Table Rock, Colorado

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Early El Paso County Colorado map. Table Rock was located northwest of Gwillimville and east of Palmer Lake, in the area of Black Forest.

Table Rock was a settlement in northern El Paso County, Colorado, east of Palmer Lake and Monument. It had a rural post office from 1873 to 1893.[1][2]

Native Americans traversed through the Palmer Divide, including Table Rock, where evidence of a grave was found on the Table Rock formation, a medicine wheel was found, as well as arrowheads. The tribes that traveled through the area included the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa.[2]

Patrick Murphy came to Table Rock in 1870, homesteaded the land, built a solid-enduring log cabin, and established a farm and ranch of 1,160 acres.[3] Benjamin G. Norvell homesteaded at Table Rock in 1873.[4] J.G. Evans homesteaded at Table Rock in 1884 and established a ranch of 1,750 acres.[5] One of the early families to settle in the area were Eva and Thomas Thompson, who came across the plains in a covered wagon in 1890. They had a ranch at Table Rock. Another was Lou Stepler, a potato farmer.[2]

The first country schoolhouse of El Paso County was built in the settlement.[6] In 1918, a severe flu epidemic hit the area and for the community's safety families often did not hold funerals or held private funerals.[2]

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References[edit]

  1. ^ "Place Names of Colorado" (PDF). Denver Public Library. p. 620. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Communities of the Palmer Divide. Arcadia Publishing. 2011. pp. 12, 109, 122. ISBN 978-0-7385-8190-3.
  3. ^ Wilbur Fiske Stone (1919). History of Colorado. S. J. Clarke. p. 376.
  4. ^ Wilbur Fiske Stone (1919). History of Colorado. S. J. Clarke. p. 401.
  5. ^ Wilbur Fiske Stone (1919). History of Colorado. S. J. Clarke. pp. 393–397.
  6. ^ Wilbur Fiske Stone (1919). History of Colorado. S. J. Clarke. p. 561.

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