Kirkwell and Carrizo Flats Townsites

For an authentic experience of the local landscape and historic features, take a jaunt down County Road M off Hwy 287. Kirkwell is marked by a historic stone building, which served as a post office from 1917-21 and in the 1940s as a dry-goods store and community center. To the west, the settlement of Carrizo Flats was platted in 1880 during the first homestead act and land rush in eastern Colorado. The town operated a post office from 1887-1895, but there was very little water so they picked up and moved the town, buildings and all, to Carrizo Springs (some six miles west) in 1895. Carrizo Flats and Carrizo Springs were the only two towns in southwestern Baca County in the 1880s.