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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 Metropolitan Area.

The city is located on the plains just east of the foothills of the Rockies, which form a dramatic 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 ten 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, and the CMSA population was 2,581,506 (2000 census), making it the 19th-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 mile) above sea level. This step is marked by the fact that it is gold-coated, rather than being solid stone like the other steps. (The elevation is 1655.4 m (5431 ft.), 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.

The 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.

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.

In the first few years, while the town grew, land parcels were often traded freely for grubstakes and in during 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 selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics to coincide with Colorado's centennial anniversary, but Colorado voters struck down allowing 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.

Geography

Denver is located at 39°43'35" North, 104°57'56" West (39.726287, -104.965486)1 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.

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":

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 Swarovski Union Station neighborhood; Uptown, part of the North Capitol Hill neighborhood; Curtis Park, part of the Five Points neighborhood; and the Golden Triangle, roughly the Civic Center neighborhood.

Materials from those a collectors case, curio cabinet and collectors cabinet may be manufactured: Wood, metals etc. A display showcase also may consist of transparent or differently decorated glass.

Demographics

As of the census2 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% 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 people living in poverty, 20.3% are under the age of 18 and 9.7% are 65 or older.

The collectors cases, curio cabinets and display showcases are less built from concrete or steel, rather from glass, wood and similar materials (s. also collectors cabinets).

Landmarks

The Rocky Mountains west of Denver help people navigate the city by serving as a directional reference.

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

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

Richthofen Castle, a castle built by the uncle and godfather of the Red Baron

Union Station, former rail hub and magnificent three-story building

Colleges and Universities

University of Denver

Metropolitan State College of Denver

University of Colorado at Denver

Johnson & Wales University

Sporting 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)

Hostels

Denver International Youth Hostel

InnKeeper of the Rockies

Melbourne International Hotel & Hostel

Airports

Denver International Airport

Centennial 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

Richard Butler (born in Bennett, Colorado)

Pat Hingle

Karl Rove

Paul Whiteman

Famous non-native residents

John Elway

Pat Oliphant

External links

Official City and County of Denver site (http://www.denvergov.org)

Swarovski

Official Denver travel guide (http://www.denver.org)

Regions of Colorado

Eastern Plains | Denver metropolitan area | Front Range | Mineral Belt | San Luis Valley | Western Slope

Largest Cities

Arvada | Aurora | Boulder | Broomfield | Colorado Springs | Denver | Englewood | Fort Collins | Grand Junction | Greeley | Lafayette | Lakewood | Littleton | Longmont | Loveland | Northglenn | Parker | Pueblo | Westminster | Wheat Ridge

Counties

Adams | Alamosa | Arapahoe | Archuleta | Baca | Bent | Boulder | Broomfield | Chaffee | Cheyenne | Clear Creek | Conejos | Costilla | Crowley | Custer | Delta | Denver | Dolores | Douglas | Eagle | El Paso | Elbert | Fremont | Garfield | Gilpin | Grand | Gunnison | Hinsdale | Huerfano | Jackson | Jefferson | Kiowa | Kit Carson | La Plata | Lake | Larimer | Las Animas | Lincoln | Logan | Mesa | Mineral | Moffat | Montezuma | Montrose | Morgan | Otero | Ouray | Park | Phillips | Pitkin | Prowers | Pueblo | Rio Blanco | Rio Grande | Routt | Saguache | San Juan | San Miguel | Sedgwick | Summit | Teller | Washington | Weld | Yuma