Centennial, Colorado
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- This page discusses the City of Centennial, Colorado. For other entries on Centennial, see Centennial (disambiguation).
Centennial is a city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado. Founded in 2001, no official census data is available on the city.
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History
Centennial was incorporated from portions of unincorporated Arapahoe County in 2001. Strangely, the only rationale for the incorporation of the city was to prevent the City of Greenwood Village from annexing certain portions of Arapahoe County to improve its tax base. The money generated from those businesses in the unincorporated portion of Arapahoe County were mostly what funded the majority of the county's services, including road work. There were a number of court cases establishing the right of incorporation to take precedence over the right of annexation. Located entirely within Arapahoe County, and forming part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area, Centennial was formed February 7, 2001 (the day after its first city officials were elected). The citizens of the formerly unincorporated portion of Arapahoe County had voted to incorporate on September 12, 2000, choosing Centennial as the official name during the vote. It was created on a promise to keep city taxes at 1% (one of the campaigns against incorporation appealed to maintain the unincorporated 3.8% sales tax). Incorporation was approved by 77% of the voters, and the 100,000+ person population of the area made it the largest incorporation in U.S. history as of its creation.
Geography
Centennial covers 27.9 square miles (72 km²). Population-wise, it is the fourth-largest city in the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area, but as it is new, many people even in the area do not recognize the area by the name Centennial, often referring to the area with the names of neighboring cities, notably Littleton and Aurora.
Centennial is located at 39°35'47" North, 104°50'38" West (39.5963, -104.8439)1.
Demographics
Population: 103,100 (2004 estimate) There are also 36,200 households in Centennial.
The city is approximately 87.4% White, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 3.6% Asian, 2.4% African American, 0.4% Native American, and 1/4% from other races.
The median age is 37.2 years, in comparison to the 35.3 year national average. For every 100 females there are 98.0 males.
Government
The city is governed in what is known mayor-council style, which limits the city's tax levying and collection powers. The city council is comprised of eight members.
Airports
- Centennial Airport, formerly Arapahoe County Airport, is one of the busiest US airports without commercial passenger activity. The airport lies adjacent to, but outside of the city limits of Centennial; it is not named after the city. Indeed, the airport predates the city by over 30 years.
External links
- City Of Centennial (http://www.centennialcolorado.com)
- Centennial Airport (http://www.centennialairport.com)
- South Suburban Sports And Recreation (http://www.ssprd.org)
- Arapahoe Library District (http://www.arapahoelibraries.org)