# Monument Rock

- URL: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/monument-rock/

- Kind: Landmark rocks, buttes and mountains
- Status: Living today
- County: El Paso County, Colorado
- Point: 39.0881, -104.9044 (USGS GNIS point for the feature itself (a few hundred feet))

- Updated: 2026-10-07

## What we know

Sandstone pillar west of Monument, the formation the town is named for: when the Rio Grande came through in 1871, 'the railroad and Henry Limbach changed the name to Monument after the beautiful rock formation to the west,' which 'stands high and can be plainly seen from the town' (Lavelett, S-0011, p. 7; her cover photo of about 1885 is captioned the same way). The post office had been called Monument since April 1869 (p. 32), so the name was in use before the railroad. The Monument Nursery of 1907 stood 'at Monument Rock' by the 1976 survey's description (S-0101), 'at the foot of Mount Herman' by Carrigan's, and the Civilian Conservation Corps camp F-60-C worked 'in the shadow of Monument Rock' from 1933 to 1942 (Carrigan, S-0034). The town flag designed for the Bicentennial shows Monument Rock against Mount Herman (Case, S-0110).

## Where it was

USGS GNIS pillar 'Monument Rock', El Paso County (2021 Colorado file, S-0007). Good to a few hundred feet.

## Sources

- S-0006: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0006
- S-0007: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0007
- S-0011: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0011
- S-0034: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0034
- S-0101: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0101
- S-0110: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0110

## Nearby

- [Monument Nursery](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/monument-nursery/): 0.2 mi south
- [Mount Herman](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/mount-herman/): 1.3 mi west
- [Hanks and Doyle icehouses, Monument Lake](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/hanks-and-doyle-icehouses-monument-lake/): 1.4 mi east
- [Rio Grande cattle pens, Monument](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/rio-grande-cattle-pens-monument/): 1.6 mi east
- [Limbach Park](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/limbach-park/): 1.6 mi east
- [McShane's stone fort](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/mcshanes-stone-fort/): 1.6 mi east

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