History of Denver facts for kids
The History of Denver tells the story of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It covers everything from its start in 1858 to today. Since the gold rush, Denver has been Colorado's main city and a key entry point. Located where the plains meet the mountains, Denver has connected different parts of the state. It also serves as a link between Colorado and the rest of the world. As the state's capital and biggest city, Denver has always been a center for important decisions. New ideas and programs often spread from Denver's public and private groups.
Denver's Early Days: The 1800s
Gold Rush and First Towns
Before the late 1850s, the Denver area, part of the Territory of Kansas, had very few people. Gold seekers would sometimes visit, then move on. In July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small amount of gold near Little Dry Creek. This was the first important gold discovery in the Rocky Mountains. News spread fast, and by autumn, hundreds of men were digging along the South Platte River. By spring 1859, thousands of gold seekers arrived, starting the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Over the next two years, about 100,000 people came to the area looking for gold.
In the summer of 1858, a group from Lawrence, Kansas, started Montana City. This was on the banks of the South Platte River (now Grant-Frontier Park). It was the first settlement in what would become the Denver Metropolitan Area. But miners found little gold, so most settlers moved north. They went to where the South Platte River and Cherry Creek meet. There, they formed a new town called St. Charles. This spot was easy to reach by existing trails. It had also been a seasonal camp for the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
In October 1858, five weeks after St. Charles was founded, the town of Auraria was started. William Greeneberry Russell and settlers from Georgia founded it on the south side of Cherry Creek. Named after a gold mining town in Auraria, Georgia, it offered free land to anyone who would build and live there. By January 1859, Auraria had a post office and 50 cabins.
Soon after, a third town, Highland, was founded on the west side of the South Platte River. It was surrounded by steep hills and separated by the river. This made it slow to grow.
How Denver City Began
In November 1858, General William Larimer and Captain Jonathan Cox arrived. They were land investors from eastern Kansas Territory. Larimer looked at the Auraria area but wasn't happy with it. He moved to a new spot and set up a campfire with four cottonwood poles. This created the first "Larimer Square." He claimed a square mile of land where St. Charles had been, across the creek from Auraria. Most St. Charles settlers had gone back to Kansas for winter, leaving only a few to guard their claim. Larimer and his group convinced these guards to give up the land.
The new site was named "Denver City" after Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped this would make the city the county seat of Arapaho County, Kansas. But, when Larimer named the city, Governor Denver had already resigned. So, he had no say in naming the capital.
Denver started as a mining town. Gold seekers would pan for gold in Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. Larimer and his partners in the Denver City Land Company planned the roads. They sold land to merchants and miners, hoping to create a big city for new immigrants. At first, land was often traded for supplies or gambled away. But miners soon found that the gold in these streams was not much and ran out quickly. When rich gold was found in the mountains west of Denver in early 1859, it looked like Denver City might become a ghost town. However, the gold rush created a huge need for supplies that couldn't be made locally. This secured Denver's future as a supply center for the new mines.
Before the gold rush, there was little trade in the Denver area. Early explorers like Pike and Long called the plains the "Great American Desert." This discouraged people from moving there. Still, frontier posts and forts traded with Native Americans and frontiersmen. But the closest major trade routes, the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, were far away. Until a permanent trade route was set up, locals had to rely on what new immigrants brought.
Auraria and Denver began to compete for businesses and control of the area. Auraria took an early lead with the first saloon, smithery, and carpentry shop. But in May 1859, Denver City gave 53 land lots to the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express. This secured the region's first overland wagon route. The Express offered daily service for "passengers, mail, freight, and gold." It reached Denver on a trail that cut travel time to as few as six days. With supplies coming to the Denver side of Cherry Creek, businesses also started moving there. By June, Auraria had 250 buildings, and Denver had 150. Both cities were growing fast. This growth led to a need for a wider government.
Colorado Becomes a Territory
Denver, Auraria, and the land west to the Continental Divide were part of Arapahoe County. This county covered the entire western part of the Kansas Territory. When Arapahoe County was created in 1855, it was mostly home to Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, with only a few white settlers. So, the county government was never fully set up. With no local government and leaders in Kansas busy with the violent events of Bleeding Kansas, little attention was paid to Arapahoe County. Even the United States Congress was focused on threats of states leaving the Union. Also, the gold fields were spreading beyond Kansas Territory. Because of their importance, people started calling for a new territory or state.
On October 24, 1859, an election was held to form a temporary government for the goldfields. The creation of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was approved. The elected Governor of the Territory of Jefferson, Robert Williamson Steele, held the first meeting of the Jefferson Territorial Legislature in Denver City on November 7, 1859. But Congress, busy with debates over slavery, did not approve the new territory. The election of Abraham Lincoln as President ended any chance for the Territory of Jefferson to be recognized by the federal government.
To increase the political power of the free states, the Republican-led Congress quickly made the eastern part of the Territory of Kansas a free state. This happened on January 29, 1861, when it became the State of Kansas. Kansas statehood left the western part of the now-gone Kansas Territory, which Jefferson Territory also claimed, officially unorganized.
On February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed a law creating the free Territory of Colorado. President Abraham Lincoln appointed William Gilpin of Missouri as the first Governor of the Territory of Colorado. He arrived in Denver City on May 29, 1861. On June 6, 1861, Governor Steele announced that the Territory of Jefferson was dissolved. He urged everyone to follow U.S. laws.
The Colorado General Assembly first met on September 9, 1861. On November 1, 1861, they created 17 counties for the territory. This included a new Arapahoe County with Denver City as its seat. The legislature approved combining Denver, Auraria, and Highland into Denver City on November 7, 1861. This helped manage the fast-growing cities better.
Denver City was the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until it became its own county in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the Territorial Capital. With its new importance, Denver City shortened its name to just Denver. On August 1, 1876, Denver became the temporary state capital when Colorado joined the Union. A statewide vote in 1881 made Denver the permanent state capital.
Challenges in the 1860s
Before 1861, Denver was technically part of Arapahoe County, Kansas. But because the county was never properly set up, there were no government services. This led to personal fights and groups taking justice into their own hands. However, it also encouraged people to start new businesses. An English traveler, William Hepworth Dixon, once said that in Denver, "a man's life is of no more worth than a dog's." But he also saw "perseverance, generosity, [and] enterprise" in its people. After Colorado became a territory, courts were set up, judges were appointed, and laws were made. Still, mob justice was common.
The same year Colorado became a territory, the American Civil War began. Colorado was affected too. Most people in Denver were from the North and supported the Union. This caused many Southerners, including Denver's first mayor John C. Moore, to leave town. William Gilpin, Colorado's first territorial governor, organized Colorado's volunteer soldiers. He sent them south in February 1862 to fight Confederate Texans at the Battle of Glorieta Pass. With resources tied up in the war, there was little left for mines, farms, and buildings. Denver's growth slowed down.
Even though Denver was growing faster than most other Colorado cities and changing, it was still a frontier town. Churches often held services in public halls or saloons because they didn't have their own buildings. Children went to schools where parents paid, and teachers' skills were sometimes questionable. Gold mining declined as miners used up the easy-to-reach gold. They found that their machines couldn't get gold from deeper ores. Many people left Colorado. Those who stayed often struggled to find steady work during the economic slowdown.
Denver's early wooden buildings caught fire easily. On July 15, 1862, citizens formed a volunteer Fire Department. But almost a year later, fire carts and buckets were still on order, and firefighters were untrained. On April 19, 1863, a fire started in downtown Denver. Strong winds spread the flames, and in a few hours, most of the wooden buildings in the heart of Denver were destroyed. Losses were over $250,000. Even though the buildings weren't worth much, losing their contents hurt many new businesses. Because of the fire, new laws were passed. They banned using wood and other flammable materials for downtown buildings. Denver's new buildings were made of brick and were often bigger. As rebuilding continued, Denver started to look like a real town, not just a temporary camp.
On May 19, 1864, just over a year after the fire, melting snow and heavy rains caused severe flooding on Cherry Creek. The flood badly hit low-lying Auraria. It destroyed the Rocky Mountain News building, the Methodist Church, City Hall, and many offices and warehouses. Eight Denver residents died, and many animals drowned. Financial losses were about $350,000, leaving many people homeless. The water was very dirty and threatened a major disease outbreak. Despite these huge losses, rebuilding started almost right away. Many rebuilt in the flood plain, ignoring the risk. Floods hit Denver again in 1875, 1878, 1912, and 1933. Flooding finally stopped in the 1950s when the Army Corps of Engineers built Cherry Creek Dam.
The summer of 1865 saw attacks on supply trains and price increases due to market manipulation. In 1865, grasshoppers swarmed the area, eating all the plants. Real estate values dropped so low that whole blocks changed hands during poker games. The town's population shrank from 4,749 in 1860 to about 3,500 in 1866. Many of the original gold miners and town founders were among those who left.
By the mid-1860s, the Civil War was over, and Denver had survived many problems. The city began to grow again, ending the decade with a population of 4,759. With money becoming available after the war, new investments were possible. People in Denver started looking for the next step to grow their city. They wanted to make sure the transcontinental railroad would pass through Denver.
The Transcontinental Railroad Arrives
.jpg)
.jpg)
With new money flowing into Denver, transportation became a bigger concern. Moving goods to and from Denver was very expensive. Railroads could help reduce this cost. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act. People in Colorado were excited about the idea of the railroad crossing the Rocky Mountains through their state. This was despite earlier discouraging surveys by John C. Frémont and John Williams Gunnison. When the Union Pacific Railroad chose to go north through Cheyenne, Wyoming, many expected Cheyenne to become the main city in the region. Thomas Durant, vice president of the Union Pacific, even said Denver was "too dead to bury." Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans declared that "Colorado without railroads is comparatively worthless."
Because of this, Governor Evans and other local business leaders teamed up with investors from the East Coast. They formed a railroad company to connect Denver and the Colorado Territory with the national rail network. The company was officially started on November 19, 1867, as the "Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company." The urgency for Denver's supporters grew when a rival company formed. This was the Colorado, Clear Creek and Pacific Railway (later the Colorado Central Railroad), started by W.A.H. Loveland and people from nearby Golden. Their goal was to link Golden directly with Cheyenne, making Golden the territory's natural center.
Within a few days, the company sold $300,000 in stock. But they couldn't raise more money to start building. Their efforts seemed about to fail until Evans convinced Congress to give the company 900,000 acres of land. This was on the condition that the company build a line connecting the Union Pacific line in Wyoming with the existing Kansas Pacific line, which only went as far west as central Kansas.
Racing to beat the Golden investors, the company started building its Cheyenne line on May 18, 1868. It took about two years to finish. The first train from Cheyenne arrived in Denver on June 24, 1870. Two months later, in August 1870, the Kansas Pacific finished its line to Denver, and the first train arrived from Kansas. With the Kansas Pacific line reaching Denver, the Denver Pacific became a key part of the first transcontinental rail link between America's east and west coasts. The Union Pacific line had been declared finished in 1869 with the Golden spike event in Utah, connecting it with the Central Pacific Railroad. But passengers still had to get off the train and cross the Missouri River at Omaha by boat. With the Denver Pacific line finished, it was finally possible to get on a train on the East Coast and get off on the West Coast without changing.
The Denver Pacific's rival, the Colorado Central line from Golden, wasn't finished until 1877. By this time, Denver had already proven its importance over Golden. It was the main population center and capital city of the newly admitted State of Colorado. The railroad brought residents, tourists, and much-needed supplies. In the 1870s, it's thought that the railroad brought 100 new people to Denver every day. Population numbers show this: Denver's population jumped from 4,759 in 1870 to over 35,000 by 1880. Besides bringing new residents, it made Denver a tourist spot. It brought 1,067 visitors in its first month of operation. That first month also brought 13 million pounds of freight. Denver now had the people and supplies it needed to grow and become the most important city in the region.
Denver During the Silver Boom
Silver was found near Montezuma, Georgetown, Central City, and Idaho Springs in the mid-1860s. But mining largely waited until smelters (factories that extract metal from ore) were built in the late 1860s. Despite these early discoveries, Colorado's biggest silver area, Leadville, wasn't found until 1874. With silver mining in Colorado booming, much wealth came to Denver residents.
The city's economy became more stable. It was based on railroads, wholesale trade, manufacturing, food processing, and serving the growing farming and ranching areas. Between 1870 and 1890, manufacturing grew from $600,000 to $40 million. The population grew 20 times to 107,000. By 1890, Denver was the 26th largest city in America. It was also the fifth-largest city west of the Mississippi River. This fast growth brought both millionaires and their fancy homes, as well as poverty and crime.
From its start as a gold mining town to becoming a supplier of goods and services, Denver had always been a place where miners, workers, and travelers could spend their money. Saloons and gambling places quickly appeared after the city was founded. In 1859, the Apollo Hall theater opened. Over the years, other famous places followed, like the Denver Theatre, which hosted the city's first opera in 1864. The Broadway Theatre brought in famous international performers. But none was as fancy as the Tabor Grand Opera House, built in 1881.
Built by Horace Tabor with money he made from silver mining, the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver was said to be the most luxurious building and best-equipped theater between Chicago and San Francisco when it opened. It took up an entire city block. People claimed it single-handedly changed Denver's image from a frontier boomtown to a world-class city. The following years saw many other grand buildings go up. These included Union Station in 1881, the 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1892, and the Colorado State Capitol Building in 1894. Splendid homes for millionaires, like the Croke, Patterson, Campbell Mansion, were also built. The city was starting to look like a "big city."
The 1880s and 1890s saw both corruption and progress. Women's suffrage (the right for women to vote) came early, in 1893. It was led by married middle-class women who first organized for prohibition (banning alcohol). Then they fought for suffrage, aiming to improve society. The Social Gospel was a religious movement that wanted to fight injustice, suffering, and poverty. Protestants, Reform Jews, and Catholics helped build Denver's social welfare system in the early 1900s by helping the sick and hungry. Thomas Uzzel, leader of the Methodist People's Tabernacle, set up a free clinic, a job placement office, a summer camp, night schools, and English classes. The Baptist minister Jim Goodheart, city chaplain and public welfare director in 1918, set up a job office and provided food and lodging for the homeless at his mission. The United Way of America started in Denver. In 1887, church leaders began the Charity Organization Society, which coordinated services and fundraising for 22 agencies.
Around the same time, Colorado got the nickname "The World's Sanatorium." Its dry climate was thought to be good for curing breathing problems, especially tuberculosis. Many people came from the East Coast looking for a cure. They brought skills that helped Denver's industries grow. A number of Jewish people eventually built two well-known hospitals to care for their community: National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives (now National Jewish Health) and the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society.
Leaders wanted to make Denver one of the world's great cities. They attracted industries and workers to new factories. Soon, besides the wealthy and a large middle class, Denver had a growing population of German, Italian, and Chinese workers. African-Americans and Spanish-speaking workers followed. The city was not ready for this large number of new people. The Denver Depression of 1893 upset the political, social, and economic balance. This led to ethnic prejudice, like the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the Red Scare, as well as corruption and crime.
The Panic of 1893 and Home Rule
In 1893, a financial panic swept the nation, and the silver boom ended. Denver was already struggling economically due to several years of droughts and harsh winters that hurt farming. Farming problems, along with foreign investors pulling out and too much growth in silver mining, caused stock prices to fall, banks to close, businesses to fail, and many farms to stop operating. With no federal insurance to protect money in banks, many people lost their life savings. As Denver banks closed, real estate values dropped, smelters stopped working, and Denver Tramway had trouble getting people to ride and pay fares. The Union Pacific Railroad, which had taken over both the Denver Pacific and Kansas Pacific in the 1880s, went bankrupt.
National unemployment was estimated to be between 12% and 18% in 1894. Wages fell, and many severe strikes happened. A notable one in Colorado was the Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894, which lasted five months. As silver mines closed due to falling silver prices, unemployed miners and other workers from the Colorado mountains flooded into Denver hoping to find work. Because the city couldn't care for all the jobless, some train companies offered cheaper or free fares for people wanting to leave Denver. This helped people move out of the city, and Denver's population dropped from 106,000 in 1890 to 90,000 in 1895.
In 1893, the state legislature gave Denver a new municipal charter. This charter spread the mayor's powers among six different departments. Two were elected, two were chosen by the mayor, and the other two were chosen by the governor. This system gave political parties and corporations a lot of control. The board members chosen by the governor had full financial control over the police, fire, and excise (tax) departments. Over half of the city's spending went through this board, giving the governor and his party direct control over Denver.
Governor Davis Hanson Waite, elected in 1893 on a reform platform, tried to fix corruption in Denver in 1894. He tried to remove police and fire commissioners. But these officials refused to leave and were joined by others who felt their jobs were threatened. They barricaded themselves in City Hall. The state militia was sent to remove them. Federal troops from nearby Fort Logan were called in to stop the civil unrest. Eventually, Governor Waite agreed to pull back the militia and let the Colorado Supreme Court decide the case. The court ruled that the governor had the power to replace the commissioners, but he was criticized for bringing in the militia. This event became known as the "City Hall War."
The fact that the governor, elected by the whole state, had so much power over Denver's operations was not lost on the city's citizens. As the economy struggled, the new six-department system became less efficient and more divided. Voters became unhappy with the main political parties. In 1895, Denver elected its first non-partisan mayor, T. S. McMurray. He was reelected in 1897 but was defeated in 1899 by a "big mitt" campaign, which involved ballot-stuffing. Dissatisfaction with the main political parties that controlled the state legislature led to a "home rule" movement. In 1902, an amendment to the state constitution was passed. This allowed cities to adopt home rule, and Denver became a consolidated city-county.
The U.S. economy started to get better in 1897. While jobs slowly returned to Denver, real estate prices stayed low until 1900. Throughout the depression, agriculture was the one steady industry. Good irrigation and more diverse crops led to a stable food industry across the state. Without the jobs from food production and processing, the depression in Denver would have been much worse. Denver regained the population it lost during the depression, mainly by annexation (taking over) neighboring towns. It ended the century with a population of over 133,000.
Denver in the 1900s
The Progressive Era and Growth
.jpg)
The Progressive Era brought a focus on efficiency. In 1902, the city and Denver County were made the same. In 1904, Robert W. Speer was elected mayor. He started several projects that added new landmarks, updated old facilities, or improved the city's look. These included the City Auditorium, the Civic Center, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. City leaders went to Washington D.C. They convinced politicians that Denver was no longer a frontier town. This led to Denver hosting the first major political party convention in a western state, the 1908 Democratic National Convention.
Progressive ideas also led to the city buying the private Denver Union Water Company. Citizens complained about high prices for water. The company's owners and directors, like Walter Cheesman and David Moffat, were open to selling. But they couldn't agree on a price. The debate and court cases went on for years, even after Cheesman died in 1907 and Moffat in 1911. A price of almost $14 million was finally agreed upon. In November 1918, Denver voters approved a bond measure to buy the company's assets and form Denver Water.
Denver was a leader in the juvenile court movement under Judge Ben Lindsey. He became famous for his work. Thanks to his efforts, a law was passed creating a juvenile court in Denver. This was a big step forward in how the law treated children. In 1914, Emily Griffith, a Denver school teacher, opened the Opportunity School. It offered language and job training in both day and night classes. This gave non-traditional learners a chance to improve themselves. Also during this time, Denver's park system grew. Land in the mountains was bought for a future mountain park system. Cattle pens started appearing near railroad depots as farmers began shipping their livestock to meat-packing industries in Kansas City and Chicago. Local ranchers wanted to focus on raising cattle, not shipping them east. In 1906, the first National Western Stock Show was held. It quickly became the most important livestock show in the region. These events helped raise Denver's national profile and live up to its nickname, the "Queen City of the Plains."
Labor unions were active in Denver. Especially strong were construction and printing unions linked to the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and railroad worker groups. After being welcomed at the 1908 Democratic National Convention, the AFL unions generally supported Democratic candidates.
In 1913, the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), also known as the Wobblies, aimed to publicize the right of free speech. Organized protesters spoke out against restrictions in Denver, trying to fill the jails. The courts became so busy that they could only handle free speech cases. Taxpayers complained they were forced to feed "whole armies of jailed Wobblies." The IWW eventually won the right to speak to workers. Within a year, they had formed two branches in Denver.
Before World War I, people in Denver wanted to stay neutral. But once America entered the war in 1917, Denver helped with the war effort. Clothes and supplies were donated. Children joined farming and garden clubs to free up young men for the war. Mining and farming grew to support the troops and the nation. As prices for goods rose with war demand, farmers planted more crops. Mining companies opened new mines for molybdenum, vanadium, and tungsten.
With the United States fighting Germans in Europe in 1917-1918, anti-German feelings in Denver were very high. Before the war, Germans had been a very successful immigrant group. They often gathered in their own ethnic clubs. They had enough political power to get a law passed in 1877 that required German and gymnastics to be taught in public schools. Until 1889, all of Colorado's laws were printed in English, Spanish, and German. German stopped being taught in schools, and many Germans gave up their heritage to avoid problems.
The Great Depression Era
When World War I ended, the economy stayed strong for a short time. But with less demand for goods, prices dropped. There was a short economic slowdown in 1918, followed by a more serious one between 1920 and 1921. The mining industry was hit hard by falling prices and more foreign competition after the war. Coal mining in Colorado was especially affected as other types of fuel became popular, and worker strikes hurt production. In 1928, Denver received a major natural gas pipeline from Texas. As more homes and businesses switched to gas, the demand for coal fell even more.
From 1905 to 1929, Colorado had the longest recorded wet period in its history. This good weather, combined with war-time demand, led farmers to plant too much during World War I. Significant price drops after the war caused many farmers big losses. Costs started to be higher than profits, forcing many farmers to sell their land. This land was then rented out or simply left empty. Dryland farming was common on the prairies, but many farmers removed the native grasses that helped stop soil erosion. In 1929, the national economy crashed, leading to the Great Depression. In 1930, the weather turned dry, starting the longest and most widespread drought in Colorado history. This period became known as the "Dust Bowl." Dry weather, soil erosion, and a struggling economy caused huge social problems across the entire nation.
The Dust Bowl destroyed farming, and the Great Depression caused industries and mines to close, laying off workers. Many of these unemployed people came to Denver looking for work and a better life. It was estimated that in 1933, one in four Denver residents was out of work. The Hoover administration promised that the economic slowdown would end quickly. But the economy kept getting worse, and Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1932 presidential election with his promise of a "New Deal" (government programs to help the economy). The New Deal brought money and jobs to Colorado and Denver. The Historic American Buildings Survey hired architects and photographers to document historic buildings. This inspired the start of the historic preservation movement. The Civilian Conservation Corps built trails and campgrounds in Denver's Mountain Parks. The Works Progress Administration built roads, fixed schools, and paid artists to decorate government buildings. The new roads and trails encouraged tourism. Combined with improvements in rail and air travel, Denver became a transportation hub.
.jpg)
In the mid-1920s, Denver paid for the Moffat Tunnel through the Rocky Mountains. When it opened in 1928, it shortened the distance between Denver and the Pacific coast by 176 miles. The tunnel opened just as train travel was changing in the 1930s. The Burlington Railroad introduced the Zephyr in 1934. It made a record-breaking trip from Denver to Chicago in 13 hours and 5 minutes. It was a new diesel-powered train, sleek and fancy, that changed what people expected from train travel. Having a direct link to the west coast helped Denver compete against Cheyenne and Pueblo for train business. It quickly became a major hub for railways. Denver was hit on August 3, 1933, by a major flood of Cherry Creek after the Castlewood Dam failed.
Air travel was also improving around the same time. When Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton opened Denver Municipal Airport in 1929, some criticized it as a waste of taxpayer money for the wealthy who flew for fun. Built northeast of Denver, The Denver Post complained it was too far from the city center. They said the location was chosen to benefit the mayor's financial supporters. However, with four gravel runways, one hangar, and a terminal, others called it "the West's best airport." At the time, planes without pressurized cabins were normal. Transcontinental flights went through Cheyenne or south through Texas because the mountains were smaller there. Denver Municipal Airport was mainly used for mail service and private pilots. As pressurized planes became common, the mountains were no longer an issue. The advanced airport attracted major airlines, making Denver a major hub for air travel in the region.
The economy began to recover at the end of the decade as World War II started in Europe and demand for goods increased. As America prepared to enter the war, Denver was in a good position to benefit. Denver had been chosen for a new training airbase, Lowry Air Force Base, which opened in 1938. In 1941, the Denver Ordnance Plant opened. These facilities brought many jobs, which in turn attracted more people to the city. Denver started the decade with just under 288,000 people, and by 1940, it had over 322,000.
World War II and Beyond
Before World War II, Denver's economy mostly depended on processing and shipping minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. Like the rest of the nation, most people in Denver wanted to stay out of international conflicts. But after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Denver joined the rest of the nation in the war effort. Denver's leaders continued to try to bring businesses to the city during and after the war. Specialized industries were introduced, making Denver a major manufacturing center. One of Denver's selling points was its location far from either coast, making an attack very unlikely. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Buckley Air Force Base, and the Denver Ordnance Plant all opened during the war. In 1941, over 6,500 federal employees lived and worked in Denver. With so many federal employees already there, it was easier to convince the government to add more. By 1946, the number increased to over 16,000.
After the war, many facilities continued to be used or were changed for different purposes. For example, the Denver Ordnance Plant became the Denver Federal Center. More federal agencies started coming to the area, which already had a large federal presence and a skilled workforce. The Atomic Energy Commission, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Institute of Standards and Technology all opened offices in the Denver area. From 1953 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant, a Department of Energy facility about 15 miles from Denver, produced parts for nuclear warheads. A major fire at the facility in 1957, and leaks from nuclear waste stored there between 1958 and 1968, led to some parts of Denver being affected by plutonium-239. With the large military and federal presence, the aerospace industry followed. Big companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Ball Aerospace, and Lockheed-Martin came to Denver. These businesses brought jobs and money, and they started to influence the city, replacing the wealthy business owners and pioneer families who had previously controlled political life.
In 1947, J. Quigg Newton was elected mayor. He began modernizing the government, expanding public housing, and setting up one of the nation's first civil rights commissions. At the time, racial covenants (agreements that restricted who could live in certain neighborhoods) were common in every major city. Long before the Civil Rights Acts were passed, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission passed one of the earliest fair housing laws in the nation. This allowed Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Jewish people to move into neighborhoods they were previously denied. These new laws upset many and contributed to middle-class families moving to the suburbs. Despite these laws, discrimination was still common. However, the work of Newton's Human Rights and Community Relations group helped Denver avoid some of the racial unrest that happened in other cities after the war.
Over four million soldiers had passed through Denver during the war for training or recovery. After the war ended, many chose to make Denver their home. As Denver's population grew rapidly, many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. The Denver Urban Renewal Authority demolished block after block for apartments and parking lots. Many of Denver's best buildings from the frontier era, including the Tabor Opera House, were destroyed as the city grew upward and outward. By 1950, middle-class families were moving away from downtown, seeking larger houses and better schools. Suburbs grew as more people moved out of the city. In the 1960s, Victorian homes were seen as old-fashioned and unpopular, and they were targeted for demolition. The destruction of so many of these homes led people in Denver to form the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission and Historic Denver, Inc. These groups raised awareness of the value of historic buildings and started the local historical preservation movement.
During this time, Denver was a meeting place for poets of the "beat generation." Beat icon Neal Cassady grew up on Larimer Street in Denver. A part of Jack Kerouac's famous book On the Road takes place in the city, based on the real experiences of the beats in Denver during a road trip. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg lived for a time in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. He helped found the Buddhist college, Naropa University or the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa" in nearby Boulder.
The Family Dog Denver was a music venue opened in 1967 by Chet Helms, Bob Cohen, and Barry Fey. The venue brought famous bands like The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Howlin' Wolf, The Grateful Dead, Cream, and Buffalo Springfield to Denver for the first time.
Denver was also a gathering place for a new Chicano Movement. In March 1969, a meeting hosted by Rodolfo Gonzales's Crusade for Justice was held in Denver. The Plan Espiritual de Aztlán was adopted as a statement for the movement. The Crusade for Justice was key in bringing attention to the problems faced by Mexican-Americans living in Denver. It also helped pave the way for Hispanic people to be in city government.
Downtown Boom and Suburban Growth
After World War II, oil and gas companies opened offices in Denver. This was because of its closeness to the mountains and the energy fields there. As the price of oil and gas rose during the 1970s energy crisis, these companies caused a skyscraper building boom downtown. A second office area opened in the suburban Denver Tech Center to handle the growing need for office space. Many original downtown saloons and old buildings were renovated and brought back to life. While many other cities at the time faced crime and bankruptcy, Denver was actively growing and improving its downtown.
In 1969, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that 'optional' school attendance zones were a form of segregation. They ordered schools to be desegregated. This led to school buses being bombed and school buildings being fire-bombed. Denver followed the law by taking over neighboring towns and busing students. By the mid-1970s, many wealthy residents were leaving Denver. In 1974, groups against integration used fears about racial mixing and recent tensions between Denver and its neighbors. They passed the Poundstone Amendment to the state constitution. Its supporters claimed the amendment would stop Denver from misusing its size and power. But critics pointed out that it greatly limited the city's ability to take in other school districts and thus end segregation in its schools.
With money from energy companies and the federal government, Denver grew quickly. Denver went from a small city center surrounded by farms to a booming downtown with skyscrapers and growing suburbs. Most new people settled in the suburbs. Denver's population stayed around 490,000 from 1960 to 1980, even as its land area grew by 40 square miles. With this growth came problems. Traffic increased due to poor public transportation, and pollution increased because of traffic.
Denver Tramway had been in charge of all public transportation in Denver since the early 1900s. But with old equipment, low income, and few riders, it eventually closed down. Author Sherah Collins writes, "... in 1970, Denver had more cars per person than any other place in the country. This is not surprising due to the lack of public transit options." In 1974, the Regional Transportation District took over Denver's public transportation. During this time, a "brown cloud" started to form over the Front Range. This was air pollution from the increasing number of cars and people. This cloud of pollution took more than two decades to get rid of and was a serious concern for people living in the Denver area.
Many people had moved to Denver for the beautiful landscapes and climate. The environment had always been important to Coloradans. When Denver was chosen to host the 1976 Winter Olympics to match Colorado's 100th anniversary, a movement against hosting the games formed. This was largely due to worries about the environmental impact of so many people coming to the area. Colorado voters rejected plans to use public money for the high costs of the games. So, the Olympics were moved to Innsbruck, Austria. The movement against hosting the games was led by then-State Representative Richard Lamm. He was later elected as Colorado governor in 1974.
With the 1979 energy crisis, the price of oil rose to over $30 a barrel. But by the mid-1980s, the price had dropped to under $10 a barrel. Thousands of oil and gas workers lost their jobs, and unemployment rates soared. Downtown Denver had been overbuilt in the past two decades. The cost of office space dropped as empty office space grew to the highest in the nation at 30 percent. Housing prices fell, people continued to move from the city to the suburbs, and the city fell into disrepair. By 1990, the city's population had fallen to 467,610, its lowest level in over 30 years.
Economic Recovery and New Growth
In 1983, Federico Peña became the city's first Latino mayor. One of his main campaign messages was a promise of inclusion for minorities. Latino voter turnout reached 73% in 1983, which was much higher than usual elsewhere. When the economic downturn happened in the mid-1980s, Peña convinced Denver residents to invest billions in their city. Many critics complained that taking loans during a recession was foolish. Under Peña's leadership, voters approved a $3 billion airport, the $126 million Colorado Convention Center, a $242 million bond for infrastructure (roads, bridges), a $200 million bond for Denver Public Schools, and a 0.1 percent sales tax to build a new baseball stadium for the Colorado Rockies. Many people worried that Denver was on the wrong path when the city's total bonded indebtedness (money owed) reached over $1 billion.
Mayor Peña worked with the surrounding suburbs to promote Denver as a lively city. Using the special tax district model, like the Regional Transportation District, a Scientific and Cultural Facilities District was set up. Voters approved a 0.1 percent sales tax to help fund arts, cultural, and scientific organizations in the Denver metropolitan area. In 1995, these organizations attracted over 7.1 million visitors. One of Peña's biggest achievements was laying the groundwork for Denver International Airport.
In 1957, Denver's original airport, Stapleton International Airport, was the eighth busiest in the nation. By the mid-1980s, it had become the seventh largest airport in the world and fourth busiest in the United States. When it was first built 3 miles east of downtown, it was in the middle of farmland. But as decades passed, the city grew around it, and Stapleton had no room to expand. The Colorado General Assembly arranged a deal to add land from Adams County to Denver County for the new airport. This increased Denver's size by 53 square miles, the single largest annexation in the city's history. Despite opening two years late and closing a much-hyped automated baggage system, Denver International Airport is widely seen as a success. It has greatly helped the region's economy.
In 1991, when the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, Wellington Webb won a surprising victory as the city's first Black mayor. The Hispanic and Black communities supported him at 75-85% levels. Webb, who also won 44% of the white vote, reached out to the business community. He promoted downtown economic development and major projects like the new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his time as mayor, Denver built the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in the historic Five Points neighborhood. He also helped pass several neighborhood bonds for infrastructure improvements across the city.
At the end of the 1980s, Denver's economy started to grow. In 1989, unemployment dropped to 5.3 percent, down from a high of 9.7 percent in 1982. Pollution-control measures were put in place, helping to get rid of the harmful "brown cloud" that had hung over the city. "Lower Downtown", once a warehouse district, was renovated and became a key area for new urban development. With office space in Denver being the cheapest in the world, many local companies started signing long-term leases. This kept those companies in Denver and began to drive prices back up. As empty spaces filled and prices became stable after earlier speculation, Colorado's climate and skilled workforce started bringing people and businesses back to the area.
As the economy grew, so did the population. Many Denver residents left the city for the larger spaces offered by the suburbs. But for each citizen lost, others came from out of state to settle in their place. Traffic grew, and many people from the suburbs moved out to rural areas. This situation of urban sprawl (cities spreading out) was a concern. The Sierra Club ranked the Denver metro area among its 10 worst offenders. In 1999, Colorado residents said growth was the state's number one problem. That same year, Denver metro area voters approved two property-tax increases. These were to help fund the Transportation Expansion (T-REX) project. This project rebuilt busy highways and laid light-rail tracks between downtown and the Tech Center. Both were made possible by the leadership of the Regional Transportation District's CEO at the time, Clarence William Marsella. Colorado's population had grown from 3.1 million at the start of the 1990s to over 4 million by the end. Denver closed out the decade with more than 554,000 people.
Denver in the 2000s
With Denver growing so much, the large transportation projects by the Regional Transportation District, under Clarence Marsella, needed to be successful. Luckily, T-REX was finished in November 2006, 22 months ahead of schedule. The success of T-REX led to public support for the FasTracks expansion project in 2004. These projects helped ease some of the worst traffic jams in the metro area, allowing for continued growth.
Through the late 1990s, most of Denver's economy was focused on a few main areas: energy, government and the military, technology, and agriculture. Over the next decade, Denver and Colorado attracted new industries. The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) now says the state has 14 core industries, including health care, financial services, and tourism. This variety in the economy helped protect the city and state from the global recession of 2008-2010. Because Denver's tax money mostly comes from sales and income tax, it felt the economic downturn faster than others. But this also meant it recovered more quickly, helping Denver handle the recession better than many other U.S. cities that rely mainly on property taxes.
Businessman John Hickenlooper was elected mayor in 2003 and re-elected in 2007 with 87% of the vote. After he was elected governor of Colorado in 2011, Michael Hancock was elected Denver's second African American mayor.
