WELCOME TO THE GUNNISON COUNTY, 
COGenWeb PROJECT

This site is available for adoption.  If you are interested in adopting this county please contact the

BRIEF HISTORY

Gunnison County is located in the heart of the Colorado Rockies. It was named after Captain John W. Gunnison, who explored the area with a party of 60 men in 1853. The County boasts of some unusual town names such as Bacon, Citizen, Dinner Station, Old Man's Cabin, Ruby, Pie Plant, Tin Cup and Yule Creek.

The first settlement was Richardson's Colony which was founded in 1874 on the site of present-day Gunnison. It was abandoned shortly thereafter. In 1877 the Ute Indian Agency of Los Pinos was established. In the same year Gunnison County was carved out of Lake County. By 1879 Professor Sylvester Richardson and Colorado Governor John Evans decided to try again and founded the town site of Gunnison. Gunnison became the County Seat and the courthouse was finished in 1880. Pitkin County was carved out in 1881, and 2 years later, in 1883 the Counties of Delta, Mesa and Montrose were also carved out.

The elevation of the county ranges from 7,000' to 14,000'. Summers are pleasant, but Gunnison County is noted as being one of the coldest areas of Colorado in the winter (-20 degrees is common). Approximately 85% of Gunnison County is Federal land owned by the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Curecanti National Recreation Area. The economic base is tourism, skiing, education, mining and ranching. Western State College of Colorado is located in Gunnison. The college has an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. Gunnison County population was 11, 931 in July 1995.

The town of Marble, located in northern Gunnison County, is the site of the Colorado Yule Marble Company which produced the marble used to build many famous buildings and monuments in America, including the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Crested Butte was established in 1879 as a coal mining region, but nowadays is a popular ski area and resort town.

WHAT'S NEW

Dec 2008 - 

• Updated links, added a new logo for COGenWeb and other housekeeping.
• New Surname page.  Sending email to all emails on the list (going back to 1997).  Any email that bounces will be deleted.  Please re-submit your surname so that visitors know you are still interested in the name.
• Added Newspaper articles from 1892 "White Pine Cone"

May 2008 - The COGenWeb moved from Rootsweb servers to their own server.  Lots of links and housecleaning.  If you find any broken links please let me know.

New cemetery listings and photos from Carolyn Green.  The Tombstone Photo manager is working on the photos.  Look for these soon.

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WHAT'S NEW archives

	VOLUNTEERS - WE NEED YOU! Would you like to help?
Do you have any Local History books that you would be willing to use for an occasional lookup request? Would you be willing to transcribe local cemeteries or photograph local historical buildings? (this is relaxing and fun) Do you visit the local library occasionally? If so, could you do a lookup while you are there? Do you have access to some other historical records, such as wills, diaries, census returns, newspapers, etc. that you would be willing to transcribe? Do you have any old Gunnison County yearbooks you would be willing to index or do a lookup in? If you do research in Gunnison County or at any Colorado Archives for a fee, let me know. I will post that in the appropriate area also.

Should you have problems, please email the

Copyright 1998-2009 by Betty Baker for the benefit of the USGenWeb Project. Material on this page may be used for educational or non-profit purposes as long as the copyright line above is included with the material. If you are unable to contact me or if you would like to help out in COGenWeb please contact the Co State Coordinator   or Co State Coordinator, .