Dove Creek

History

The Old Spanish Trail trade route passed through the area of Dove Creek from 1829 into the 1850s. The Dove Creek, Colorado, post office opened on January 16, 1915. There are several area prehistoric and historic sites listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties: * Brewer Archaeological District of two large prehistoric settlement sites: Brewer Mesa Pueblo (11th century) and Brewer Canyon Pueblo (13th century) * Glade Ranger Station, dated before 1910 * P.R. Butt & Sons Building, built in 1914, generally considered the town's second building

Geography

Dove Creek is located in western Dolores County on US 491 (formerly US 666) at the crossing of Dove Creek, the town's namesake. Dove Creek flows south to Cross Canyon, Montezuma Creek, Utah, and the San Juan River. The town is located on the northern portion of the Great Sage Plain, a large plateau covered in desert lands, bounded by the La Plata Mountains, Mesa Verde National Park, the La Sal Mountains, and the Abajo Mountains, and cut by dozens of deep canyons, which was and is a productive agricultural region. The plateau is dotted with numerous ruins of the Anasazi and other ancient people who took advantage of good soils and terrain, even with limited water resources. The Dolores County Courthouse, built in 1957, replaces a temporary courthouse in the town used after voters of the county moved the county seat from Rico to Dove Creek in 1947, reflecting a shift in the original mining-oriented make-up of the county's population to the current situation in which farmers and a few ranchers outnumber the mountain-dwellers in the old mining districts of the eastern end of Dolores County. The courthouse is adjacent to Dolores County High School, and is part of the old business district located north of US 491; most business is now located on US 491 as it angles through the town from east-southeast to west-northwest. A regional landmark is the large concrete bean elevator located on the west edge of town, near the Dolores County Industrial Park. SH 141 intersects US 491 just west of town, and provides access to the Paradox Valley, Nucla-Naturita, and the uranium mining and industrial area of Montrose County, Colorado, and Grand County, Utah. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of , all of it land. }}

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Dove Creek High School
  High · DOVE CREEK · 139 students · 11.6:1 ratio
• Seventh Street Elementary School
  Elementary · DOVE CREEK · 124 students · 13.8:1 ratio