Byers, CO Weather Cams
Colorado Rifle Club
The Dusty Origins of Byers, Colorado’s Prairie Town
Byers, CO Weather Cams. Byers, Colorado is a small town located on the eastern plains about 40 miles east of Denver. With a current population of around 1,200 residents, Byers seems an unassuming prairie community. However, this rural area played an important role in the early settlement and development of the state.
The town’s history stretches back to the 1860s when Colorado was still an unincorporated territory. In 1869, the Kansas Pacific Railroad began building a rail line westward across the open plains. A construction and water supply camp was established at a site that became known as Byers Junction after one of the railroad engineers, William N. Byers.
The small camp grew as more railroad workers and homesteaders arrived looking to stake their claim on the treeless, dry prairie land surrounding the railroad junction. Many of the early settlers were from Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. Despite the harsh conditions and scarce water sources, these hardy pioneers took up farming and ranching, establishing the early agricultural roots of the community.
In 1881, a post office officially named Byers was established in the growing camp. Five years later in 1886, Byers was incorporated as a town. Over the next few decades, businesses, homes, churches and schools were constructed to serve the ranchers and farmers who had settled the area for cattle operations and crops like wheat, corn and hay.
The railroad continued to be the lifeblood of Byers through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Carloads of cattle, crops and other agricultural products were shipped out on the rail lines that intersected at Byers Junction. Passenger service brought new settlers, supplies and visitors to the isolated prairie outpost.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Byers went through a period of growth and civic development. The town’s first bank opened in 1921. Paved roads eventually connected Byers to other nearby communities like Deer Trail, Strasburg and Bennett. A red brick school with large windows was built in 1924 to educate the growing population of children.
While Byers has remained a small rural community focused on its agricultural economy, it has maintained a strong sense of history and hometown pride. The old grain elevators, stockyards, brick buildings and railroad infrastructure stand as reminders of the town’s early pioneer days on the eastern Colorado plains.
For more information, visit the official Byers, CO website.