# New Memphis

- URL: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/new-memphis/
- Also known as: Citadel station; the Independence colony
- Kind: Towns and settlements
- Status: Historic or vanished
- County: Douglas County, Colorado
- Point: 39.3913, -104.8491 (from a cited description (good to half a mile))
- Post office: New Memphis, 1872–1874

- Updated: 2026-10-06

## What we know

The 'city' of the 1871 Independence colony, at the D&RG's Citadel station: its streets 'are not yet lighted with gas!' (News, 1872). Thomas S. Harris kept the New Memphis Hotel (1872) and was 'the only occupant' by 1874; the town lost the county-seat contest to Castle Rock, its post office took the Castle Rock name May 18, 1874, and by 1891 it was 'a cornfield, the houses having been moved to the county seat' (Hall).

## Where it was

The corner where Secs. 35-36 of T7S R67W meet Secs. 1-2 of T8S R67W. Place Names of Colorado puts New Memphis in Sec. 2, T8S R67W and Citadel station, '1 mi N of Castle Rock', in Sec. 36, T7S R67W; T. S. Harris's estate land 'near New Memphis, some 2 miles north of Castle Rock' lay in Secs. 34-35, T7S R67W (Castle Rock Journal, Aug. 12, 1885). Good to about half a mile. Harris's obituary (1884) puts New Memphis 'about one and one-half miles below' Castle Rock, and Hall (1891) 'two miles from Castle Rock'; this corner is 1.4 miles north of downtown.

Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.

## Nearby

- [Castle Rock](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/castle-rock/): 1.4 mi south
- [Cedar Hill Cemetery](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/cedar-hill-cemetery/): 1.5 mi southwest
- [Madge Quarry](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/madge-quarry/): 3.3 mi south
- [Douglas](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/douglas/): 3.8 mi southwest
- [Pikes Peak Grange hall](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/pikes-peak-grange-hall/): 4.8 mi east
- [Franktown](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/franktown/): 5.1 mi east

Source numbers (S-0000) refer to https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/. Compiled by Michael Christensen for Palmer Divide Research; CC BY 4.0.