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The Town of Creede is dead. Long live the Town of Creede.
The Colorado Department of State formally declared Creede abandoned on July 23, more than 134 years after the historic mining town was incorporated in southwest Colorado. But the abandoned Creede is probably not the Creede you’re thinking of.
As it turns out, there were two separate Towns of Creede immediately adjacent to one another. The first Town of Creede was incorporated in March 1892. The second, originally called the City of Creede, was incorporated less than three months later, just south of the town. In 1916, the City of Creede was changed to an incorporated town due to a reduction in its population. From that point on, there were two legally distinct towns with the same name right next to each other.
“At some point, the recognition that there had ever been two distinct towns was lost to history,” explains the abandonment declaration. It was so lost that no one, not even the towns’ own residents and leadership, realized there were two Creedes until local officials stumbled upon the discrepancy last year.
Individuals who live within the original, now-abandoned Town of Creede testified that they had no idea they weren’t technically a part of the same Town of Creede for which they participate in local elections. Under state law, a town can be determined to be abandoned if it fails to hold an election, elect officers or maintain a town government for at least five years.
The original Town of Creede hasn’t had a functioning government for “upwards of 100 years,” according to Mineral County Assessor Hendrik Shullts. County Attorney Michael O’Loughlin applied to declare the town abandoned on May 11.
“This abandoned Town of Creede has not functioned for decades and having said Town continue as a legally constituted town causes confusion with today’s Town of Creede,” the application reads.
No one objected to the abandonment during a public hearing on July 13. With the first Town of Creede abandoned, all of its property, streets, avenues and alleys that are not owned by a third party will be vested in the Board of County Commissioners of Mineral County, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. The remaining Town of Creede is the only incorporated town left in the county.
Colorado Secretary of State’s Office
At some point, the two towns did maintain independent governments. In 1903, a federal land grant patent identified the mayor of the Town of Creede as Amasa J. Bunch. That year, the mayor of the then-City of Creede was F. E. Wheeler. When they were originally formed, the two Creedes also fell within separate counties: Rio Grande County for the town and Hinsdale County for the city. But when Mineral County formed in 1893, it encompassed both Creedes.
It is unclear whether the governments were intentionally merged at some point after the city changed to a town in 1916, or whether the original town’s leadership gradually disbanded.
Some of the confusion may stem from the dramatic exodus of residents following the end of the silver mining boom that led to the creation of both Creedes. In the early 1890s, more than 10,000 people lived in the then-City of Creede. By 1900, that number had dropped to less than 1,000. Today, fewer than 300 people call Creede home.
The residents who remain can now rest assured that they are finally unified with a singular town.
“We’re here to confirm what has been known in the Creede area for many years,” O’Loughlin said during the public hearing. “There is only one [Creede].”
