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Calhan, Colorado

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Black Forest-Peyton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80808. The Survey maps it on the Calhan quadrangle. 762 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,535 feet above sea level.

Calhan within El Paso County

On record in Calhan

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Calhan fell from 780 to 762 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010780
2020762-18 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

52 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 52 fires within 5 miles of Calhan between 2010 and 2020, burning about 351 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined34
Equipment and vehicle use7
Power generation/transmission/distribution6
Smoking2
Natural1
Arson/incendiarism1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersCALHAN
20 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
18 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalhan Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
11 September 2016Arson/incendiarism40 acresEl Paso CountyUNKNOWN
26 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalhan Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
17 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalhan Fire Protection DistrictN/A
6 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersCALHAN
4 July 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalhan Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in El Paso County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 37 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 37 workings within 5 miles of Calhan: 25 producers, 10 past producers, 2 occurrences. 25 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Apache #9ClayProducer
Calhan MinesClayProducer
UnknownClayProducerClay
UnknownClayProducer
UnknownClayProducerClay
UnknownClayProducerClay
UnknownClayProducer
Alford PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Evetts PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Goss PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in El Paso County

Storms near this place

60 of 103 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Calhan in 103 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 84 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 heavy rain. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2016LightningCalhan3 hurtA lightning strike injured three people at the El Paso County Fairgrounds.
June 2001HailCalhan$2,000,000A very severe thunderstorm dumped giant hail from the Elbert-El Paso county line into Calhan. The hail swath was around 2 miles wide. Damage estimates were still preliminary at the time of submission.
August 2004Flash FloodCalhan$200,000Very heavy rain from a line of slow moving thunderstorms produced up to 4 inches of rain in one hour caused an irrigation dam to overflow in northeastern EL Paso county. Brackett Creek went out of it's banks running at times 8 to 12 feet deep and 30 feet wide...with the average levels at Brackett Creek 6 inches deep and 3 feet wide. Around 25 county roads were washed out by the flash flooding in a large portion of the county north of Highway 94. Highway 110 and Falcon Highway were severely damaged from flood waters of Brackett Creek. A bridge on Slocum Road...two miles north of Highway 94 was destroyed.
June 2025HailCalhan-Hail up to 1 inches in diameter fell in El Paso County from a severe thunderstorm.
August 2025HailCalhan-Hail measured to 1 inches fell in eastern El Paso County.
July 2025HailCalhan-Hail measured to 1 inches occurred in northeastern El Paso County.
August 2024Heavy RainCalhan-A public source reported 1.50 inches of rain, which fell in a short period of time, and was produced by a strong thunderstorm.
July 2024HailCalhan-Hail measured to 1 inch fell south of Peyton.
September 2024Thunderstorm WindCalhan-There was a 61 knot wind gust reported at location.
May 2023HailCalhan-Reported by a storm chaser.
June 2023HailCalhan-Trained spotter reported.
August 2022Flash FloodCalhan-Trained spotter called in to report flash flooding 3 miles west of Calhan with approximately 1.5 to 2 inches fallen in the past hour.
July 2022Flash FloodCalhan-A road washed out between Calhan and Ramah.
July 2022Heavy RainCalhan-Heavy rainfall of 1.50 inches.
July 2022Heavy RainCalhan-Heavy rainfall of 1.80 inches.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindCalhan-Roof peeled off a trailer home near the El Paso County fairgrounds. Time estimated per Doppler radar signatures. Doppler radar estimates 70-75 mph winds.
June 2015Funnel CloudCalhan-A brief funnel cloud occurred west of Calhan.
August 2004Tornado (F0)Calhan-A short lived tornado caused no known damage.
July 1999Funnel CloudCalhan-A reported funnel cloud caused nearly 6000 people attending the El Paso County Fair to be evacuated and sheltered in nearby school buildings.
August 1999Flash FloodCalhan-Heavy rain in 2 1/2 hours caused several road closures, generally east and southeast of Ramah. Brackett Creek, about 3 miles southwest of Calhan, overflowed its banks and spilled over a flood control dam, causing additional flooding mainly south of highway 24.
June 1997LightningCalhan-A lightning bolt hit a transformer near Calhan. Power was lost until around 10:30 p.m. for about half the customers in and around Calhan.
June 1995HailCalhan-Lightning struck a telephone line which struck a Calhan man talking on the phone.
May 1994HailCalhan-Severe thunderstorms rumbled across El Paso County, dumping hail over much of the area. A spotter reported golf-ball size hail fell in Calhan (32 miles northeast of Colorado Springs).
July 2023HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2022HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2022HailCalhan-no account filed
August 2018HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2018HailCalhan-no account filed
May 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
May 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
August 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2017HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2016HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2016HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2015HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2015HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2015HailCalhan-no account filed
May 2015HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2014HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2014HailCalhan-no account filed
August 2014HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2014HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2014HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2013HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2013HailCalhan-no account filed
August 2013HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2012Thunderstorm WindCalhan-no account filed
June 2012HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2012HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2012Thunderstorm WindCalhan-no account filed
May 2011HailCalhan-no account filed
May 2011HailCalhan-no account filed
June 2011HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2010HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2010HailCalhan-no account filed
July 2010HailCalhan-no account filed

Every storm recorded in El Paso County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Ramah9.2 miles11
Alta Vista9.8 miles12
Peyton9.9 miles13
Yoder14.1 miles16
Eastonville14.2 miles27
Ellicott14.4 miles18
Rush17.3 miles16
Falcon18.0 miles27

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on CalhanAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2534878The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 193304. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.