WayfarrowAble
Ghost town · Bent County, Colorado
Able is a ghost town in Bent County, Colorado, recorded as extinct town. It is the only former community in Bent County recorded on the federal names register, out of 185 across Colorado.
The U.S. Geological Survey lists Able as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 38.0606° N, 102.8696° W.
Key facts
| Elevation | 3,782 ft |
|---|---|
| Nearest living town | McClave, CO |
| Distance to it | 5 miles |
| Coordinates | 38.06056, -102.86964 |
Then and now
Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.
Left: Prowers quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1953, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.
What's there now
Able is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is McClave, CO (population 74), about 5 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 3,782 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.
Nearby places
- Old Fort Bentghost town · Otero County · 30.5 mi
- Brookfieldghost town · Baca County · 32.3 mi
- Wikidata — Wikidata item (CC0)
- Wikidata — Wikipedia article (linked as a source; text not used) (CC0)
- U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line and ACS — Census Gazetteer + ACS 5-year population (public-domain)
Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-06.