Eaton, Colorado

The town is named after Benjamin Harrison Eaton, a pioneer of irrigation who played a leading role in transforming the arid prairie of the Great Plains east of Colorado’s Front Range into a thriving agricultural region with water brought from the nearby Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. Much of the farming country around Eaton, Colorado continues to depend on the irrigation systems engineered by Eaton and others to this day. Eaton later served as Governor of Colorado from 1885 to 1887. The town of Eaton was incorporated in 1892. Eaton was first named Eatonton to avoid conflict with the Easton post office in El Paso county. When Easton had changed its name to Eastonville, the last syllable of Eatonton was dropped, and the town has since been known as Eaton.

The first citizens of Eaton began to settle in 1880. One of the only occupations available was working on irrigation ditches from Eaton to Greeley.

On September 28, 1892, a petition was submitted to the county judge signed by 36 residents requesting that Eaton be incorporated, including Benjamin Eaton himself. The county judge ordered that an election be held to decide whether or not the remaining residents desired Eaton to be incorporated. 50 votes were cast and every one of them were in support of incorporation. Eaton’s incorporation was effected October 27, 1892.

Eaton is a Statutory Town in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The population was 4,567 at the 2010 census.

Incorporated (town): December 5, 1892
Zip code: 80615