Ward is a home rule municipality in Boulder County,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States. The population was 128 at the 2020 census. The town is a former mining settlement founded in 1860 in the wake of the discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

at nearby Gold Hill. Once one of the richest towns in the state during the Colorado Gold Rush, it is located on a mountainside at the top of Left Hand Canyon, near the Peak to Peak Highway ( State Highway 72) northwest of Boulder at an elevation of above sea level.

History

The town was named for Calvin Ward, who prospected a claim in 1860 on the site known as Miser's Dream. The town boomed the following year with the discovery by Cyrus W. Deardorff of the Columbia vein. Over the next several decades the population fluctuated, growing from several hundred to several thousand before declining once again. The mines in the area remained profitable for many decades, with one mine eventually producing over of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with the name Ward District was established January 13, 1863; the name was changed to Ward, September 11, 1894.Bauer, William H., Ozment, James L., Willard, John H. (1990) ''Colorado Post Offices, 1869–1989'', p. 148. Golden, Colorado: The Colorado Railroad Museum. . The city was incorporated in June 1896. The railroad reached the area in 1898, arriving over the Whiplash and Switzerland Trail, which climbed over from Boulder over the course of . In January 1900 over 50 buildings were destroyed by a devastating fire, although the profitability of the mines led to the immediate rebuilding of the town. The town was largely deserted by the 1920s, but the construction of the Peak-to-Peak Highway in the 1930s led to a revival of the town. During WWII the town's year-round population dropped to four people. Then, in the 1960s, the town's population jumped from between 10 and 20 year-round residents to well over 100 due to the town's interest to hippies. The town has several businesses along its main street, including a restaurant, a coffee shop, an art gallery, and general store.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , all of it land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 150 people, 75 households, and 36 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 82 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.82%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, and 1.18% from two or more races. There were 75 households, out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.7% were married couples living together, 5.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 52% were non-families. 37.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2 and the average family size was 2.67. The age of the town's populace was spread out, with 19.3% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 32% from 25 to 44, 35.3% from 45 to 64, and 8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 154.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 132.7 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the town was $33,750, and the median income for a family was $50,313. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $28,750 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $14,900. None of the population or families were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

Notable people

* Hazel Schmoll, botanist

References

External links

Town contacts

CDOT map of WardWard, Colorado: a slice of Appalachia in the RockiesWard, Colorado, a revitalized gold-mining ghost town
{{authority control Towns in Colorado Towns in Boulder County, Colorado