A Brief History of Denver, Colorado

Denver at Nighttime

If you want to know more about the city of Denver, you will find a lot out there on the web.  This is going to be a quick page on the history of Denver, Colorado…  for those who are interested.

There are 598,000 people who live in Denver right now, according to the 2008 Census Bureau.  If you look at the Front Range Business Cooridor, there are about 4.5 million people in that area.  A pretty big city considering its humble beginnings!

The City of Denver was founded in 1858 (wow, just a mere 150 years ago!) Larimer, where we get the names of Larimer Square, Larimer Street and Larimer Park was a land speculator who named his stake Denver hoping to preferential treatment by Kansas Teritorial Governor James W Denver (not John Denver)…   Anyway, Denver was a settlement town due to the great Gold Rush and there were all of the seedy elements that go along with the mining and logging lifestyles.

With notorious gansters such as Soapy Smith, Denver had to struggle much to gain prominence as a city where honest people could make a living.  One of the interesting historical facts is Denver has been the only city to be chosen to host an Olympic Games and have turned it down.

Currently Denver has 79 different neighborhoods.  According to Wikipedia, here is the listing.

• Alamo Placita
• Athmar Park
• Auraria
• Baker
• Barnum
• Barnum West
• Bear Valley
• Belcaro
• Berkeley
• Burns Brentwood
• Byers
• Capitol Hill
• Central Business District
• Chaffee Park
• Cheesman Park
• Cherry Creek
• City Park
• City Park West
• Civic Center
• Clayton
• Cole
• College View
• Congress Park
• Cory-Merrill
• Country Club
• Crestmoor
• Curtis Park
• Denver International Airport
• East Colfax
• East Highlands
• Elyria-Swansea
• Five Points
• Fort Logan
• Gateway
• Globeville
• Golden Triangle
• Goldsmith
• Green Valley Ranch
• Hale
• Hampden
• Hampden Heights
• Hampden South
• Harvey Park
• Harvey Park South
• Highland
• Hilltop
• Indian Creek
• Jefferson Park
• Kennedy
• Lincoln Park
• LoDo
• Lowry
• Mar Lee
• Marston
• Mayfair
• Montbello
• Montclair
• North Capitol Hill
• North Park Hill
• Northeast Park Hill
• Overland
• Park Hill
• Parkfield
• Platt Park
• Regis
• Rosedale
• Ruby Hill
• Skyland
• Sloan’s Lake
• South Park Hill
• South Platte
• Southmoor Park
• Speer
• Stapleton
• Sun Valley
• Sunnyside
• Union Station
• University
• University Hills
• University Park
• Valverde
• Villa Park
• Virginia Village
• Washington Park
• Washington Park West
• Washington-Virginia Vale
• Wellshire
• West Colfax
• West Highlands
• Westwood
• Whittier
• Windsor

With all of these options, moving to Denver, Colorado or at least visiting needs to be a priority!