Special districts date back to the early mining camps in Colorado. As the camps grew, the residents sought mechanisms to join together to provide certain essential services such as fire protection and sewer service.

Colorado special districts have been instrumental in providing public infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the state’s population in the face of increasing demands placed on cities and counties to keep up with the needs for urban services.

Although special districts already existed, the legal structure was recognized by an authorizing act of the Colorado General Assembly in 1949, recognizing special districts as a form of local government created to provide certain municipal-type services in unincorporated or rural areas of the state. The General Assembly declared that special local government service districts could be created to provide necessary and desired services within designated boundaries.

With the creation of special districts, common issues and concerns were soon identified, and the Special District Association (SDA) was formed in 1975 to serve the interests of all forms of special district governments.

Over the last 35 years, the Special District Association has grown substantially because the number of special districts formed in Colorado has increased. Currently there are more than 1,800 special districts in Colorado. More than 1,300 of those districts are members of the Special District Association.