Facts about Denver

Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading.

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.

RTD 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.

Metro Denver’s unemployment rate averaged 4.9 percent through the first nine months of 2008, compared to 3.8 percent in the same months of 2007.

Consider the diagram above, which traces the distribution of chromosomes during mitosis.

The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

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.

Many Denver residents spend the weekends in the mountains; either skiing in the winter or hiking, climbing, kayaking, and camping in the summer.

Denver International Airport, commonly known as DIA, serves as the primary airport for a large region surrounding Denver.

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.

The City and County of Denver has defined 79 official neighborhoods that the city and community groups use for planning and administration.

When Denver was founded in 1858, the city was little more than a dusty collection of buildings on a long, grassy plain with a few contorted cottonwood and willow trees on riverbanks.

Recent Census figures show that 34.4 percent of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race, giving Denver one of the highest populations of Hispanics or Latinos in the United States.

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.

Greenprint Denver outlines a series of goals that target key natural resources needing immediate action, along with long-term objectives that are focused around Denver Parks and Recreation's Master Plan.

The Dragon Boat Festival in July, Moon Festival in September, and Chinese New Year are annual events in Denver for the Chinese and Asian residents.

Denver's homeless population is considerably lower than many other major cities, but Denver's winters can have brief periods of cold temperatures and varying amounts of snow.

Denver's many colleges and universities range in age and study programs.

Denver has a semi-arid climate with four distinct seasons.

When the price of oil dropped from $34 a barrel in 1981 to $9 a barrel in 1986 the Denver economy dropped with it, leaving almost 15,000 oil industry workers in the area unemployed.

On August 1, 1876, Denver became the state capital when Colorado was admitted to the Union.

The site of these first towns is now Confluence Park in downtown Denver.

Spring brings with it significant changes as Denver can be affected by air masses on all sides.

Denver's early years as a major train hub of the West are still very visible today.

Denver's position near the mineral-rich Rocky Mountains encouraged mining and energy companies to spring up in the area.

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.

Energy and mining are still important in Denver's economy, with companies such as EnCana, Halliburton, Smith International, Rio Tinto Group, Newmont Mining, Noble Energy, and Anadarko.

In 2005, Denver became the first major city in the U.S. to make the private use of less than an ounce of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older.

Many of Denver's parks were acquired in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Denver has a strong mayor/weak city council government.

Denver is home to many sports teams and belongs to a select group of U.S. cities with teams from four major sports.

The office of Denver's mayor has been occupied by a Democrat since 1963.

Denver's geographic location also benefits the telecommunications industry by allowing communication with both North American coasts, South America, Europe, and Asia in the same business day.

Well-known folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, and John Denver lived in Denver in the 1960s and 1970s and performed at local clubs.

The Denver area is home to the former nuclear weapons plant Rocky Flats and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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.

Denver's elevation also enables it to be the largest city in the U.S. to offer a "one-bounce" real-time satellite uplink to six continents in the same business day.

The Denver City Council is elected from 11 districts with two at-large council-members and is responsible for passing and changing all laws, resolutions, and ordinances, usually after a public hearing.

In 1865, Denver City became the territorial capital.

Denver is located in the center of the Front Range Urban Corridor, between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the High Plains to the east.

Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Denver also hosts two of the largest Hispanic celebrations in the nation, known to locals as Cinco de Mayo, occurring in May, and El Grito de la Independencia, which takes place in September.

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 city is shielded from precipitation for much of the season.

Qwest Communications, Dish Network Corporation, Starz-Encore, DIRECTV, and Comcast are just a few of the telecommunications companies with operations in the Denver area.

Measurable amounts of snow have fallen in the Denver area as late as early June and as early as September.

Denver City was founded in November 1858 as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in what was then the western Kansas Territory.

Denver is also approximately halfway between the large cities of the Midwest, like Chicago and St. Louis, and the cities of the West Coast, another benefit for distribution.

Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile, or 5,280 feet (1,609 m), above sea level.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in Denver was -39°F (-39.5°C) in 1875.

Denver mayor Robert Speer (1904-1912 and 1916-1918) set out to expand and beautify the city's parks, using landscape architects to design not only parks such as Civic Center Park, but many city parkways.

Denver's economy is based partially on its geographic position and its connection to some of the major transportation systems of the country.

Mass transportation throughout the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area is managed and coordinated by the Regional Transportation District (RTD).

Larimer named the town site Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver.

Geography also allows Denver to have a considerable government presence, with many federal agencies based or having offices in the Denver area.

Denver is also home to the Colorado Avalanche, a National Hockey League team that relocated from Quebec City in 1995.

A ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, subsequent legislation, and a referendum delayed the creation of the City and County of Denver until November 15, 1902.

Denver was once a major trading center for beef and livestock; ranchers from all around the High Prairie would drive (or later transport) cattle to the Denver Union Stockyards for sale.

The population of the City and County of Denver was 588,349 on July 1, 2007, making it the 26th most populous U.S. city.

Over the years, the city has been home to other large corporations in the central United States, making Denver a key trade point for the country.

Denver hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention, coincidentally on the centennial of the city's hosting of the 1908 Democratic Convention.

Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States.

In 2007, their late-season winning streak saw them advance to and win the National League Championship Series and bring the World Series to Denver for the first time.

Denver Public Schools (DPS) is the public school system in Denver.

Denver offers ready access to the Rocky Mountains, only 15 miles (24 km) to the west.