Madrid, Colorado, is a ghost town located in Las Animas County, east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It’s situated along State Highway 12, fourteen miles west of Trinidad¹. The town was named after Hilario Madrid, who settled there in the 19th century, coming from New Mexico. It’s interesting to note that the town’s name is not derived from Spain’s capital but rather from this early settler.

Originally established as Madrid Plaza in 1864, it served as a settler’s post. Hilario and his brother Juan Madrid homesteaded the area in September 1879. The town had a Post Office from 1882 to 1917, marking its role as a small but significant community during that period¹.

The region’s history is deeply intertwined with Hispano settlement, particularly along the Purgatoire River. Adobe buildings and remnants of plazas in towns like Trinidad are testaments to this early settlement. The area has a rich history dating back to the Paleo-Indian period and was part of Mexico from 1821 to 1848, during which it saw activity related to the Rocky Mountain fur trade².

Moreover, Madrid’s history is linked to the coal industry. In 1892, the site known as “Coal Gulch” was connected to the Santa Fe Railroad and became the company town of Madrid. Men from various countries, including Italy and Czechoslovakia, came to work in the mines. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company played a significant role in employing miners and contributing to the town’s development³⁴.

VCF~Madrid, Colorado

In the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where the Purgatoire River carves its way through the Colorado landscape, there once thrived a small town named Madrid. Not named after the bustling capital of Spain, but for a man of quieter renown, Hilario Madrid, who settled from New Mexico in the 19th century¹.

Madrid, originally known as Madrid Plaza, was established as a settler’s post in 1864, a beacon of hope and prosperity on the western frontier¹. Hilario, alongside his brother Juan, homesteaded the land in September 1879, their dreams as vast as the Colorado sky¹.

The town grew modestly, its heartbeat echoing with the rhythm of the miners’ pickaxes. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company breathed life into Madrid in 1892, connecting it to the Santa Fe Railroad and transforming it into a bustling company town². Men from Italy, Czechoslovakia, and other distant lands came to Coal Gulch, as it was then known, seeking fortune beneath the earth².

Madrid’s streets were lined with wood-framed cabins, the air filled with the laughter from the tavern, and the melodies that danced from the recreation hall. It was a town alive, its pulse strong with the promise of tomorrow.

But as the years passed, the mines that once gave Madrid its lifeblood began to wane. The precious coal that fueled the engines of progress became less and less, and with it, the town’s fortune dimmed. The post office, which had been the town’s communication lifeline since 1882, closed its doors in 1917, a silent testament to the changing times¹.

The Great Depression cast a long shadow over Madrid, and the once-thriving town found itself struggling to survive. Families who had called Madrid home for generations packed their belongings, their hearts heavy with the weight of leaving behind memories etched into the very soil.

By the mid-20th century, Madrid had become a ghost town, its streets empty, the laughter and music a distant memory. The wind whispered through the abandoned cabins, and the tavern stood silent, a monument to days gone by.

Yet, the spirit of Madrid never truly died. It lived on in the stories passed down through the generations, tales of a town that once epitomized the rugged determination of the American West. And sometimes, when the sun sets just right over the mountains, one can almost hear the faint echo of pickaxes and the distant laughter of miners returning home.