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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Breen ...

Breen is located in La Plata County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Breen, you might consider that their post office opened in 1901.

From Place Names in Colorado,<2> the origin of Breen is described as "Named for Dr. Thomas Breen, superintendent of the Fort Lewis Indian School."

Breen is 7,340 feet [2,237 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Breen is about 1½ mile [or ~2¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Breen lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Breen: 970 & 748<4>

Communities near Breen ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Breen.

  • Durango
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Mancos
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Mancos is located in Montezuma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mancos
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,398 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mancos <5>
  • Hesperus
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Marvel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Carbon Junction
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Carbon Junction is located in La Plata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon Junction
  • Bondad
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Bondad is located in La Plata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondad
  • Florida
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Florida is located in La Plata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florida
  • La Plata
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Hermosa
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hermosa is located in La Plata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermosa
  • Gem Village
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Gem Village is located in La Plata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gem Village

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Breen. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Breen.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Breen. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Breen.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Breen. See our Newspapers Page for Breen.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Breen ...

Looking for more information about Breen? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Breen, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Breen.

Adding Breen to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Breen in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Breen was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Breen post office opened in 1901. The Breen post office closed in 1954.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Breen.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Colorado's counties, including La Plata, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Breen - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 970 code has been Overlayed with the 748 area code. New phone numbers in the Breen area will be assigned with one of these codes: 970 or 748. As a result, placing a call in the Breen area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/