United States Land Office, Lake City, Colorado.
Learn more about the history of Animas City.
September 13, 1880
First surveyor stake driven in Durango.
November 1880
Durango has 11 saloons, 7 hotels and no churches.
April 11, 1881
Henry Moorman hanged by the "Committee of Safety" after shooting James Prindle in the Coliseum Dance Hall.
July 28, 1881
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad arrives in Durango.
Learn more about the D&RG and play Railroad Bingo
November 1881
Durango named La Plata County seat (moved from Parrott City).
July 1882
Denver & Rio Grande railroad reaches Silverton.
August 1882
San Juan Smelter moved to Durango from Silverton.
December 28, 1882
Trimble Hot Springs Resort opens with a grand ball.
December 16, 1883
The First National Bank of Durango was almost robbed.
January 15, 1887
Electric arc lights illuminate Durango's streets.
July 1, 1889
The Great Fire destroys much of downtown Durango.
December 20, 1891
Rio Grande Southern railroad arrives in Durango.
1893
Silver Panic destroys much of the economy of SW Colorado.
June 1, 1899
Durango's only major labor dispute occurs when the smelter workers go on strike.
January 9, 1906
Marshal Stansel (at right) fatally shoots Sheriff Thompson.
June 1906
Mesa Verde established as a national park with the signing of the Antiquities Act by Theodore Roosevelt.
August 18, 1906
The town of Bayfield was incorporated.
1906
Tacoma Power Plant opens sending power to the Gold King mine in Silverton.
November 3, 1907
Secret Service Agent Joseph A. Walker assassinated at the Hesperus Coal Mine: the first agent to be killed in an investigation.
1908
Two tracts of land, owned by H.L. Hall and Hans Aspaas were joined to form the town of Ignacio.
October 5-6, 1911
Worst flood in the history of Durango and La Plata County.
October 31, 1919
Fire destroys the roof of the Animas City School.
September 14, 1941
Vallecito Dam dedicated.
1942
During World War II, the smelter (closed in 1930) was reactivated to process pitchblende, vanadium, and carnotite ores into uranium.
January 1, 1948
Ordinance Number 227 takes effect--Animas City annexed to Durango.
May 30, 1957
Fort Lewis College officially dedicated at its new location atop Reservoir Hill overlooking Durango.
Summer 1967
Animas City School closes at the end of the 1966-1967 school year.
August 13, 1980
The Animas Museum is officially dedicated with President Ford in attendance.
October 2019
Animas City School building is added to the National Register.
