Eaton

History

The town is named for Benjamin H. Eaton and Aaron J. Eaton, of the Eaton Milling and Elevator Company, pioneers of irrigation who played a leading role in transforming the arid prairie of the Great Plains east of Colorado's Front Range into a thriving agricultural region with water brought from the nearby Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. The Eatonton, Colorado, post office opened on September 25, 1882, but the name was shortened to Eaton a year later on September 28, 1883. Eaton was first named Eatonton to avoid conflict with the Easton post office in El Paso county. When Easton had changed its name to Eastonville, the last syllable of Eatonton was dropped, and the town has since been known as Eaton. Much of the farming country around Eaton, Colorado continues to depend on the irrigation systems engineered by the Eatons and others to this day. Benjamin Eaton later served as Governor of Colorado from 1885 to 1887. The first citizens of Eaton began to settle in 1880. One of the only occupations available was working on irrigation ditches from Eaton to Greeley. On September 28, 1892, a petition was submitted to the county judge requesting that Eaton be incorporated. The petition had been signed by 36 residents, including Benjamin Eaton himself. The county judge ordered that an election be held to decide whether or not the remaining residents desired Eaton to be incorporated. 50 votes were cast, every one of them in favor of incorporation. The Town of Eaton was incorporated on December 5, 1892.

Geography

Eaton lies on the Denver, Colorado-Cheyenne, Wyoming mainline of the Union Pacific Railroad, and along U.S. Route 85, approximately 7 miles north of Greeley, Colorado. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of , all of it land.

Race & ethnicity