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This is a new website and is available for adoption.
If you are interested in joining our group to become the County webmaster
for this site, read our
volunteer
information page and
email Kim.
(The Know-how to make a basic webpage and a desire to transcribe
data is needed)
Until we get a dedicated volunteer to maintain this site, we'll do
the best we can to add data as we come across it. You can send
your family's raw data (birth/marriage/death, cemetery, census, biography records) to
us
and we'll include it on this site.
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Denver was founded in the Kansas Territory in 1858. That summer a group from Lawrence, Kansas, arrived and established
Montana City on the banks of the South Platte River. This was the first settlement in what was later to become
the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and was abandoned in favor of Auraria and St. Charles City
by the summer of 1859. The site is now Grant-Frontier Park and includes mining equipment and a log cabin replica.
On November 22 of 1858, 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 location was accessible to existing trails
and was across the South Platte River from the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The site
of these first towns is now the site of Confluence Park in downtown Denver. Larimer, along with associates in the
St. Charles 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. St Charles City and Auraria, after a catastrophic flood of the
Cherry Creek, joined forces to form a new town, named "Denver City" 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 the latter had already resigned as governor.
After statehood, Denver remained the seat of Arapahoe County until the creation of the City and County of Denver
1902
In 1865, Denver became the capital of the Colorado Territory
The mid 1880s saw a huge rise in city corruption, as crime bosses, such as Soapy Smith, worked side-by-side with
elected officials and the police, to control the elections, gambling, and the bunko gangs. By 1890, Denver had
grown to be the second largest city west of Omaha, Nebraska, second only to San Francisco. It would lose the title
at the turn of the century to Los Angeles.
Denver has 79 neighborhoods that the city and community groups use for planning and administration. View Map.
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About Denver
Denver is the county seat of, and shares the same borders
with, Denver County.
Nicknames:
Denver is nicknamed "The Mile-High City" because its official elevation, engraved on the fifteenth step of the state capitol
building, is one statute mile (5,280 feet or 1,609 m) 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.
Other nicknames that Denver has had include The Rail City, for the city's importance as a North American rail hub, and Capital of the Rocky Mountain Empire,
for the city's pre-eminence in the Rocky Mountain region
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Surrounding Counties:
Arapahoe
Adams
Douglas
Jefferson
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