Simla is a

statutory town In India, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), also called municipalities, are self-government institutions responsible for the administration of cities, towns, and transitional areas within a state or Union Territory. The 74th amendment to the Const ...

in Elbert County,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States. It is northeast of

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

. The population was 601 at the time of the 2020 United States census.

History

Simla was founded in 1909 by a man with the name of Altman. Simla was named because the daughter of a railroad official was reading a book about

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

when she came across the name,

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

. Settled in the 1880s, Simla was incorporated in 1912. The first newspaper was started in 1911. It was a center for the shipping of the area's potato harvest each year. Simla received national attention when it became the place where the first so-called "English Variant" of SARS-COV-2 (Covid-19 virus) was diagnosed in the United States.

Geography

Simla is located in southern Elbert County at (39.140746, -104.082836). It lies to the south of Big Sandy Creek, an east-flowing tributary of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 or U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926 which runs east and west for most of its routing. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Misso ...

passes through the town, leading southwest to Colorado Springs and northeast to Limon. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Simla has a total area of , all of it land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 663 people, 233 households, and 171 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 261 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 94.27%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.45%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.96% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 1.21% from other races, and 1.81% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.62% of the population. There were 233 households, out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.2% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.24. In the town, the population was spread out, with 32.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 16.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males. The median income for a household in the town was $31,382, and the median income for a family was $31,953. Males had a median income of $28,250 versus $21,458 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $13,099. About 10.3% of families and 17.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 26.0% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

Big Sandy High School

Big Sandy High School in Simla has a tradition of athletic success. The Simla Cubs have won 11 team state championships:Colorado High School Activities Association
5 football, 2 boys basketball, two girls basketball, two girls volleyball, and one boys track and field, as well as several individual state champions. Notable athletes from Simla include Glenn Morris, gold medal winner of the 1936 Olympic decathlon, as well as Barry Helton, former professional football player in the NFL.

References

External links

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CDOT map of Simla
{{authority control Towns in Elbert County, Colorado Towns in Colorado