Welcome to Ridgway ...

The town of Ridgway is located in Ouray County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Ridgway, you might get a feel for it by knowing that during our research the earliest mention that we found (so far) was in a book dated 1895.

From Place Names in Colorado,<2> the origin of Ridgway is described as "Named for Robert M. Ridgway, Superintendent of the Mountain Division of the Denver and Rio Grande R.R. in 1891."

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Ridgway has a population of 1,036 people<3> (see below for details).

Ridgway is 6,960 feet [2,121 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the altitude of Ridgway is about 1¼ mile [or ~2¼ km] above sea level.

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

The telephone area code for Ridgway: (970)

The ZIP code for Ridgway: 81432<5>

Websites for Ridgway ...

Official Website: https://ridgwaycolorado.com/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Ridgway had an population of 1,036 people. This is an increase of 12.12% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 45.3% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Ridgway had a population of 924 people (which is 20.83% of the total population of Ouray County). This makes Ridgway the county's 2nd most populous community.

The population of Ridgway represents 0.02% of the population of Colorado (which has 5,029,196 people), making it the state's 149th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 924 people, the population of Ridgway increased 29.59% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 713 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Ridgway.

Communities Also Named Ridgway ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 3 communities that are also named Ridgway - they are located in Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Ridgway.

Communities near Ridgway ...

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

• Telluride
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Telluride
  • Telluride is located in San Miguel County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,416 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Telluride <6>
• Mountain Village
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain Village have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Village
  • Mountain Village is located in San Miguel County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,470 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mountain Village <6>
• Ouray
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ouray
  • Ouray is located in Ouray County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,046 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ouray <6>
• Sawpit
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawpit
  • Sawpit is located in San Miguel County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 38 people
  • Sawpit has also been known as:
  • Saw Pit
• Eldredge
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldredge
  • Eldredge is located in Ouray County
• Colona
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colona
  • Colona is located in Ouray County
• San Miguel ‑ Historic
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguel
  • San Miguel is located in San Miguel County
• Tomboy ‑ Historic
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tomboy have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomboy
  • Tomboy is located in San Miguel County
• Keystone ‑ Historic
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Keystone is located in San Miguel County
• Liberty Bell ‑ Historic
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Bell
  • Liberty Bell is located in San Miguel County

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 Ridgway. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Ridgway.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Ridgway. 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 Ridgway.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Ridgway. Our list includes 5 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Ridgway.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Ridgway ...

Looking for more information about Ridgway? 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.

In addition to the Tourism page for Ridgway, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Ridgway.

Adding Ridgway to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Ridgway 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 for Ridgway was in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

We also found Ridgway on a map (with an unknown title) dated 1939.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Ridgway.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Ridgway: https://ridgwaycolorado.com/

The official website for Ouray County: www.co.ouray.co.us/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/