Atwood, Colorado was recognized as a town before Logan County was establised.
The first permanent resident of Logan County, Billy Hadfield, settled on an island in the river a few miles northeast of Atwood in 1841. There is a marker on U.S. Highway 6, 3.3 miles northeast of Atwood, indicating the location. By the 1880s a community had grown up at the present site and a town was platted in 1885. When Logan County was established in 1887 the town was hoping to become the county seat, and laid a foundation for a courthouse. When Sterling was chosen instead, the foundation was used to build the Atwood School. This same foundation now supports a large home on the north side of West Victor Avenue.
Old buildings to see in Atwood are the home of Annie Williams, town nurse, at the corner of Henry Avenue and 7th Street, the old Methodist Church at Henry Avenue and 4th Street built in the 1920s, but now remodeled into a private home. Also look for the old Atwood Mercantile at the corner of 5th Street and Highway 6.
At its height in 1928, Atwood had two doctors, a grain elevator, garage, sugar beet dump, a pickle receiving station, two lumber yards, two mercantile, two pool halls, post office, telephone exchange, depot, two churches and a hotel. A Jewish cemetery was located behind the old school.
Atwood was named by Victor Wilson for his minister Reverand John S. Atwood of Boston, Massachusetts.
