Calhan, CO

Calhan sits on the eastern El Paso County plains along U.S. 24, part of the Colorado Springs metropolitan area but with a town center built around a railroad water stop. The Rock Island line arrived in 1888, and the place was named for track contractor Michael Calahan; the spelling lost an a as the post office and town took shape. The surviving Calhan Rock Island Depot is the last Rock Island depot in Colorado on its original site, a physical reminder of why a town grew here. The depot, grain elevator, and livestock loading area once linked ranches and farms to the line.

ATTRDavid Shankbone / CC BY-SA 3.0

Calhan’s calendar still carries that agricultural history. The El Paso County Fair began in 1905 as a potato bake and later became the county fair, with livestock, produce, rodeo, baseball, and local exhibits. Today the fairgrounds sit just south of town, and Calhan Summer Fest, the Homecoming Parade, and the Christmas Parade of Lights fill out the recurring calendar. Students attend Calhan School District RJ-1, while U.S. 24 connects the town west to Colorado Springs and east across the plains. Picture Calhan as a plains town where an 1888 water stop, a preserved depot, and a county fair still trace the layout.