The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.344 m) above sea level. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Denver Union Station, making it the reference point for the Mountain Time Zone.
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of the City and County of Denver was 588,349 on 2007-07-01, making it the 26th most populous U.S. city. The 5-county Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2007 population of 2,464,866 and ranked as the 21st most populous U.S. metropolitan statistical area, and the 12-county Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2007 population of 2,998,878 and ranked as the 17th most populous U.S. metropolitan area. The 18-county Front Range Urban Corridor had a estimated 2007 population of 4,166,855. It is also the second largest city in the Mountain West after Phoenix. The city claims to have the 10th largest central business district in the United States.
Demographics
|
Historical populations |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Census |
Pop. |
%± |
|
|
4,749 |
— |
||
|
4,759 |
0.2% |
||
|
35,629 |
648.7% |
||
|
106,713 |
199.5% |
||
|
133,859 |
25.4% |
||
|
213,381 |
59.4% |
||
|
256,491 |
20.2% |
||
|
287,861 |
12.2% |
||
|
322,412 |
12.0% |
||
|
415,786 |
29.0% |
||
|
493,887 |
18.8% |
||
|
514,678 |
4.2% |
||
|
492,365 |
-4.3% |
||
|
467,610 |
-5.0% |
||
|
554,636 |
18.6% |
||
| Est. 2006 |
566,974 |
2.2% |
|
|
U.S. Census Bureau |
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The United States Census Bureau estimates that, in 2006, the population of the City and County of Denver was 566,974, making it the 27th most populous U.S. city. The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2006 population of 2,408,750 and ranked as the 21st most populous U.S. metropolitan statistical area, and the larger Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2006 population of 2,927,911 and ranked as the 17th most populous U.S. metropolitan area. Denver is the most populous city within a radius of 550 miles (885 km). Residents of the city and county of Denver are known as Denverites.
According to census estimates, the City and County of Denver contains approximately 566,974 people (2006) and 239,235 households (2000). The population density is 3,698/sq mi (1,428/km²). There are 268,540 housing units (2005) at an average density of 1,751/sq mi (676/km²).
The racial make up of the city, as of 2005, is 50.3% White, 10.6% Black, 3.1% Asian American, 1.4% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 1.9% from two or more races. 34.7% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race. 11.3% were of German, 7.2% Irish and 6.2% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 73.2% spoke English and 21.1% Spanish as their first language.
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.
Economy
The World Trade Center Buildings are part of the many financial, business and corporate buildings that make up 17th Street, described by some as “The Wall Street of the West.”
Denver’s economy is based partially on its geographic position and its connection to some of the major transportation systems of the country. Because Denver is the largest city within 600 miles (1,000 km), 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 other large corporations in the central United States, making Denver a key trade point for the country. It was, for instance, once home to the Gates Rubber Company in the early 1900s.
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-Aurora 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, and more jobs are brought to the city by virtue of its being the capital of the state of Colorado. The Denver area is home to the former nuclear weapons plant Rocky Flats and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
In 2005, a $310.7 million expansion for the Colorado Convention Center was completed, roughly doubling its size. The hope was that the center’s expansion would elevate the city to one of the top 10 cities in the nation for holding a convention.
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 1980s, 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 current 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 EnCana, Halliburton, Smith International, Rio Tinto Group, Newmont Mining, Noble Energy, and Anadarko.
The Wells Fargo Center, often called the Cash Register Building.
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 (1.6 km) 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, Dish Network Corporation, 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. The unemployment rate has since improved with an unemployment rate in the Denver metropolitan area of 3.8 percent as of October 2007. The Downtown region has seen increased real estate investment with the construction of new skyscrapers.
Media
The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area is served by a variety of media outlets in print, radio, television, and the Internet. Denver is the #18 market in the country for television, according to the Nielsen DMA’s. Some stations, such as KWGN and KRMA, are broadcast regionally to areas that do not have their own network affiliations. KWGN 2, the CW affiliate, is owned and operated by Tribune Media of Chicago. KWGN is the direct sister station to WGN Chicago. KCNC 4 is the CBS owned and operated station. KRMA 6 serves as a holding company (Rocky Mountain PBS) and broadcasts signals to a variety of affiliates, including Colorado Springs (KTSC), Grand Junction (KRMJ) and other stations in New Mexico, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Kansas. Channel 6 generally serves those who cannot receive an over-the-air signal (such as a Superstation). KBDI 12 is another Denver PBS affiliate, making the Denver market one of only a few markets with 2 PBS stations. KMGH 7 is the ABC affiliate, owned and operated by McGraw-Hill. KUSA 9 is the NBC affiliate, owned and operated by Gannett Communications. KDVR 31 is the Fox owned and operated station. KTVD 20 was formerly the UPN affiliate, but when the CW was launched, KWGN won the affiliation and subsequently the MyNetworkTV affiliation was given to KTVD. KCEC 50 is the Univision affiliate.
Denver is also served by over 40 AM and FM radio stations, covering a wide variety of formats and styles. Denver radio is the #22 market in the United States, according to Arbitron. For a list of radio stations, see Radio Stations in Colorado
After a continued rivalry between Denver’s two main newspapers, the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, the papers merged operations in 2001 under a Joint Operating Agreement which formed the Denver Newspaper Agency. The new company runs all non-editorial operations of both papers, namely advertising and circulation. The papers still publish separately (except during the weekends, when the Rocky Mountain News is published only on Saturday and the Denver Post on Sunday) and maintain their rivalry. There are also several alternative or localized newspapers published in Denver, including Westword, Denver Daily News, The Onion, and Out Front Colorado. Denver is home to multiple regional magazines such as 5280, which takes its name from the city’s mile-high elevation, and Denver Magazine, which highlights the finer things Denver has to offer.
Transportation
The skyline of downtown Denver with Speer Boulevard in the foreground, facing east.
City streets
- Main article: Street system of Denver, Colorado
Colfax Avenue at Broadway, where the downtown street grid and the “normal” city grid meet
Most of Denver has a straightforward street grid oriented to the four cardinal directions. Blocks are usually identified in hundreds from the median streets, identified as “00″, which are Broadway (the east–west median, running north–south) and Ellsworth Avenue (the north–south median, running east–west). Colfax Avenue, the major east-west artery through Denver, is 15 blocks (1500) north of the median. Avenues north of Ellsworth are numbered (with the exception of Colfax Avenue and a few others), while avenues south of Ellsworth are named.
There is also an older downtown grid system that was designed to be parallel to the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. Most of the streets downtown and in LoDo run northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast. This system has an unplanned benefit for snow removal; if the streets were in a normal N-S/E-W grid, only the N-S streets would receive sunlight. With the grid oriented to the diagonal directions, the NW-SE streets receive sunlight to melt snow in the morning and the NE-SW streets receive it in the afternoon. This idea was from Henry Brown the founder of the Brown Palace Hotel. There is now a plaque across the street from the Brown Palace Hotel which honors this idea. The NW-SE streets are numbered, while the NE-SW streets are named. The named streets start at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway with the block-long Cheyenne Place. The numbered streets start underneath the Colfax and I-25 viaducts. There are 27 named and 44 numbered streets on this grid. There are also a few vestiges of the old grid system in the normal grid, such as Park Avenue, Morrison Road, and Speer Boulevard.
All roads in the downtown grid system are streets. (16th Street, Stout Street) Roads outside of that system that travel east/west are given the suffix “avenue” and those that head north and south are given the “street” suffix. (Example, Colfax Avenue, Lincoln Street,). Boulevards are higher capacity streets and will travel any direction (more commonly North and South). Smaller roads are sometimes referred to as places, drives or courts. Most streets outside of the area between Broadway and Colorado Boulevard are organized alphabetically from the city’s center.
Confusion may arise where the two grid systems meet, especially given downtown Denver’s one way streets. The system can be easily navigated with the help of directional signs. The mountains to the west also offer a great compass-point for those attempting to drive in the Mile High City.
Many Denver streets have bicycle lanes, and there are also an abundance of off-road bike paths in Denver parks and along bodies of water, like Cherry Creek and the South Platte. This allows for a significant portion of Denver’s population to be bicycle commuters and has led to Denver being known as a bicycle friendly city.
Highways
I-25 during rush hour
Denver is primarily served by the interstate highways I-25 and I-70. The intersection of the two interstates is referred to locally as “the mousetrap”, because when airborne, the junction (and subsequent vehicles) resemble mice in a large trap.
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Interstate 25 runs north-south from New Mexico through Denver to Wyoming-
Interstate 225 traverses neighboring Aurora and connects with I-25 in the southeastern corner of Denver.
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Interstate 70 runs east-west from Utah to Maryland. -
Interstate 76 begins from I-70 just west of the city in Arvada. It intersects I-25 north of the city and runs northeast to Nebraska where it ends at I-80. -
US 6 follows the alignment of 6th Avenue west of I-25, and connects downtown Denver to the west-central suburbs of Golden and Lakewood. -
US 36 connects Denver to Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park. Additionally, it runs to Delaware, Ohio to the east, crossing 4 other states.
Denver also has a nearly complete beltway known as “the 470’s”. These are C-470, a limited access state highway in the southwest Metro area, and two toll highways, E-470 (from southeast to northeast) and Northwest Parkway (from terminus of E-470 to US 36). Highway 6. C-470 was originally intended to be I-470 and built with federal highway funds, but the funding was redirected to complete downtown Denvers’ 16th street to a pedestrian mall, so construction was delayed until 1980 after state and local legislation was passed.
I-225 was designed to link Aurora with I-25 and I-70, with construction starting May 1964 and ending May 21, 1976.
A highway expansion and transit project for the southern I-25 corridor, dubbed T-REX (TRansportation EXpansion Project), was completed on November 17, 2006. The project installed wider and additional highway lanes, and improved highway access and drainage. The project also includes a light rail line that traverses from downtown to the south end of the metro area at Lincoln Avenue. The project spanned almost 19 miles (31 km) along the highway with an additional line traveling parallel to part of I-225.
Metro Denver highway conditions can be accessed on the Colorado Department of Transportation website Traffic Conditions.
Mass transportation
Denver RTD Light Rail car at 16th & Stout
Denver Union Station
Mass transportation throughout the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area is managed and coordinated by the Regional Transportation District (RTD). RTD currently operates more than 1,000 buses serving over 10,000 bus stops in 38 municipal jurisdictions in eight counties around the Denver-Aurora and Boulder Metropolitan Areas. Additionally, RTD operates six light rail lines, the C,D,E,F,G,and H with a total of 34.9 miles (56 km) of track, serving 36 stations. FasTracks is a light rail expansion project which was approved by voters in 2004, which would serve neighboring communities.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Denver, operating its California Zephyr daily in both directions between Chicago and Emeryville, California, across the bay from San Francisco. Amtrak Thruway service operated by private bus companies links the Denver station with Rocky Mountain points.
At Albuquerque, New Mexico, Denver Thruway connections are made daily with the Amtrak Southwest Chief. Additionally, there is the Ski Train operated on the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, which takes passengers between Denver and the Winter Park Ski Resort.
Denver’s early years as a major train hub of the west are still very visible today. Trains stop in Denver at historic Union Station, where travelers can access RTD’s 16th Street Free MallRide or use light rail to tour the city. Union Station will also serve as the main juncture for rail travel in the metro area, at the completion of FasTracks.
Airports
Inside the main terminal of Denver International Airport.
Denver International Airport (IATA: DEN, ICAO: KDEN), commonly known as DIA, serves as the primary airport for a large region surrounding Denver. DIA is located 18.6 miles (30 km) east-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol. DIA is the tenth busiest airport in the world and ranks fourth in the United States, with 47,324,844 passengers passing through it in 2006. It covers more than 53 square miles (137 km²), making it the largest airport by land area in the United States and larger than the island of Manhattan. Denver serves as a major hub for United Airlines and the headquarters for Frontier Airlines.
Three general aviation airports serve the Denver area. Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (KBJC) is 13.7 miles (22 km) north-northwest, Centennial Airport (KAPA) is 13.7 miles (22 km) south-southeast, and Front Range Airport (KFTG) is located 23.7 miles (38 km) east of the state capitol.
In the past, Denver has been home to several other airports that are no longer operational. Stapleton International Airport was closed in 1995 when it was replaced by DIA. Lowry Air Force Base was a military flight training facility that ceased flight operations in 1966, with the base finally being closed in 1994. It is currently being used for residential purposes. Buckley Air Force Base, a former Air National Guard Base is currently the only military facility in the Denver-Metro area.
The main terminal’s tented roof at Denver International Airport.
Education
The Ritchie Center at University of Denver
Denver Public Schools (DPS) is the public school system in Denver. It currently educates about 73,000 students in 73 elementary schools, 15 K-8 schools, 17 middle schools, 14 high schools, and 19 charter schools. The first school of what is now DPS was a log cabin that opened in 1859 on the corner of 12th Street between Market and Larimer Streets. The district boundaries are coëxtensive with the city limits.
Denver’s many colleges and universities range in age and study programs. The city has Roman Catholic and Jewish institutions, as well as a health sciences school. In addition to those schools within the city, there are a number of schools located throughout the surrounding metro area. The private University of Denver and Johnson & Wales University, Catholic (Jesuit) Regis University and the three public universities that constitute the Auraria Campus are likely the best known higher education institutions located in the city itself.
Culture and contemporary life
Apollo Hall opened quickly after the city’s founding in 1859 and staged many plays for eager settlers. In the 1880s Horace Tabor built Denver’s first Opera House. After the turn of the century, city leaders embarked on a city beautification program that created many of the city’s parks, parkways, museums, and the Municipal Auditorium, which was home to the 1908 Democratic National Convention and is now known as the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Denver and the metropolitan areas around it continued to support culture. In 1988, voters in the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area approved the Scientific and Cultural Facilities Tax (commonly known as SCFD), a .01 sales tax that contributes money to various cultural and scientific facilities and organizations throughout the Metro area. The tax was renewed by voters in 1994 and 2004 and allows the SCFD to operate until 2018.
The Santa Fe Arts District on Santa Fe Drive
Now, Denver is home to many nationally recognized museums, including a new wing for the Denver Art Museum by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, the second largest Performing arts center in the nation after Lincoln Center in New York City and bustling neighborhoods such as LoDo, filled with art galleries, restaurants, bars and clubs. That is part of the reason why Denver was recently recognized for the third year in a row as the best city for singles. Denver’s neighborhoods also continue their influx of diverse people and businesses while the city’s cultural institutions grow and prosper. The city acquired the estate of abstract expressionist painter Clyfford Still in 2004 and plans to build a museum to exhibit his works near the Denver Art Museum by 2010.
Downtown Denver from the Central Platte Valley
While Denver may not be as recognized for historical musical prominence as some other American cities, it still manages to have a very active pop, jazz, jam, folk, and classical music scene, which has nurtured several artists and genres to regional, national, and even international attention. Of particular note is Denver’s importance in the folk scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Well-known folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and John Denver lived in Denver at various points during this time, and performed at local clubs.
Because of its proximity to the mountains, and generally sunny weather, Denver has gained a reputation as being a very active, outdoor oriented city. Many Denver residents spend the weekends in the mountains; either skiing in the winter or hiking, climbing and camping in the summer.
Additionally, Denver and the surrounding cities of the Front Range are home to a large number of local and national breweries. Many restaurants in the region have on-site breweries, and some of the larger brewers, including Coors and the New Belgium Brewing Company, offer tours. The city also welcomes visitors from around the world when it hosts the annual Great American Beer Festival each fall.
Colorado has a history steeped in ranching and livestock production. As the capitol of Colorado, and because of its location as the major beef production hub in the Rocky Mountain West, Denver is often referred to as a “cowtown”. This endearing term goes back to days when ranchers from all around the high prairie would drive (or later transport) cattle to the Denver Union Stockyards for sale. As a celebration of that history, each year for more than a century, Denver hosts the National Western Stock Show. The “stock show” as the locals say, is largest event of its kind among agricultural, western American lifestyle and cultural events in the world, attracting as many as 10,000 animals and 700,000 attendees. The National Western Stock Show is held every January at the National Western Complex, which is located on the northeast edge of downtown.
Of other cultural events, Denver hosts two of the largest Hispanic celebrations in the nation known to locals as Cinco de Mayo, occurring in May, and El Grito de la Independencia, occurring in September.
Denver is also the setting for the The Bill Engvall Show, and the setting for the 18th season of MTV’s The Real World. From 1998 to 2002, the city’s Alameda East Veterinary Hospital was home to the Animal Planet series Emergency Vets, which spun off three one-off documentary specials and the current Animal Planet series E-Vet Interns.
Source: Denver, Colorado in Wikipedia
