Timeline of Boulder, Colorado facts for kids

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Panorama print of Boulder, 1900

19th century

• 1858 - Settlement formed.
• 1859
  • Boulder City Town Company formed.
  • Town laid out.
• 1860 - Schoolhouse opens.
• 1869 - Boulder County News begins publication.
• 1870
  • Denver and Boulder Valley Railroad begins operating.
  • Population: 1,939.
• 1871 - Town incorporated.
• 1873 - Railroad begins operating.
• 1875
  • Colorado Banner newspaper begins publication.
  • Boulder High School established.
• 1876 - Boulder becomes part of new State of Colorado.
• 1877 - September 5: University of Colorado opens.
• 1883 - University of Colorado Medical School opens.
• 1885 - Denver, Marshall and Boulder Railway begins operating.
• 1890
  • Boulder Railroad Depot built.
  • Boulder Camera begins publication.
• 1891 - Feeny Opera House active (approximate date).
• 1892
  • Highland School built.
  • University of Colorado Law School established.
• 1893 - Philharmonic Club formed.
• 1895 - Crockett Ricketts elected mayor.
• 1896 - Colorado Sanitarium in business.
• 1898
  • Chautauqua Auditorium built.
  • Colorado & Southern Railway in operation.

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1900 - Colorado Chautauqua established.
• 1902
  • Boulder Oil Field well in operation.
  • University of Colorado Museum of Natural History founded.
• 1906
  • Curran Opera House opens.
  • University of Colorado College of Commerce established.
• 1907 - Carnegie Library built.
• 1909
  • Denver, Boulder and Western Railroad begins operating.
  • Hotel Boulderado in business.
• 1910 - Population: 9,539.
• 1923 - Macky Auditorium opens.
• 1924 - Colorado Stadium opens.
• 1926 - Rialto Theatre built.
• 1929 - Denver Municipal Airport begins operating.
• 1937 - Balch Fieldhouse (arena) opens.
• 1941 - Civic Symphony Orchestra founded.
• 1944 - Boulder Historical Society established.
• 1947 - KBOL radio begins broadcasting.
• 1948
  • Andrews Arboretum established.
  • Conference on World Affairs begins at the University of Colorado.
• 1949 - Sommers–Bausch Observatory built.

1950s-1990s

• 1952
  • U.S. National Bureau of Standards-Atomic Energy Commission Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory in operation.
  • Denver-Boulder Turnpike opens.
  • Population: 19,999.
• 1953 - Colorado Daily in publication.
• 1954 - September: U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology facility dedicated.
• 1955 – Denver Regional Council of Governments formed.
• 1958
  • Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra founded.
  • Colorado Shakespeare Festival begins.
• 1963 - Crossroads Mall in business.
• 1966 - Attention Homes opens its first home on 14th St.
• 1967 - U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesa Laboratory built.
• 1969 - Regional Transportation District (public transit system) organized.
• 1970
  • City "comprehensive plan" created.
  • Paladin Press in business.
• 1971 - Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative founded.
• 1972 - Historic Boulder, Inc. formed.
• 1973 - Vajradhatu headquartered in Boulder.
• 1974 - Naropa Institute and Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics established.
• 1975 - KBVL radio begins broadcasting.
• 1976
  • Colorado Music Festival begins.
  • Residential-growth management ordinance approved.
• 1977
  • Pearl Street Mall constructed.
  • KBCO begins broadcasting.
• 1978 - Boulder Magazine begins publication.
• 1979
  • Colorado University Events Center (arena) opens.
  • Bolder Boulder footrace begins.
• 1980 - Kinetics Conveyance Race begins.
• 1983 - January 1: Polar Bear Plunge begins.
• 1986
  • Farmer's Market begins.
  • Sister city relationship established with Lhasa, Tibet.
• 1987 - Sister city relationship active with Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
• 1988 - Colorado MahlerFest begins.
• 1989 - Rocky Mountain Spiritual Emergence Network Times begins publication.
• 1990 - Radio Reading Service of the Rockies founded.
• 1991
  • Culinary School of the Rockies founded.
  • eTown (radio program) begins broadcasting.
• 1993
  • Mountain Sun pub in business.
  • Boulder Weekly begins publication.
• 1994
  • Denver International Airport begins operating.
  • Sister city relationship established with Yamagata, Japan.
  • Boulder Community Network online.
• 1996
  • Boulder Area Trails Coalition founded.
  • Smoking ban enacted.
• 1998
  • October 31: Naked Pumpkin Run begins.
  • Bob Greenlee becomes mayor.
  • Dushanbe Tea House opens.
  • Bent Lens Cinema founded.

21st century

• 2000
  • Sister city relationship established with Ciudad Mante, Mexico.
  • Moondance Film Festival begins.
• 2002 - Spot Bouldering Gym in business.
• 2004
  • Mark Ruzzin becomes mayor.
  • Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival begins.
  • Boulder Chamber Orchestra founded.
• 2005 - Boulder Adventure Film Festival begins.
• 2006
  • November: Carbon tax approved.
  • Twenty Ninth Street shopping center in business.
  • Bikes Belong coalition headquartered in Boulder (approximate date).[1]
• 2007 - Communikey Festival begins.
• 2009
  • Susan Osborne becomes mayor, succeeded by Matthew Appelbaum.
  • Jared Polis becomes Colorado's 2nd congressional district representative.
  • Sister city relationship established with Kisumu, Kenya.
• 2010 - Population: 97,385.
• 2011
  • November: Municipal electric utility approved.
  • Boulder Food Rescue active.
• 2012 - National Institute of Standards and Technology Precision Measurement Laboratory dedicated.
• 2013 - Falling Fruit (urban agriculture map) launched.