Brief by Central Staff
Geography – February 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
A mountain town on the old Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad line has regained its old name.
The spot, on the west edge of Jefferson County, has for years been known as Pine. Its not on any major route now, but logically enough, you get on the road to Pine by turning southeast from U.S. 285 at Pine Junction.
The settlement it is not incorporated was platted as Pine Grove in 1886, but the Post Office would not allow them to use that name, fearing confusion since there was another town named Pine Grove.
So it became Pine, until Oct. 15 of last year, when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names officially changed the name back to Pine Grove.
That name precedes even the 1886 plat. The narrow-gauge Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad came through in 1878 and as railroads do, it named the sidings and stations. In 1885, Croffuts Grip Sack Guide to Colorado described a trip on that line:
Passing Dome rock, we are whirled along over a solid road bed, through and around the projecting mountain spurs, with rapid and ever-changing scenery on either side; two miles brings us to Vermillion; then two to Park Siding, or Last resort; three to Buffalo, three to Pine Grove, three to Hilderbrands, and three to Thompsons. The last six stations named above are of little interest to the traveler, being for the accommodation of wood choppers and lumbermen in the vicinity.
As for the Post Office insisting on a name change back then, it was not unusual. St. Elmo, for instance, started out as Forest City, but changed its name at postal insistence because there was already a Forest City.
Salida was christened South Arkansas by the railroad when it named sidings and junctions, but there was already a South Arkansas post office (essentially, Poncha Springs), so the local post office was just Arkansas little wonder that people wanted one name that would cover the community, the railroad station, and the post office.
Back to Pine Grove. The Geographic Board may have approved the name change, but the U.S. Postal Service still lists it as Pine CO 80470.
