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Denver
History
Denver, the Mile High city at the base of
the Rocky Mountains
Denver City was founded in November of 1858
as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush
in western Kansas Territory. That summer, a
group of gold prospectors from Lawrence, Kansas,
arrived and established Montana City on the
banks of the South Platte River. This was the
first settlement in what was later to become the
city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however,
and was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named
after the gold-mining town of Auraria, Georgia)
and St. Charles City by the summer of 1859. The
Montana City site is now Grant-Frontier Park and
includes mining equipment and a log cabin
replica.
On November 22, 1858, General William Larimer, a
land speculator from eastern Kansas, placed
cottonwood logs to stake a claim on the hill
overlooking the confluence of the South Platte
River and Cherry Creek, across the creek from
the existing mining settlement of Auraria.
Larimer named the town site Denver City to curry
favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W.
Denver. Larimer hoped that the town's name would
help make it the county seat of Arapaho County,
but ironically Governor Denver had already
resigned from office.
The location was accessible to existing trails
and was across the South Platte River from the
site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne and
Arapaho. The site of these first towns is now
the site of Confluence Park in downtown Denver.
Larimer, along with associates in the St.
Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the
town to merchants and miners, with the intention
of creating a major city that would cater to new
emigrants. Denver City was a frontier town, with
an economy based on servicing local miners with
gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading.
In the early years, land parcels were often
traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners
in Auraria.
The Colorado Territory was created on February
28, 1861, Arapahoe County was formed on November
1, 1861, and Denver City was incorporated on
November 7, 1861. Denver City served as the
Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until
consolidation in 1902. In 1865, Denver City
became the Territorial Capital. With its
new-found importance, Denver City shortened its
name to just Denver. On August 1, 1876, Denver
became the State Capital when Colorado was
admitted to the Union.
Between 1880-1895 the city experienced a huge
rise in city corruption, as crime bosses, such
as Soapy Smith, worked side-by-side with elected
officials and the police to control the
elections, gambling, and the bunko gangs. In
1887, the precursor to the international charity
United Way was formed in Denver by local
religious leaders who raised funds and
coordinated various charities to help Denver's
poor. By 1890, Denver had grown to be the second
largest city west of Omaha, but by 1900 it had
dropped to third place behind San Francisco and
Los Angeles.
In 1901 the Colorado General
Assembly voted to split Arapahoe County into
three parts: a new consolidated City and County
of Denver, a new Adams County, and the remainder
of the Arapahoe County to be renamed South
Arapahoe County. A ruling by the Colorado
Supreme Court, subsequent legislation, and a
referendum delayed the creation of the City and
County of Denver until 1902-11-15. Denver hosted
the 1908 Democratic National Convention to
promote the city's status on the national
political and socio-economic stage.
Early in the 20th century, Denver, like many
other cities, was home to a pioneering brass age
automobile company; Colburn was copied from the
contemporary Renault.
Beat icon Neal Cassady was raised on Larimer
Street in Denver, and a portion of Jack
Kerouac's beat masterpiece On the Road takes
place in the city, and is based on the beat's
actual experiences in Denver during a road trip.
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg lived for a time in a
basement apartment on Grant Street (no longer
standing), and Kerouac briefly owned a home in
the Denver suburb of Lakewood in the late spring
and summer of 1949. In addition, Ginsberg helped
found the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied
Poetics at Naropa," in nearby Boulder at the
Buddhist college Naropa University, then Naropa
Institute.
Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter
Olympics to coincide with Colorado's centennial
celebration, but Colorado voters struck down
ballot initiatives allocating public funds to
pay for the high costs of the games, so the
games were moved to Innsbruck, Austria. The
notoriety of becoming the only city ever to
decline to host an Olympiad after being selected
has made subsequent bids difficult. The movement
against hosting the games was based largely on
environmental issues and was led by then State
Representative Richard Lamm, who was
subsequently elected to three terms (1974-1986)
as Colorado governor.
Denver has also been known historically as the
Queen City of the Plains because of its
important role in the agricultural industry of
the plains regions along the foothills of the
Colorado Front Range. Several US Navy ships have
been named USS Denver in honor of the city.
Geography
Denver is located at
39°44′21″N, 104°59′05″W in the center of the
Front Range Urban Corridor, between the Rocky
Mountains to the west and the High Plains to the
east. According to the United States Census
Bureau, the city has a total area of 154.9
square miles (401.3 km²), of which 1.6 square
miles (4.1 km²), or 1.03%, is water. The City
and County of Denver is surrounded by only three
other counties: Adams County to the north and
east, Arapahoe County to the south and east, and
Jefferson County to the west.
Denver Climate / Weather
Denver has a semi-arid climate with four
distinct seasons. While Denver is located on the
Great Plains, the weather of the city and
surrounding area is heavily influenced by the
proximity of the Rocky Mountains to the west.
The climate, while generally mild compared to
the mountains to the west and the plains further
east, can be very unpredictable. Measurable
amounts of snow have fallen in the Denver area
as late as early June and as early as September.
The average temperature in Denver is 50.1 °F
(10.1 °C), and the average yearly precipitation
is 15.81 inches (40.2 cm). The season's first
snowfall generally occurs around October 19, and
the last snowfall is about April 27, averaging
54.9 inches (156 cm) of seasonal accumulation.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration records an annual average of
sunshine during 69 percent of all possible
daylight hours.
Denver's winters can vary from mild to cold,
and although large amounts of snow can fall on
the mountains just west of the city, the effects
of orographic lift dry out the air passing over
the Front Range, shielding the city from
precipitation for much of the season.
Additionally, warm chinook winds occasionally
occur as air passing over the mountains heats as
it descends, quickly melting snow accumulations
and making Denver's winters milder than areas
without this effect. The coldest temperature
ever recorded in Denver was recorded on January
9, 1875 at -39 °F (-39.5 °C), though the last
time Denver recorded a temperature below -20 °F
(-29 °C) was during February 2007, when the low
temperature was -22 °F (-30 °C).
Spring brings with it significant changes as
Denver can be affected by air masses on all
sides. Arctic air from the north can often
combine with Pacific storm fronts bringing snow
to the city. In fact, March is Denver's snowiest
month, averaging 11.7 inches (29.7 cm) of snow.
Additionally, warm air from the Gulf of Mexico
can bring the first thunderstorms of the season,
and continental warm air can bring summer-like
warm and dry conditions.
Starting in mid-July, the monsoon brings
tropical moisture into the city and with it come
frequent short (and occasionally severe)
late-afternoon thunderstorms. However, despite
this tropical moisture, humidity levels during
the day generally remain low. The average high
during the summer is 88 °F (31 °C) and the
average low is 59 °F (15 °C). The hottest
temperature ever recorded in Denver is 104 °F
(40 °C) (National Weather Service).
In the autumn, the tropical monsoon flow
dies down and as Arctic air begins to approach,
it can combine with moisture from the Pacific
Northwest to bring significant snowfall to the
city – November is Denver's second snowiest
month, and Denver's greatest recorded snowfall
from a single storm, 45.7 inches (116 cm), fell
in late autumn from December 1 to December 6,
1913.
Denver Transportation
Highways
Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)
.
Road and Weather Conditions
(303-639-1111 nationwide or 511 within the
state )
Denver is primarily served by the interstate
highways I-25 and I-70. The intersection of the
two interstates is referred to locally as "the
mousetrap".
I 25 runs north-south from New Mexico through
Denver to Wyoming
I 225 traverses neighboring Aurora.
I-225 was designed to link Aurora with I-25 in
the southeastern corner of Denver, and
I-70 to the north of Aurora
I 70 runs east-west from Utah to Maryland.
I 76 begins from I-70 just west of the city in
Arvada. It intersects I-25 north of the city and
runs northeast to Nebraska where it ends at
I-80.
US 6 follows the alignment of 6th Avenue west of
I-25, and connects downtown Denver to the
west-central suburbs of Golden and Lakewood.
US 36 connects Denver to Boulder and Rocky
Mountain National Park near Estes Park.
Additionally, it runs to Delaware, Ohio to the
east, crossing 4 other states.
Denver also has a nearly complete beltway known
as "the 470's". These are SH 470 (also known as
C-470), a limited access state highway in the
southwest Metro area, and two toll highways,
E-470 (from southeast to northeast) and
Northwest Parkway (from terminus of E-470 to US
36)
A highway expansion and transit project for the
southern I-25 corridor, dubbed T-REX (TRansportation
EXpansion Project), was completed on November
17, 2006. The project installed wider and
additional highway lanes, and improved highway
access and drainage. The project also includes a
light rail line that traverses from downtown to
the south end of the metro area at Lincoln
Avenue. The project spanned almost 19 miles (31
km) along the highway with an additional line
traveling parallel to part of I-225, stopping
just short of Parker Road.
Mass Transportation
Denver RTD Light Rail car at 16th & Stout
Denver Union Station Mass transportation
throughout the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area
is managed and coordinated by the Regional
Transportation District (RTD). RTD currently
operates more than 1,000 buses serving over
10,000 bus stops in 38 municipal jurisdictions
in eight counties around the Denver-Aurora and
Boulder Metropolitan Areas.
Light Rail Additionally, RTD operates six
light rail lines, the C, D, E, F, G,and H with a
total of 34.9 miles (56 km) of track, serving 36
stations.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail
system, provides service to Denver, operating
its California Zephyr daily in both directions
between Chicago and Emeryville, California,
across the bay from San Francisco. Amtrak
Thruway service operated by private bus
companies links the Denver station with Rocky
Mountain points.
Denver's early years as a major train hub of
the west are still very visible today. Trains
stop in Denver at historic Union Station, where
travelers can access RTD's 16th Street Free
MallRide or use light rail to tour the city.
Union Station will also serve as the main
juncture for rail travel in the metro area, at
the completion of FasTracks.
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