History of Denver, Colorado
Encyclopedia
The history of Denver details the history of the City and County of Denver, Colorado
, United States.
and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek (in the present-day suburb of Englewood
) that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. News spread rapidly and by autumn hundreds of men were working the along the South Platte River. By spring 1859, tens of thousands of gold seekers arrived and the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was under way. In the following two years, about 100,000 gold seekers flocked to the region.
, Kansas Territory
, in November of 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 would become the Denver Metropolitan Area. The site faded quickly, however, and was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named after the gold-mining town of Auraria, Georgia
) and St. Charles City by the summer of 1859. The Montana City site is now Grant-Frontier Park
and includes mining equipment and a log cabin replica.
In November 1858, General William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, placed 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 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 curry favor with Kansas territorial governor James W. Denver
, 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. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria.
Denver at first was a mining settlement, where gold prospectors panned gold from the sands of nearby Cherry Creek and the South Platte River
. But the prospectors discovered that the gold deposits in these streams were discouragingly poor and quickly exhausted. It appeared that Denver City might become an instant ghost town, but discoveries by George A. Jackson and John H. Gregory of rich gold deposits in the mountains west of Denver in early 1859 assured Denver's future as a supply hub for the new mines in the mountains.
was elected Governor. Governor Steele opened the first session of the Jefferson Territorial Legislature in Denver City on November 7, 1859. On December 3, 1859, the legislature approved the consolidation and incorporation of the City of Denver, Auraria, and Highland. On January 1, 1860, Samuel Beall
wrote a memorial to the Congress of the United States requesting federal approval for the newly formed Territory of Jefferson. The Congress, embroiled in the tumultuous debate over slavery, failed to consider the new territory. The election of Abraham Lincoln
for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the secession
of nine southern slave states and the threat of civil war among the states
. The departure of the seceding state delegates and the arrival of newly elected Republican
delegates shifted the balance of power in Congress.
On February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan
signed an Act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado. On March 25, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed William Gilpin
of Missouri
the first Governor of the Territory of Colorado. Governor Gilpin arrived in Denver City on May 29, 1861. On April 12, 1861, South Carolina
artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter
to start the American Civil War
. The Colorado General Assembly
first met on September 9, 1861. The legislature created 17 counties for the Colorado Territory on November 1, 1861, including a new Arapahoe County with Denver City as its seat
. The legislature approved the reincorporation of the City of Denver, Auraria, and Highland as Denver City on November 7, 1861. Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation
in 1902. In 1865, Denver City became the Territorial Capital. With its new-found importance, Denver City shortened its name to just Denver. On August 1, 1876, Denver became the temporary state capital when Colorado was admitted to the Union., and a statewide vote in 1881 made Denver the permanent state capital.
In the 1880s silver was discovered in the nearby mountains, leading Denver to a new surge of gaudiness and opulence, typified by Tabor's fancy opera house. The silver madness was as economically unstable as the gold rush 20 years before. The landmark 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1893 was designed by noted local architect Frank Edbrooke.
In 1893 financial panic swept the nation, and the silver boom collapsed. By this time, however, the city's economy was gaining a more stable base rooted in railroads, wholesale trade, manufacturing, food processing, and servicing the growing agricultural and ranching hinterland. For example, between 1870 and 1890, manufacturing output soared from $600,000 to $40 million, and population grew by a factor of 20 times to 107,000. It was the nation's #26 city in size.
The 1880s and 1890s saw more corruption as underworld bosses such as Soapy Smith
and Lou Blonger
worked side-by-side with city officials and police to profit from gambling and other criminal enterprises. The city provided lavishly for the lusts of the rich miners visiting the city. There was a range of bawdy houses to fit every pocketbook, from the sumptuous quarters of renowned madams such as Mattie Silks and Jenny Rogers to the most squalid "cribs" located a few blocks farther north along Market Street. Gambling flourished as sharp-eyed bunco artists exploited every chance to separate miners from their hard-earned gold. Edward Chase ran scrupulously honest games in several elegant establishments and regularly entertained many of Denver's most influential leaders. By 1880 Denver's vice district ranked only slightly behind San Francisco's Barbary Coast and New Orleans's Storyville. Most of the city's seamiest attractions were within a few steps of the railroad station, but newsstands sold guidebooks that provided additional addresses. Sin was good for business; visitors spent lavishly, then left town. As long as madams conducted their business discreetly, and "crib girls" did not advertise their availability too crudely, authorities took their bribes and looked the other way. Occasional cleanups and crack downs satisfied the demands for reform.
was a great 3 day party featuring parades, masquerading, music and dance which nominally commemorated the settlement of the West. From 1895 to 1902 it provided relief from the economic and psychological depression resulting from the Panic of 1893
which devastated silver mining in Colorado.
, 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 take on a "big city" image. The population doubled between 1900 and 1920, reaching 256,000. Growth rates slowed somewhat, as the total in 1940 was 322,000, with few people as yet living in the suburbs.
Local boosters created the National Stock Growers Conventions in 1898 and 1899. The National Western Stock Show began in 1907 as an annual event attracting cattlemen from a wide region. The Progressive Era
brought an Efficiency Movement
, typified in 1902 when the city and Denver County were made coextensive;
Denver pioneered the juvenile court movement under Judge Ben Lindsey (1869–1943), a nationally famous reformer. Mayor Robert Speer was a prominent progressive who gave the city world leadership in building parks. Boasting itself the "Queen City of the Plains," Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908, then waited 100 years for its return.
was the religious wing of the progressive movement which had the aim of combating injustice, suffering and poverty in society. Denver, Colorado
, was a center of Social Gospel activism. Thomas Uzzel led the Methodist People's Tabernacle from 1885 to 1910. He established a free dispensary for medical emergencies, an employment bureau for job seekers, a summer camp for children, night schools for extended learning, and English language classes. The Baptist minister Jim Goodhart set up an employment bureau, and provided food and lodging for tramps and hobos at the mission he ran. He became city chaplain and director of public welfare of Denver in 1918. Besides these Protestants, Reform Jews and Catholics helped build Denver's social welfare system in the early 20th century. Myron W. Reed was the leading Christian socialist in the American West in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. He came to the city in 1884 as pastor of the affluent First Congregational Church. Christian socialism, for Reed, meant that the state should manage production and instill cooperation to provide what he called "the comfortable life" for all. He was a leader in the city's Charity Organization Society, even while questioning that organization's efforts to distinguish the "worthy" from the "unworthy" poor. Reed spoke out for the rights of labor unions and was voted out of his pulpit during the bitter 1894 strike at Cripple Creek. He ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1886 and worked for Colorado's Populist party in the 1890s. A former abolitionist Reed spoke out for African American and Native American rights while denouncing Chinese and eastern European immigrants as dependent tools of corporations who were lowering "American" standards of living.
, and the railroad brotherhoods. After being welcomed at the 1908 Democratic National Convention, held in Denver, the AFL unions, who formed the Denver Trades and Labor Assembly, generally supported Democratic candidates. A major strike in 1920 by workers on the street railroads led to violence with seven dead and 52 seriously wounded until federal troops arrived.
In 1902 Arapahoe County was split into three parts: a new consolidated
City and County of Denver, a new Adams County
, and the remainder of the Arapahoe County to be renamed South Arapahoe County
.
In early 1913, members of the Industrial Workers of the World
, known as the Wobblies, conducted a free speech fight
in Denver. City authorities had refused to allow IWW organizers to speak to people on street corners. Union members challenged the policy, with the aim of filling the jails to put pressure on city leaders. The Wobbly tactic, which they had employed successfully for half a decade throughout the North and West, clogged the courts so they couldn't handle anything but free speech cases. Taxpayers complained that they were being forced to feed "whole armies of jailed Wobblies." In her autobiography, Emma Goldman
wrote of twenty-seven IWW members, arrested during the Denver free speech fight, who were "tortured in the sweat-box for refusing to work on the rock-pile. On their release they marched through the streets with banners and songs..." The union eventually won the right to speak to workers, and within a year had formed two Denver "branches."
was staged to promote Denver's prominence, and to signify the city's participation on the national political and socioeconomic stage.
Invention of the cheeseburger
was claimed by Louis Ballast who operated Denver's Humpty Dumpty Barrel drive-in. He applied for a patent on his invention in 1935.
Denver was a gathering point for poets of 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
, and he helped found the Buddhist college, Naropa University
or the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa" in nearby Boulder
.
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 Representative Richard Lamm
. Lamm was subsequently elected as Colorado governor in 1974.
(1983–1991) became the city's first Latino mayor in 1983. One of his central campaign messages was a promise of inclusiveness targeted at minorities. Latino turnout reached 73% in 1983, a contrast to the usually low Latino rates elsewhere.
In 1991, at a time the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, Wellington Webb
won a come-from-behind victory as the city's first black mayor (1991–2003). The Hispanic and Black minority communities supported each other's candidates at 75-85% levels. Webb, who won 44% of the white vote, reached out to the business community, promoting downtown economic development and major projects such as the new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his administration, Denver built the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in the historic Five Points Neighborhood, and helped pass several neighborhood bonds for infrastructure improvements citywide.
Businessman John Hickenlooper
was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote.
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, United States.
Pike's Peak Gold Rush
The Denver area, part of the Territory of Kansas was virtually unsettled until the late 1850s. Occasional parties of prospectors came looking for gold, then moved on. In July 1858, Green RussellWilliam Greeneberry Russell
William Greeneberry "Green" Russell was an American prospector and miner.Green Russell lived in Georgia and worked in the California gold fields in the 1850s. Russell was married to a Cherokee woman, and through his connections to the tribe, he heard about an 1849 discovery of gold along the...
and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek (in the present-day suburb of Englewood
Englewood, Colorado
The city of Englewood is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. As of 2007, the city is estimated to have a total population of 32,532. Englewood is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. Englewood is located in the South Platte River Valley east of the...
) that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. News spread rapidly and by autumn hundreds of men were working the along the South Platte River. By spring 1859, tens of thousands of gold seekers arrived and the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was under way. In the following two years, about 100,000 gold seekers flocked to the region.
Settlement
Denver City was founded as a mining and supply settlement in Arapahoe CountyArapahoe County, Kansas Territory
Arapahoe County was a county of the United States Territory of Kansas that existed from 1855-08-25, to 1861-01-29.-History:On 1855-08-25, the Kansas Territorial Legislature created Arapahoe County to govern the western portion of the Territory of Kansas...
, Kansas Territory
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....
, in November of 1858. That summer a group from Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
, arrived and established Montana City on the banks of the South Platte River
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
. This was the first settlement in what would become the Denver Metropolitan Area. The site faded quickly, however, and was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named after the gold-mining town of Auraria, Georgia
Auraria, Georgia
Auraria is a town in Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States, southwest of Dahlonega. Its name derives from aurum, the Latin word for gold. In its early days, it was also known variously as Dean, Deans, Nuckollsville, and Scuffle Town.-History:In 1828, a man walked Findley Ridge, kicked a rock,...
) and St. Charles City by the summer of 1859. The Montana City site is now Grant-Frontier Park
Grant-Frontier Park
Grant-Frontier Park is a park at Evans Ave. on the east bank of the South Platte River, in what is now southwest Denver, Colorado and is the site of the Montana City settlement...
and includes mining equipment and a log cabin replica.
Larimer Party
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
and Cherry Creek
Cherry Creek (Colorado)
Cherry Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, long, in Colorado in the United States.-Location:Cherry Creek rises in the high plateau, east of the Front Range, in northwestern El Paso County...
, across the creek from the existing mining settlement of Auraria.
The location was accessible to existing trails and had previously been the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
and Arapaho
Arapaho
The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the eastern plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Sioux. Arapaho is an Algonquian language closely related to Gros Ventre, whose people are seen as an early...
. 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 curry favor with Kansas territorial governor James W. Denver
James W. Denver
James William Denver was an American politician, soldier, lawyer, and esteemed actor. He served in the California state government, as an officer in the United States Army in two wars, and as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from California, as well as playing lead...
, 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. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria.
Denver at first was a mining settlement, where gold prospectors panned gold from the sands of nearby Cherry Creek and the South Platte River
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
. But the prospectors discovered that the gold deposits in these streams were discouragingly poor and quickly exhausted. It appeared that Denver City might become an instant ghost town, but discoveries by George A. Jackson and John H. Gregory of rich gold deposits in the mountains west of Denver in early 1859 assured Denver's future as a supply hub for the new mines in the mountains.
Government
On October 24, 1859, an election was held to form a provisional government for the goldfields. The formation of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was approved by a vote of 1,852 to 280, and Robert Williamson SteeleRobert Williamson Steele
Robert Williamson Steele was Governor of the extralegal Territory of Jefferson, which existed in the western United States of America from 1859 to 1861, when it was replaced by the Territory of Colorado.-Early life:...
was elected Governor. Governor Steele opened the first session of the Jefferson Territorial Legislature in Denver City on November 7, 1859. On December 3, 1859, the legislature approved the consolidation and incorporation of the City of Denver, Auraria, and Highland. On January 1, 1860, Samuel Beall
Samuel Beall
Samuel W. Beall was the second Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. He was born in Maryland; in 1827 he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York. He moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1835, where he made a fortune in land speculation; in the 1840s he settled in Taycheedah...
wrote a memorial to the Congress of the United States requesting federal approval for the newly formed Territory of Jefferson. The Congress, embroiled in the tumultuous debate over slavery, failed to consider the new territory. The election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
of nine southern slave states and the threat of civil war among the states
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The departure of the seceding state delegates and the arrival of newly elected Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
delegates shifted the balance of power in Congress.
On February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
signed an Act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado. On March 25, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed William Gilpin
William Gilpin (governor)
William Gilpin was a 19th century U.S. explorer, politician, land speculator, and futurist writer about the American West. He served as military officer in the United States Army during several wars, accompanied John C. Frémont on his second expedition through the West, and was instrumental in the...
of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
the first Governor of the Territory of Colorado. Governor Gilpin arrived in Denver City on May 29, 1861. On April 12, 1861, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
to start the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The Colorado General Assembly
Colorado General Assembly
The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado.-Constitutional definition:The Colorado Constitution establishes a system of government based on the separation of powers doctrine with power divided among three "departments": executive, legislative and judicial...
first met on September 9, 1861. The legislature created 17 counties for the Colorado Territory on November 1, 1861, including a new Arapahoe County with Denver City as its seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
. The legislature approved the reincorporation of the City of Denver, Auraria, and Highland as Denver City on November 7, 1861. Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation
Consolidated city-county
In United States local government, a consolidated city–county is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation, and a county, which is an administrative division of a state...
in 1902. In 1865, Denver City became the Territorial Capital. With its new-found importance, Denver City shortened its name to just Denver. On August 1, 1876, Denver became the temporary state capital when Colorado was admitted to the Union., and a statewide vote in 1881 made Denver the permanent state capital.
Silver and sin, 1870-1900
Between 1870 and 1890 the city's population increased from less than 5,000 to over 100,000.In the 1880s silver was discovered in the nearby mountains, leading Denver to a new surge of gaudiness and opulence, typified by Tabor's fancy opera house. The silver madness was as economically unstable as the gold rush 20 years before. The landmark 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1893 was designed by noted local architect Frank Edbrooke.
In 1893 financial panic swept the nation, and the silver boom collapsed. By this time, however, the city's economy was gaining a more stable base rooted in railroads, wholesale trade, manufacturing, food processing, and servicing the growing agricultural and ranching hinterland. For example, between 1870 and 1890, manufacturing output soared from $600,000 to $40 million, and population grew by a factor of 20 times to 107,000. It was the nation's #26 city in size.
The 1880s and 1890s saw more corruption as underworld bosses such as Soapy Smith
Soapy Smith
Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
and Lou Blonger
Lou Blonger
Lou Blonger , born Louis Herbert Belonger, was a Wild West saloonkeeper, gambling-house owner, and mine speculator, but is best known as the kingpin of an extensive ring of confidence tricksters that operated for more than 25 years in Denver, Colorado...
worked side-by-side with city officials and police to profit from gambling and other criminal enterprises. The city provided lavishly for the lusts of the rich miners visiting the city. There was a range of bawdy houses to fit every pocketbook, from the sumptuous quarters of renowned madams such as Mattie Silks and Jenny Rogers to the most squalid "cribs" located a few blocks farther north along Market Street. Gambling flourished as sharp-eyed bunco artists exploited every chance to separate miners from their hard-earned gold. Edward Chase ran scrupulously honest games in several elegant establishments and regularly entertained many of Denver's most influential leaders. By 1880 Denver's vice district ranked only slightly behind San Francisco's Barbary Coast and New Orleans's Storyville. Most of the city's seamiest attractions were within a few steps of the railroad station, but newsstands sold guidebooks that provided additional addresses. Sin was good for business; visitors spent lavishly, then left town. As long as madams conducted their business discreetly, and "crib girls" did not advertise their availability too crudely, authorities took their bribes and looked the other way. Occasional cleanups and crack downs satisfied the demands for reform.
Music halls
In legitimate entertainment, music stood high, beginning with the Apollo Hall in 1859. The Denver Theatre, home of the city's first opera performance in 1864, the Tabor Grand Opera House (1881)and the Broadway Theatre (1890–1955) brought in internationally renowned performers. Many other theaters were built, most of which did not last very long. Denver churches were also important venues for music performances in the last half of the 19th century.Festival of Mountain and Plain
Promoted by William N. Byers publisher of the Rocky Mountain News the Festival of Mountain and PlainFestival of Mountain and Plain
The Festival of Mountain and Plain was an annual celebration of pioneer days in the Old West held in early October in Denver from 1895 to 1899, and in 1901 with a final attempt at revival in 1912. Organized by The Mountain and Plain Festival Association, the event featured a parade and rodeo. It...
was a great 3 day party featuring parades, masquerading, music and dance which nominally commemorated the settlement of the West. From 1895 to 1902 it provided relief from the economic and psychological depression resulting from the Panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
which devastated silver mining in Colorado.
Twentieth century
Progressive era: 1900-1945
By 1890, Denver had grown to be the fifth-largest city west of the Mississippi RiverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, and surpassed Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
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 take on a "big city" image. The population doubled between 1900 and 1920, reaching 256,000. Growth rates slowed somewhat, as the total in 1940 was 322,000, with few people as yet living in the suburbs.
Local boosters created the National Stock Growers Conventions in 1898 and 1899. The National Western Stock Show began in 1907 as an annual event attracting cattlemen from a wide region. The Progressive Era
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
brought an Efficiency Movement
Efficiency Movement
The Efficiency Movement was a major movement in the United States, Britain and other industrial nations in the early 20th century that sought to identify and eliminate waste in all areas of the economy and society, and to develop and implement best practices. The concept covered mechanical,...
, typified in 1902 when the city and Denver County were made coextensive;
Denver pioneered the juvenile court movement under Judge Ben Lindsey (1869–1943), a nationally famous reformer. Mayor Robert Speer was a prominent progressive who gave the city world leadership in building parks. Boasting itself the "Queen City of the Plains," Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908, then waited 100 years for its return.
Religion
The Social GospelSocial Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
was the religious wing of the progressive movement which had the aim of combating injustice, suffering and poverty in society. Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, was a center of Social Gospel activism. Thomas Uzzel led the Methodist People's Tabernacle from 1885 to 1910. He established a free dispensary for medical emergencies, an employment bureau for job seekers, a summer camp for children, night schools for extended learning, and English language classes. The Baptist minister Jim Goodhart set up an employment bureau, and provided food and lodging for tramps and hobos at the mission he ran. He became city chaplain and director of public welfare of Denver in 1918. Besides these Protestants, Reform Jews and Catholics helped build Denver's social welfare system in the early 20th century. Myron W. Reed was the leading Christian socialist in the American West in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. He came to the city in 1884 as pastor of the affluent First Congregational Church. Christian socialism, for Reed, meant that the state should manage production and instill cooperation to provide what he called "the comfortable life" for all. He was a leader in the city's Charity Organization Society, even while questioning that organization's efforts to distinguish the "worthy" from the "unworthy" poor. Reed spoke out for the rights of labor unions and was voted out of his pulpit during the bitter 1894 strike at Cripple Creek. He ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1886 and worked for Colorado's Populist party in the 1890s. A former abolitionist Reed spoke out for African American and Native American rights while denouncing Chinese and eastern European immigrants as dependent tools of corporations who were lowering "American" standards of living.
Women leaders
Women suffrage came early, in 1893, led by married middle class women who organized first for prohibition and then for suffrage, with the goal of upholding republican citizenship for women and purifying society. The Denver Fortnighly Club played a major role. Caroline Nichols Churchill, edited and published the Colorado Antelope, subsequently the Queen Bee, beginning in 1879 and boasted that she and her journal played a crucial role in the passage of the referendum in 1893 that granted the vote to women in Colorado. There was a strained relationship between the radical and eccentric Churchill and the mainstream women, as Churchill was a confrontational and outspoken proponent of the equal rights of minority ethnic groups.World War II and after
Until World War II, Denver's economy was dependent mainly on the processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. During the war and in the years following, specialized industries were introduced into the city, making it a major manufacturing center. Population expanded rapidly, and many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. Many of Denver's finest buildings of the frontier era were demolished, such as the Tabor Opera House, as the city has expanded upward and outward and acquired new lands for buildings and parking lots.Labor unions
Labor unions were active in Denver, especially the construction and printing crafts affiliated with the AFLAmerican Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
, and the railroad brotherhoods. After being welcomed at the 1908 Democratic National Convention, held in Denver, the AFL unions, who formed the Denver Trades and Labor Assembly, generally supported Democratic candidates. A major strike in 1920 by workers on the street railroads led to violence with seven dead and 52 seriously wounded until federal troops arrived.
In 1902 Arapahoe County was split into three parts: a new consolidated
Consolidated city-county
In United States local government, a consolidated city–county is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation, and a county, which is an administrative division of a state...
City and County of Denver, a new Adams County
Adams County, Colorado
Adams County is the fifth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county population was 441,603 in 2010 census, a 21.4% increase since 2000 census. Adams County is named for Alva Adams, Governor of the...
, and the remainder of the Arapahoe County to be renamed South Arapahoe County
South Arapahoe County, Colorado
South Arapahoe County was a county of the State of Colorado that existed for five months until it was renamed Arapahoe County in 1902.-History:...
.
In early 1913, members of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
, known as the Wobblies, conducted a free speech fight
Free speech fights
Free speech fights are conflicts over the right to speak freely, particularly involving the Industrial Workers of the World efforts in the early twentieth century to organize workers and publicly speak about labor issues...
in Denver. City authorities had refused to allow IWW organizers to speak to people on street corners. Union members challenged the policy, with the aim of filling the jails to put pressure on city leaders. The Wobbly tactic, which they had employed successfully for half a decade throughout the North and West, clogged the courts so they couldn't handle anything but free speech cases. Taxpayers complained that they were being forced to feed "whole armies of jailed Wobblies." In her autobiography, Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
wrote of twenty-seven IWW members, arrested during the Denver free speech fight, who were "tortured in the sweat-box for refusing to work on the rock-pile. On their release they marched through the streets with banners and songs..." The union eventually won the right to speak to workers, and within a year had formed two Denver "branches."
Politics
The 1908 Democratic National ConventionDemocratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
was staged to promote Denver's prominence, and to signify the city's participation on the national political and socioeconomic stage.
Invention of the cheeseburger
Cheeseburger
A cheeseburger is a hamburger with cheese that has been added to it. Traditionally, the cheese is placed on top of the patty, but the burger can include many variations in structure, ingredients, and composition...
was claimed by Louis Ballast who operated Denver's Humpty Dumpty Barrel drive-in. He applied for a patent on his invention in 1935.
Since 1945
Up until World War II, Denver's economy was dependent mainly on the processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. During the war and in the years following, specialized industries were introduced into the city, making it a major manufacturing center. Population expanded rapidly, and many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. Many of Denver's finest buildings of the frontier era were demolished, such as the Tabor Opera House, as the city has expanded upward and outward and acquired new lands for buildings and parking lots. By 1950 middle class families were moving away from downtown to larger houses and better schools; the subsurbs started the rapid growth.Denver was a gathering point for poets of the "beat generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
." Beat icon Neal Cassady
Neal Cassady
Neal Leon Cassady was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s. He served as the model for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road....
was raised on Larimer Street in Denver, and a portion of Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
's beat masterpiece On the Road
On the Road
On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...
takes place in the city, and is based on the beat's actual experiences in Denver during a road trip. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
lived for a time in the Denver suburb of Lakewood
Lakewood, Colorado
Lakewood is a Home Rule Municipality that is the most populous city in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Lakewood is the fifth most populous city in the State of Colorado and the 172nd most populous city in the United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that in April 1, 2010...
, and he helped found the Buddhist college, Naropa University
Naropa University
Naropa University is a private American liberal arts university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Oxford University scholar Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda.Naropa describes itself as...
or the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa" in nearby Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
.
Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics
1976 Winter Olympics
The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated February 4–15, 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria...
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
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. The movement against hosting the games was based largely on environmental issues and was led by then State Representative Richard Lamm
Richard Lamm
Richard Douglas "Dick" Lamm is an American politician, Certified Public Accountant, college professor, and lawyer. He served three terms as 38th Governor of Colorado as a Democrat and ran for the Reform Party's nomination for President of the United States in 1996.He is currently the Co-Director...
. Lamm was subsequently elected as Colorado governor in 1974.
Recent politics
Federico PeñaFederico Peña
Federico Fabian Peña is a former United States Secretary of Transportation from 1993 to 1997 and United States Secretary of Energy from 1997 to 1998, during the presidency of Bill Clinton....
(1983–1991) became the city's first Latino mayor in 1983. One of his central campaign messages was a promise of inclusiveness targeted at minorities. Latino turnout reached 73% in 1983, a contrast to the usually low Latino rates elsewhere.
In 1991, at a time the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, Wellington Webb
Wellington Webb
Wellington E. Webb is a former mayor of Denver, Colorado. He is a graduate of the city's Manual High School. He was Denver's first African-American Mayor.Webb served as mayor of Denver for 12 years, from 1991 to 2003...
won a come-from-behind victory as the city's first black mayor (1991–2003). The Hispanic and Black minority communities supported each other's candidates at 75-85% levels. Webb, who won 44% of the white vote, reached out to the business community, promoting downtown economic development and major projects such as the new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his administration, Denver built the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in the historic Five Points Neighborhood, and helped pass several neighborhood bonds for infrastructure improvements citywide.
Businessman John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper
John Wright Hickenlooper is an American politician and current Governor of Colorado. A Democrat, he was previously the Mayor of Denver, Colorado from 2003 to 2011.-Early life, education and career:...
was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote.
See also
- Arapahoe County, Kansas TerritoryArapahoe County, Kansas TerritoryArapahoe County was a county of the United States Territory of Kansas that existed from 1855-08-25, to 1861-01-29.-History:On 1855-08-25, the Kansas Territorial Legislature created Arapahoe County to govern the western portion of the Territory of Kansas...
- Arrappahoe County, Jefferson TerritoryArrappahoe County, Jefferson TerritoryArrappahoe County was a county of the extralegal United States Territory of Jefferson that existed from November 28, 1859, until February 28, 1861. The county name was also spelled Arapaho County, Arapahoe County, Arrapahoe County, and Arappahoe County.-History:In July 1858, gold was discovered...
- Arapahoe County, Colorado Territory
- City and County of Denver, Colorado
- History of ColoradoHistory of ColoradoThe human history of Colorado extends back more than 13,000 years. The region that is today the state of Colorado was first inhabited by Native Americans...
- Territory of Kansas
- Territory of Jefferson
- Territory of Colorado
- State of Colorado
External links
- City and County of Denver website
- Soapy Smith: Denver Crime Boss
- The Blonger Gang
- 1905 Magazine Article with photos