Erie

History

In the mid-1860s, coal was discovered in southwestern corner of Weld County in the Territory of Colorado. Erie was originally settled in 1867 and named after Erie, Pennsylvania, the former home of early settler Richard Van Valkenburg. In 1870, railway service was established by the Denver-Pacific Spur Railroad, and in 1871, the Denver & Boulder Valley Railroad was built through the area, connecting Boulder and Brighton. and the Town of Erie was incorporated on November 16, 1874. The first school was established in 1874, with 33 students enrolling. Erie was unique among local coal mining towns because the local coal miners actually owned land or houses in town, instead of setting up temporary camps. Thus it became the greatest coal mining town in Colorado. The first school building was erected in 1881, with 100 students enrolled. In 1907, the school was replaced by the larger brick Lincoln School, which soon became inadequate due to the town's growth, and four new rooms had to be added in 1920. The over crowding was alleviated in 1929, with the construction of the new high school. Eventually, the Lincoln School was abandoned all together, and a new elementary school was constructed in 1966. The first church was established in 1883, the Welsh Presbyterian Church, with services conducted in Welsh. By 1888, there was a United Methodist Church and in 1898, the St. Scholasticas Catholic Church was dedicated. In 1884, the first newspaper was founded by Charles D. Bell; called the Erie-Canfield Independent, it continued publishing until 1896. The Erie Herald was established in 1907 and published for far longer than other short lived newspapers, serving the community until 1948. Erie was one of the only "wet" towns in the area and by 1895, boasted eleven saloons on Briggs…

Geography

Erie is located in the southwest corner of Weld County and extends west into eastern Boulder County. It is bordered to the south by the city of Broomfield and to the southwest by the city of Lafayette. Interstate 25 forms part of the eastern border of the town, leading south to downtown Denver and north to Fort Collins. Erie is served by Exit 232 off I-25. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of including of water. }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  57,538
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  56,375
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  51,428
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  51,363
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  49,103
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  48,849
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  45,816
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  44,646

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2025-06-13
  7 km SE of Erie, Colorado
• M 2.5 — 2020-10-24
  2 km ESE of Georgetown, Colorado
• M 2.9 — 2019-03-30
  7 km NE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 3 — 2016-11-06
  8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 2.7 — 2016-11-06
  8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 2.6 — 2016-08-23
  2 km SSE of Eaton, Colorado