Calhan

The Town of Calhan is a statutory town located in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Calhan has a population of 762

History

Calhan was established in 1888 as a water station for the now-defunct Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, with the first steam locomotive arriving on November 5, 1888. The town was named by and for Michael Calahan, who had the contract to lay railroad tracks from the Colorado/Kansas border to Colorado Springs. However, when the town's first U.S. Post Office opened on November 24, 1888, the middle "a" had been dropped and the town was registered as "Calhan." The town was incorporated as a statutory town in 1919. The town grew quickly, but it was not until 1906 that the Calhan Rock Island Railroad Depot was built to meet the growing needs of the area. Jesse N. Funk was a rancher in Calhan when the United States joined the First World War in 1917. Having enlisted in 1915, Private Funk was sent to France to support the Allied efforts at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. There on October 31, 1918, Funk rescued two wounded officers from no man's land while under machine gun fire, for which Funk received the Medal of Honor. In 1993, the Orthodox Church in America established the Protection of the Holy Virgin community, a female monastic community. Until they moved further west to Lake George in 1995, the monastics rented a home in Calhan.

Geography

Calhan is located at 39.0355°N 104.2972°W at an elevation of 6536 ft. It occupies .83 Square miles of land

Comment

Calhan is an interesting small town, the abandoned Calhan Motors builting is a well preserved building in town, and it speaks of previous brighter days.