From the earliest territorial post offices to the fleeting mining camps of the mountain regions, postal markings provide tangible evidence of how people connected across vast distances and challenging landscapes. Each postmark, route designation, and cancellation reflects not only the movement of mail, but also the growth, decline, and transformation of towns and regions throughout the state.

In many cases, post offices served as the first formal presence of government in isolated communities. Their establishment often marked a town’s arrival on official maps, while their closure signaled economic change, population shifts, or the disappearance of a settlement altogether. As a result, postal records frequently preserve the only surviving documentation of places that have long since vanished.

Early efforts to document Colorado’s postal past were often limited to individual counties, specific time periods, or specialized collecting interests. While valuable, these fragmented studies could not fully capture the scope of postal development across the entire state. Over time, it became clear that a more comprehensive approach was needed—one that would bring together locations, dates, postal operations, and historical context into a single, unified reference.

The Colorado Postal Encyclopedia was conceived to meet that need. Its purpose is not merely to list post offices, but to place them within the broader narrative of Colorado’s history. By organizing information systematically and presenting it in a clear, accessible format, the encyclopedia allows researchers and collectors alike to trace patterns of settlement, migration, and communication over time.

Because of the breadth and complexity of this subject, the work is presented across four chapters. Each chapter addresses a distinct aspect of Colorado’s postal development, allowing the material to be explored in depth while maintaining a coherent overall structure. Together, these chapters form a continuous narrative rather than isolated studies.

Taken as a whole, the Colorado Postal Encyclopedia stands as a living record of communication in the state—preserving not just dates and names, but the stories of the communities that depended on the mail to connect them to the wider world.