Denver, Colorado
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Template:Infobox City Denver is the largest city and capital of the state of Colorado, United States of America. It is the largest city along the Front Range and forms the heart of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area.
The city is located on the plains just east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, which form a dramatic and awe inspiring skyline to the west. The central downtown district is on the east side of the South Platte River, near its confluence with Cherry Creek, approximately fifteen miles from the foothills.
It is the county seat of, and coextensive with, Denver County. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 554,636. Also as of the 2000 census [1] (http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t29.html), the population of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area was 2,179,240, making it the 22nd-largest metropolitan area in the United States.
Denver is nicknamed the "Mile-High City", because its official elevation, measured on one of the steps on the state capitol, is 5,280 feet (1,609 m) above sea level. (The elevation is 5,431 ft [1,655 m], as surveyed at the Denver International Airport). Also, a row of seats in the upper deck of Coors Field, home of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies (NL), is distinctively marked in purple (one of the team's colors) to indicate that the row is one mile above sea level.
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 Front Range.
Several US Navy ships have been named USS Denver in honor of the city.
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History
Denver was founded in the Kansas Territory in 1858. On November 22 of that year, General William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, placed cottonwood logs to stake a square-mile claim on the hill overlooking the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, across the creek from the existing mining settlement of Auraria.
The site was accessible to existing trails and had previously been the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Larimer, along with associates in the Denver City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, with the intention of creating a major city that would cater to new emigrants. The name "Denver City" was chosen to honor Kansas territorial governor James W. Denver, in order to ensure that the city would become the county seat of then Arapaho County, Kansas. Ironically, when Larimer named it after Denver, he was unaware that James Denver had already resigned as governor.
In the first few years, while the town grew, land parcels were often traded freely for grubstakes and in the course of gambling by miners in Auraria. The city was incorporated on November 7, 1861, several months after the formation of the Colorado Territory. Denver was the county seat of [[Arapahoe County, Colorado|]] until the creation of Denver County in 1902.
Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics to coincide with Colorado's centennial anniversary, but Colorado voters struck down ballot initiatives allocating public funds to pay for the high costs of the games, so they were moved to Innsbruck, Austria. The movement against hosting the games was based largely on environmental issues and was led by then State Senator Richard Lamm. Lamm was subsequently elected as Colorado governor in 1974.
On April 20, 1999, the Columbine High School massacre occurred at Columbine High School, which is located southwest of Denver in an unincorporated area in suburban Jefferson County; the school has a Littleton address.
The cheeseburger was allegedly invented in Denver by Louis Ballast who operated the Humpty Dumpty Barrel drive-in. He applied for a patent on his now famous invention in 1935. It has been speculated that he wasn?t the first person to add cheese to a hamburger, but nobody has an earlier patent, and no evidence to debunk his claim has emerged.[2] (http://www.magazineusa.com/us/info/show.aspx?unit=originals&doc=32)
Denver was an important place for the "beat generation." Beat icon Neal Cassady was raised on Larimer Street in Denver, and a portion of Jack Kerouac's beat masterpiece On the Road takes place in the city. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg lived for a time in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, Colorado, and he helped found the Buddhist college, Naropa University or the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa" in nearby Boulder, Colorado.
Climate
Denver has a semi-arid climate characterized by dry winters, wetter springs, low-humidity summers and pleasant falls. While Denver is located on the Great Plains, the weather of the city and surrounding area is heavily influenced by the proximity of the Rocky Mountains to the west. In the winter, the storms that dump huge amounts of snow in the mountains, get blocked by the towering front range mountains. So, Denver tends to have cool, dry winters that receive less snow than one may expect. In the early spring and summer, the warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico influences the area and thunderstorms are prevalent, especially in the afternoon.
The climate, while considered mild compared to the mountains to the west and the plains further east, can often be very unpredictable. An often repeated saying of Denverites is "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." Measurable amounts of snow have fallen in Denver as late as Memorial Day and as early as Labor Day, although trace amounts have been recorded in June.
Denver averages 15.4 inches (391 mm) of precipitation per year. The average annual snowfall is around 60 inches. Denver receives over 250 days of sunshine a year, more than the "sunny" cities of Honolulu, San Diego, and Miami. January's average daily high is 43? F with a daily low of 15?. July's average high is 88?F with a low of 59?. [3] (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-den/showProduct.pl?title=Denver's+Climatological+Normals+And+Means&product=normals.html&backto=2)
Geography
Denver is located at 39°43'35" North, 104°57'56" West (39.726287, -104.965486)Template:GR in the Colorado Front Range region. It has the Rocky Mountains to the west and the great plains to the east.
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According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 401.3 km² (154.9 mi²). 397.2 km² (153.4 mi²) of it is land and 4.1 km² (1.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.03% water.
Neighborhoods
Denver has 79 administrative "neighborhoods." The City and community groups use these "neighborhoods" for planning and administration. Although the City's delineation of the "neighborhood" boundaries is somewhat arbitrary, often the City's definitions of its "neighborhoods" correspond to those used by Denverites to describe a particular place. These are those "neighborhoods":
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Map of Denver Neighborhoods
| Athmar Park | Auraria-Lincoln Park | Baker | Barnum | Barnum West | Bear Valley | Belcaro | Berkeley | |||||||
| Capitol Hill | Central Business | Chaffee Park | Cheesman Park | Cherry Creek | City Park | City Park West | Civic Center | |||||||
| Clayton | Cole | College View | Congress Park | Cory-Merrill | Country Club | Denver Airport | East Colfax | |||||||
| Elyria Swansea | Five Points | Fort Logan | Gateway | Globeville | Goldsmith | Green Valley Ranch | Hale | |||||||
| Hampden | Hampden South | Harvey Park | Harvey Park South | Highland | Hilltop | Indian Creek | Jefferson Park | |||||||
| Kennedy | Lowry Field | Mar Lee | Marston | Montbello | Montclair | North Capitol Hill | North Park Hill | |||||||
| Northeast Park Hill | Overland | Platte Park | Regis | Rosedale | Ruby Hill | Skyland | Sloans 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 Highland | Westwood | Whittier | Windsor |
Denver also has a number of "neighborhoods" not reflected in the City's administrative "neighborhoods." Sometimes these neighborhoods reflect the way people in an areas identify themselves; sometimes they reflect how others, such as real estate developers, have defined those areas.
Among the neighborhoods commonly spoken of but not listed above are Lo-Do (short for "Lower Downtown"), part of the City's Union Station neighborhood; Uptown, part of the North Capitol Hill neighborhood; Curtis Park, part of the Five Points neighborhood; Alamo Placita, the northern part of the Speer neighborhood; and the Golden Triangle, roughly the Civic Center neighborhood.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 554,636 people, 239,235 households, and 119,378 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,396.5/km² (3,616.8/mi²). There are 251,435 housing units at an average density of 633.1/km² (1,639.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 65.30% White, 11.12% Black or African American, 1.31% Native American, 2.81% Asian American, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 15.59% from other races, and 3.75% from two or more races. 31.68% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 239,235 households out of which 23.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.7% are married couples living together, 10.8% have a female householder with no husband present, and 50.1% are non-families. 39.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.27 and the average family size is 3.14.
In the city the population is spread out with 22.0% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 36.1% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 33 years. For every 100 females there are 102.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 101.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $39,500, and the median income for a family is $48,195. Males have a median income of $34,232 versus $30,768 for females. The per capita income for the city is $24,101. 14.3% of the population and 10.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.3% of those under the age of 18 and 9.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Landmarks
- Brown Palace Hotel, the city's oldest hotel
- Buckhorn Exchange, Denver's oldest restaurant, a historic old-west steakhouse
- Colorado State Capitol
- Confluence Park, where the city started at the confluence of the South Platte and Cherry Creek.
- D&F Tower, when it was built in 1910 the tallest building west of the Mississippi
- Denver Art Museum
- Denver Botanic Gardens
- Denver Museum of Nature & Science
- Denver Performing Arts Complex - The second largest performing arts center in the US after New York City's Lincoln Center.
- Four Mile House, an important stop on the Cherokee Trail and the oldest standing residential building in the metropolitan area
- Denver Mint
- Molly Brown House, where Molly Brown lived in Denver
- Ocean's Journey Aquarium
- Richthofen Castle, a castle built by the uncle and godfather of the Red Baron
- Union Station, a magnificent three-story building and the hub of the new FasTracks commuter rail network.
- Wells Fargo Center, the "cash register" building (3rd tallest building in Denver)
Transportation
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Denver is primarily served by the interstate highways I-25 and I-70. I-25 runs north-south from the New Mexico border through Denver to the Wyoming border. Likewise, I-70 runs east-west from Utah to Kansas. The intersection of the two interstates in Denver has been locally termed "the mousetrap." Additionally, Denver is served by I-76, which begins at Denver and runs northeast to Nebraska.
Mass transportation throughout the Denver metro area is managed and coordinated by Regional Transportation District (RTD). RTD currently operates more than 1,000 buses serving 10,000 bus stops in 38 municipal jurisdictions. Additionally, RTD operates two light rail lines with a total of 15.8 miles of track and serving 24 stations. Current RTD local fare is $1.25. The recently passed FasTracks expansion project will allow light rail to serve cities such as Lakewood, Golden, and Boulder.
Train service to Denver is provided by the Amtrak California Zephyr which runs from Chicago west through Denver to San Francisco. Additionally, there is the Ski Train provided by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad which takes passengers between Denver and the Winter Park Ski Resort. Trains stop in Denver at Union Station, where travellers can meet up with RTD's 16th Street Free MallRide or use light rail to tour the city.
Denver's sister cities
Denver has the second oldest sister city in the United States with its relationship with Brest, France started in 1948. In 1947, Amanda Knecht, a teacher at East High School, visited WWII ravaged Brest. When she came back, she shared her experiences in the city with her students, and her class raised $32,000 in change to help rebuild the children's wing of Brest's hospital. The gift was proceeded with the development of the sister city program with Brest. Denver's Sister Cities International develops programs to foster relations between all the cities. All of Denver's sister cities have parks in the city named after them (except the newest sister city, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which will eventually have its own park).
The list of Denver's sister (aka twinned) cities is as follows:
- Axum, Ethiopia,
- Brest, France,
- Chennai, India,
- Cuernavaca, Mexico,
- Karmiel, Israel,
- Kunming, China,
- Nairobi, Kenya,
- Potenza, Italy,
- Takayama, Japan,
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Colleges and universities
- Colorado School of Mines (in Golden)
- University of Denver
- Metropolitan State College of Denver
- University of Colorado at Denver
- Johnson & Wales University
- Regis University
Sports
Sports teams
- Denver Broncos of the National Football League (American football) (1960-)
- Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (1967-)
- Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (1993-)
- Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (1996-)
- Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer (1996-)
- Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League (2003-)
- Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (2003-)
- Denver Bears former minor league (AAA) baseball team (1948-1992)
- Denver Zephyrs originally, the Denver Bears (moved to New Orleans, 1992)
- Denver Spurs former World Hockey Association team (1975-76)
- Colorado Rockies former National Hockey League team (1976-82); now known as the New Jersey Devils
- Denver Gold former United States Football League team (1983-1985)
- Denver Dynamite former Arena Football League team (1987, 1989-1991)
- Denver Grizzlies former International Hockey League team (1994-1995)
See also: U.S. cities with teams from four major sports.
Hosting
- Awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics, which voters rejected due to a 300 percent rise in costs and worries about environmental impact
- Every August the PGA TOUR tournament, The INTERNATIONAL in Castle Rock
- The 2005 U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship, Cherry Hills Country Club in Englewood
- 2005 NBA All-Star Game at the Pepsi Center
- 2008 NCAA Frozen Four Tournament
- Denver is host to a circuit on the Champ Car World Series
Hostels
Airports
- Denver International Airport
- Centennial Airport
- Front Range Airport
- former Stapleton International Airport (replaced by Denver International Airport and closed in 1995)
- former Lowry Air Force Base (flights stopped around 1965)
Famous Denverites
- Tim Allen
- Chauncey Billups
- Richard Butler (born in Bennett, Colorado)
- David Fincher
- Pat Hingle
- John Kerry (born at Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Denver's eastern neighbor)
- Dean Reed
- Karl Rove
- Alan K. Simpson
- Paul Whiteman
Famous non-native residents
- Neal Cassady - the beat generation icon was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but was raised in Denver
- Don Cheadle - born in Kansas City, Missouri, graduated from East High School
- Judy Collins - folk singer, born in Seattle, Washington, graduated from East High School
- Madhuri Dixit - Indian actress married to Dr. Sriram Nene, a heart surgeon, born in Bombay, India
- John Elway - Hall of Fame quarterback for the Denver Broncos, 1983 - 1998 NFL seasons (including the Super Bowl played in 1999)
- Pam Grier - born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, graduated from East High School
- Hattie McDaniel - First African-American to win Academy Award for Gone With the Wind, born in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Denver
- Golda Meir - Former Prime Minister of Israel, lived in Denver for a time as a teenager
- Pat Oliphant - editorial cartoonist, born in Adelaide, Australia
Books on Denver
"Rise and Dine, Breakfast in Denver & Boulder", Joey Porcelli, [Fulcrum Publishing Golden, Colorado] 1555915094
"The Colorado Guide 5th Edition", Foreward Magazine Book of the Year , Bruce Caughey and Dean Winstanley, Fulcrum Publishing, 1555910068
A large portion of Jack Kerouac's beat classic On the Road takes place in Denver.
External links
- Official City and County of Denver site (http://www.denvergov.org)
- Official Denver travel guide (http://www.denver.org)
- Regional Transportation District Homepage (http://www.rtd-denver.com)
