Welcome to the
Washington County, Colorado
COGenWeb Project

US GenWeb Logo CoGenWeb Logo Colorado Map

Two Geographical Features of Washington County

Fremnt Butte-Flat Top

Fremont Butte is a physical and historic geographical prominence of northern Washington County located at latitude 40.2488687° N and longitude, 103.3088299 W., 6 miles north and 5 miles west of Akron Colorado. The butte was seen by John Charles Fremont on his trek up the South Platte River in 1843.

Flat Top is is a physical and historic geographical prominence of southern Washington County located just north of its southern county line with Lincoln county at Latitude 39.576653° N, Longitude 103.597171° West. It is just west of County Road 71 about 10 miles south of Last Chance (on US Highway 36). Its elevation is 5406 ft. (1647 m.). Near the prominence there was a Flat Top School from 1915-1921.

County Coordinator

Daniel B Cooley is the new Washington County Coordinator. If you have any questions or suggestions, or wish to contribute Washington County material, please email me at dbcooleyw@gmail.com. Also, please report problems and provide specific details. It's the only way I'll know how to make this site more useful to you.


This site was created by Lee Zion. We were saddened by his untimely death in June 2008. Please see the wonderful memorial to Lee on the Colorado GenWeb site.


The former Washington County coordinator was M.D. Monk who continues to host the COGenWeb pages of Logan, Kit Carson, and Yuma counties.

State Coordinator

Our Colorado USGenWeb State Coordinator is Colleen Pustola. If you would like to contribute to the Colorado USGenWeb project by becoming a host of one of the county pages contact Colleen at Colleen Pustola

Assistant State Coordinators

Colorado USGenWeb Assistant State Coordinators are (click for email address):

Rebecca Maloney and Betty Baker

USGenWeb

The USGenWeb Project is a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone. Organization is by county and state and the USGenWeb site provides links to all the state genealogy websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. USGenWeb

USGenWeb also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level and its website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well. The current special projects are: Archives, African American Griots, Genealogical Events, Kidz Project, Lineage, and Tombstone Transcription. USGenWeb Special Projects

Search the Washington County site with FreeFind

Please note this is a "minimal" search engine in that it finds only the page on which your query is located. Once at the page use your browser's Find feature to take you to your input word. Also be aware that there could be more than one instance of your input word or phrase on that page.

I have noticed lately that search terms are too narrow for this small site. For instance, "august gebauer homestead" doesn't return anything substantial. In this case I would just search on "Gebauer"; or "James William Reese", just search on "Reese".
  - Ed. 1 March 2018

search engine by freefind advanced

History of Washington County Colorado

A Short History of Washington County Colorado

The county was organized on February 9, 1887 about five years after the first B&MR (Burlington & Missouri River) locomotive steamed through Akron in mid 1882

Veterans

Veteran burials in Washington County and elswhere with a connection to Washington County

Washington County Veteran Burials


Washington County Gold Star Memorials

Washington County Gold Star Veterans Memorial Pages.


Service members from Washington County in World War I

Men and Women from Washington County Who Served in World War I


Service members from Washington County in World War II

Men and Women from Washington County Who Served in World War II

Post Offices

Washington County Post Offices and Postmasters
From 1883 through 1961 with township/range/section coordinates for each post office

Schools

Historic Washington County School Districts
Several District numbers, 88, 89, 90, and 91 have unknown names Please help with any WashCo school knowledge you may have.

Miscellaneous Washington County School Information
Class lists, graduation photos, school board members, plus excerpts from the Akron Pioneer Press,etc.

Washington County place names and maps

Washington County Place Names and Map
A Lee Zion original with a wealth of detail such as the old railroad camps of Xenia and Pinneo
Washington County Land Survey Township and Range Locations
This is simply a grid overlay on a map of Washington County See the PLSS tutorial for an explanation of the system used in Colorado
The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) used in the United States
An excellent PLSS tutorial by Lee Zion

Washington County Cemeteries

Surnames in Washington County Cemeteries
from the Washington County Cemeteries book

Cemetery Maiden/Married Name Cross-Reference
compiled from the index to Washington County Cemeteries

The Pioneer Books of Washington County - Families Prior to 1900

List of Pioneer Family Histories The Pioneer Book of Washington County Colorado Vols I and II


100 Years of Washington County History


Surnames From 100 Years of Washington County History

Washington County Newspapers

Washington County Newspapers
From 1885 to the only currently operating newspaper, The Akron News-Reporter

The Colorado Historic Newspaper Project
You can find a searchable, digital version of the Akron Pioneer Press here
Note: This link will take you to an external website*

Historic Photos, Stories, Obituaries

Washington County Historic and Pioneer Photos Project
Section contains donated photos of people and places in Washington County with special emphasis on photos and biographies of Washington County pioneers as follows: Calvin Chapman, Cary Doggett, John Mosby, Anna Bancroft and Gordon Bullock,
Eli and Rosann Conely-Heath, Nels and Josie Oman,
John J. and Alice Bates Woods, and the Newsom and Hill families.

Stories, Histories, Surnames, and Obituaries
Donated stories of early Washington County pioneer life, family remembrances, and obituaries.

Miscellaneous Washington County Surnames
Surnames covered: Ball, Butts, Davis, Dunton, Irwin, Jamison, Kendon, Lett, Llewellyn, McCollister, Muntzing, Payne, Pelton, Pickett, Smith, Stokes, Warner, Whitlake, Wilcox, and Yeamans.

Carl Lindahl's Farm Location Project

Washington County resident Carl Lindahl has started an ambitious project to map the locations of past Washington County farms and identify them by owner. Here is Carl's message and website address: People who Lived in Washington County Colorado and their location in the county (This link will take you to an external website*)


Northeastern Colorado Lookup Volunteers
Arlene Glenn, who has access to lots of Washington County resources,
will gladly look up information for you

"The History of Burdett, Washington County, Colorado" as related by Dorcas Harvey in 1919
"In the year 1870 there was one William or Bill Burdett settled on Rock Creek, and had his shanty built of buffalo hides, of which there were many running wild on the prairie at that time...."

"The Life-and-Death Story of Hyde", Washington County, Colorado by Regina Carpenter
"The first lots in Hyde were sold in May 1886 by the Lincoln Land Co. The price varied from $100 to $500."

History of Otis, Washington County, Colorado
"Otis in the Olden Days" by Joan Gartin
"Until the railroad pushed west, it was difficult for most people to move out here in the plains to establish homes. In 1882, however, the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad track was laid through Otis and connected the plains areas with Denver."

Index to Original Land Patents in the Cope area and the southeast corner of the county
T3SR51W, T3SR50W, T3SR49W; T4SR51W, T4SR50W, T4SR49W; T5SR51W, T5SR50W, T5SR49W

The USGenWeb Archives Project Washington County Colorado
Note: This link will take you to an external website*

Washington County External Resources
Washington County Museum, Neighboring county COGenWeb websites, Genealogy Links, Colorado links

Colorado and Washington County Vital Records
State and County agencies to write to for official records, Birth, Death, and Marriage

Washington County Researcher Registry
Researchers are those that have associated themselves with a particular surname. Check on this page for WashCo surnames of interest then contact the researcher directly if you need or have more information

Volunteer Census Projects
Some of these go back 10 years so there's no guarantee they are still viable.

Washington County Migrations
The national Migrations Project is defunct


*External links to web sites that are not part of this project are provided for your convenience and do not imply any endorsement of the web sites or their contents by USGenWeb.


Last Updated: 03/11/2025 21:11:43

COGenWeb © 1996-2025 - All rights reserved
Limited use rights may be granted by written or electronic permission