Center, Colorado
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Center census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81125. The Survey maps it on the Center North quadrangle. 1,929 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,644 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresCenter fell from 2,230 to 1,929 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,230 | |
| 2020 | 1,929 | -301 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1915 USGS Del Norte quadrangle1:125000
- 1917 USGS Del Norte quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1945 USGS Durango quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Durango quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Durango quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Durango quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Durango quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Durango quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS Center North quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Del Norte quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
21 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Center between 1992 and 2010, burning about 4 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Saguache County | not named |
| 3 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | CSFS-Alamosa District | not named |
| 24 August 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Saguache County | not named |
| 13 July 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Saguache County | not named |
| 29 June 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Saguache County | not named |
| 6 May 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Saguache County | not named |
| 15 May 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Saguache County | not named |
| 9 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Center: 5 unknowns, 3 producers, 2 occurrences, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Fluorine-Fluorite, Sodium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sodium | Occurrence | Trona | |
| Wagon Wheel Gap Fluorspar | Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
10 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Center in 10 storm reports between 1994 and 2013: 9 hail, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Center | - | A brief, weak landspout tornado occurred over open country with no known damage. |
| September 1994 | Hail | Center | - | Thunderstorms ripped through a large broccoli and cabbage patch killing an estimated 90% to 100% of the seasons crop. |
| September 2013 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Hail | Center | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Garita | 9.5 miles | 17 | |
| Moffat | 20.0 miles | 10 | |
| Saguache | 23.1 miles | 11 | |
| Mirage (historical) | 27.4 miles | 12 | |
| Crestone | 27.4 miles | 15 | |
| Duncan | 27.5 miles | 12 | |
| Cottonwood | 27.6 miles | 15 | |
| Liberty | 28.2 miles | 12 |
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 Center | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2276181 | The 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 203419. 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.









