Welcome to the Mile High City
A Brief History
of Denver
Denver was founded in the mid 1850’s as a gold mining town. However, the Platte and Cherry Creek rivers only had so much gold in them, so the urban gold rush didn’t last long. The city later transitioned to becoming a supply hub for the new mines in the mountains. Denver began to grow rapidly, eventually becoming the state capital.
Some of the richest history in the country took place in Denver. Before the 1860’s Denver was technically part of Kansas, but the county was never actually organized so a persisting lack of government services like law enforcement resulted in lots of mob activity, gambling, corruption, and surprisingly entrepreneurship – it really was The Wild West. Denver’s Pacific Railway was an integral factor in the first transcontinental rail link between the east and west coasts, ultimately promoting trade and attracting long term residents. Given its gold and silver mining background, Denver evolved into a relatively boujie destination for miners, workers, and travelers to spend their hard-earned money whether they wanted to drink, gamble, or enjoy a world class opera performance. Denver was later recognized as a prime location not only for oil and gas companies but the federal government as well. Denver went from having a small urban core surrounded by rural farms to a booming downtown dotted with skyscrapers and surrounded by growing suburbs. And now, look at us go - we’re just getting started.