The City and County of Denver is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located on the plains just east of the Rocky Mountains and forms the heart of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area. 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.
Denver is the county seat of, and shares the same borders with, Denver County -- one of the few consolidated city-counties. According to 2004 census estimates , the city is the 25th-largest in the United States. The Denver Regional Council of Governments estimates the 2005 population of the city is 579,744 . The population of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area was about 2,830,000, making it the 22nd-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.
Denver is nicknamed "The Mile-High City" because its official elevation, measured on the fifteenth step of the state capitol building's west side, is one statute mile (5,280 feet , or 1,609 meters) above sea level. The elevation, as surveyed at the Denver International Airport, is 5,431 ft (1,655 m). Also, a row of seats in the upper deck of Coors Field, home of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies (NL), is 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.
Denver is located at 39°43'35" North, 104°57'56" West (39.726287, -104.965486) in the Colorado Front Range region. It has the Rocky Mountains to the west and the great plains to the east.
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.
As of the census of 2005, there are an estimated 579,774 people, 250,906 households, and 119,378 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,396.5/km2 (3,616.8/mi2). There are 268,617 housing units at an average density of 633.1/km2 (1,639.6/mi2). The racial makeup of the city is 51.9% White, 11.1% Black or African American, about 2.2% 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 is Hispanic or Latino of any race, giving Denver one of the highest populations of Hispanics or Latinos in the U.S.. The Denver Metropolitan Area also has one of the largest Jewish communities in the U.S., with a population of roughly 100,000. In the city of Denver, the largest populations of Jews are found in the West Colfax and Hilltop neighborhoods.
There are 250,906 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.
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.
Denver's economy is based partially on its geographic position and its connection to some of the major transportation systems of the country. Denver's history is a reflection of the boom and bust cycles of the old west. Because Denver is the largest city within 600 miles, it has become a natural location for storage and distribution of goods and services to the Mountain States. 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. Over the years, the city has been home to some large corporations in the central United States, making Denver a key trade point for the country.
Geography also allows Denver to have a considerable government presence with many federal agencies based or having offices in the Denver area. In fact, the Denver Metropolitan Area has more federal workers than any other metropolitan area except for the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Along with the plethora of federal agencies come many companies based on US defense and space projects. Lockheed-Martin and Ball Aerospace are examples. Of course, being the capital of the state of Colorado also gives many state jobs to Denver.
Denver's position near the mineral-rich Rocky Mountains, encouraged mining and energy companies to spring up in the area. In the early days of the city, gold and silver booms and busts played a large role in the economic success of the city. In the 1970s and early '80s, the energy crisis in America created an energy boom in Denver captured in the soap opera Dynasty. During this time, Denver was built up considerably, with many new downtown skyscrapers built during this time. Eventually the oil prices dropped from $34 a barrel in 1981 to $9 a barrel in 1986, and the Denver economy dropped with it, leaving almost 15,000 oil industry workers in the area unemployed (including mayor John Hickenlooper, a former geologist), and the highest office vacancy rate in the nation (30%). Energy and mining are still important in Denver's economy today, with companies such as Newmont Mining, Patina Oil and Gas, and Western Gas Resources.
Denver's west-central geographic location in the Mountain Time Zone (UTC -7) also benefits the telecommunications industry by allowing communication with both North American coasts, South America, Europe, and Asia in the same business day. Denver's location on the 105th meridian at over 1 mile in 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. Qwest Communications, EchoStar, Starz-Encore, and Comcast are just a few of the telecommunications companies with operations in the Denver area. These and other high-tech companies had a boom in Denver in the mid to late 1990s, but the technology bust in the new millennium caused Denver to lose many of those technology jobs. Recently the Denver area has started making a comeback, with the October 2005 unemployment at 4.7% the lowest since September of 2001 . Denver government and industry leaders are attempting to diversify the Denver economy so that it is less susceptible to boom and bust cycles.
For a more comprehensive account of Denver companies see List of companies with Denver Area operations.
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. By 1890, Denver had grown to be the fifth-largest city west of the Mississippi River, and surpassed Omaha in population by the turn of the 20th century. . The era of the 1890s played an important role in Denver's history, as this is when the city began to really take on a big city image. 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 immediately southwest of Denver in unincorporated Jefferson County; the school is in a ZIP code assigned to Littleton and is thus commonly associated with that city.
The cheeseburger was 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.
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, and is based on the beat's actual experiences in Denver during a road trip. 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.
Source:
Denverco.net
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