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Geographical description: Contrary to popular belief, Denver is not in the mountains -- it is near them. The "Foothills" (a gentle series of peaks ranging from 7,000 to 11,000 feet high (2,133 to 3,353 meters high) start to rise 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of the city. Slightly beyond that is the Continental Divide and a series of peaks soaring to heights of 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) known locally as the "Front Range." Denver itself is located on high, rolling plains.  Although considered "Western" in character, Denver is actually located in the center of the country, just 346 miles (557 km) west of the exact center of the continental United States. With the exception of Kansas City, Denver is closer to the exact center of the nation than any other metropolitan area. The 15th step on the west side of the State Capitol Building is exactly 5,280 feet (1,609 m) ‑‑ one mile ‑‑ above sea level.  The seven county metro area covers 4,530 square miles – about three times the size of Rhode Island.

Climate: Nothing about Denver is more misunderstood than the city's climate. Located just east of a high mountain barrier and a long distance from any moisture source, Denver has a mild, dry and arid climate. The city receives only 8‑15 inches (20.3 ‑ 38 cm) of precipitation a year (about the same as Los Angeles), and records 300 days of sunshine a year ‑‑ more annual hours of sun than San Diego or Miami Beach. 

Winters are mild with an average daily high of 45 degrees Fahrenheit, 7 degrees Celsius in February, warmer than New York, Boston, Chicago or St. Louis. Snow does fall, but it usually melts in a short time. Golf courses remain open all year and have been played on as many as 30 days in January. Chinook winds (a wind blowing down from a mountain that gains heat as it loses elevation) can bring 60 degree F (16 degrees C) weather to Denver at any time throughout the winter.

In summer, dry relative humidity makes Denver feel cool and comfortable, offering natural air conditioning. Fall is a particularly delightful time to visit the city and make day excursions to the mountains to view the colorful changing of the aspens, an event that takes place from mid‑September until mid‑October.

Population:  Denver has more than doubled in population since 1960. The City & County of Denver had a population of 554,636 in 2000, making it larger than the entire population of Wyoming (which has 480,000 people). The six‑county metro area has a population of 2.4 million. Denver’s metro population has increased by 29.8% since 1990. Denver is the 20th largest metro area in America, and has the 10th largest downtown area. The City & County of Denver has a diverse ethnic population including 11.1% African American; 31.7% Hispanic; 2.8% Asian and 1.3% Native American. Metro Denver has an ethnic population of 5% Black; 18% Hispanic; 3% Asian; 

1% Native American and 3% multi-racial. All of Colorado is experiencing a population boom with over 1,000,000 people moving to the state in the last decade. Colorado’s population grew 30.5% from 1990 to 2000 with a current total of 4,301,261 residents. It was the third fastest growing state in the last decade. 

Baby Boomer Capital: Denver also is the nation's baby boomer capital, with the highest percentage of boomers of any major city, according to the 1998 U.S. Census. One third of the city is between age 35 and 54. Including small cities, only two had a higher percentage than Denver -- Santa Fe and Anchorage. Among major cities, percentage of boomers is: Denver 32.8%; Seattle 31.5%; Atlanta 31.4%; Washington 31.4%; Portland OR 31.4%; San Francisco 30.8%.

Thin City: Denver is also the "thinnest" city in America and Colorado is the thinnest state. A study by the American Cancer Society in 2002 found that Colorado is the only state in the nation in which fewer than half the people are obese. Only 48 percent of Coloradoans are overweight or obese; every other state had more than 50 percent of their population in this category. The active lifestyle in Colorado, the great weather, the abundance of recreational opportunities and the high education level are credited for this fact. A 1996 federal study of weight by cities found similar results with Denver being listed as the “thinnest” city. In 2003, Men’s Fitness Magazine named us 4th thinnest city, with Colorado still being the thinnest state.

Colorado: The State has a population of 4,301,261 in 2000, a 30.6 percent increase since 1990 with more than 1 million people moving to Colorado in the past decade. Today, approximately 350 people per day move to the metro Denver area.

Area History: Denver was born during the great "Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush" of 1859 when some flakes of placer gold were found where the South Platte River meets Cherry Creek. 

In its first few years, the city survived a flood, two major fires, several Indian attacks and even raised an army that defeated an invading force of Confederates from Texas during the Civil War. 

With the discovery of more gold in the mountains, Denver became a boomtown. Saloons, gambling halls and wagon trains lined the mud‑filled streets, and every outlaw, lawman and desperado in the West made a visit to the Mile High City.

The turn‑of‑the‑century brought respectability and the wealth of the mountains was poured into parks, fountains, statues, tree‑lined streets and elaborate mansions. Denver became the most elegant city in a thousand mile radius ‑‑ the "Queen City of the Plains." 

The building boom in recent years has seen Denver more than double in population since 1960. In 1983 alone, as much office space was added to the city as already existed. 

Cultural info:  With eight theaters offering 10,800 seats, the Denver Performing Arts Complex is the second largest performing arts center in the nation (after Lincoln Center in New York) in seating capacity and the largest in the world under one roof. Located downtown, the four‑square block center features: Boettcher Concert Hall, the nation's first symphony hall in‑the‑round. The Denver Center Theater Company which won a Tony Award in 1998 for best regional theatre acting company; the Temple Buell Theater, a new 2,800‑seat Broadway theater that opened in 1991 with Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical, "Phantom of the Opera" and hosts other top road attractions such as "The Full Monty," "Lion King" "Mama Mia" and “Sunset Boulevard,” as well as the world's first voice research laboratory. The center is entered under a block‑long glass arch and is noted for its unusual and striking architecture. 

According to Performance Magazine, in 1997 more people attended performances at the Buell Theatre than at any other 3,000-seat or smaller theatre in the nation. Over 600,000 people paid to see productions at the Buell in 1997. The Performing Arts Complex had three of the nation’s top 15 theatres in 1997, with the Auditorium Theatre placing 8th and Boettcher Concert Hall placing 12th. And in 1998, the Denver Center Theatre Company won a Tony Award for best regional theatre.

The League of American Theatres and Producers in New York declares Denver to be the 7th best market in North America for gross revenues from touring Broadway shows after Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco and Boston.

Denver has 30 other theaters and over 100 cinemas and has always had a long love affair with the arts. When Denver was a wild gold rush town in the 1870's, it boasted a theater with sold out performances of MacBeth, long before it had either a school or a hospital. 

Tips on visiting:

Denver really is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level. By an amazing stroke of good luck, one of the spots that is precisely one mile high is on the west steps of the State Capitol Building. In fact, there are two spots. When the capitol was constructed at the turn of the century, the city fathers carved "One Mile Above Sea Level" into the stone steps at what they thought was the correct place.

Because Denver became known as the Mile High City and because of its location near the Rockies, the city's strongest association has always been with mountains. Think Denver, think mountains.

Actually, Denver is built on high plains and is one of the flattest of all American cities. First time visitors are often surprised to see that tree-filled Denver spreads out like a horizontal green oasis in the middle of the vast, treeless rolling plains that comprise the eastern third of Colorado.

But the mountains are nearby, and their presence can be felt and seen on practically every street corner. The most visible peak from Denver is Mount Evans. At 14,260 feet in elevation, it is the highest peak along the eastern fringe of mountains (known locally as the Front Range) and it is one of 54 peaks in Colorado that soar to 14,000 feet or above. Two other Fourteeners can be seen clearly from Denver on most days: Pikes Peak, located 60 miles to the south, and Long's Peak, located 50 miles to the northwest. 

There are over one thousand peaks in Colorado that are at least two miles high. Between Longs Peak and Pikes Peak, there are dozens of snowcapped summits easily visible from Denver. Metal plaques on the open air rotunda of the Capitol building identify and name each of the visible peaks. This panorama from the Rotunda is one of the most gorgeous views in the city and it is against state law to build any structure that would block the view of the mountains from this observation point.

Life a Mile Above Sea Level:

Being a mile above sea level does present some differences in day-to-day life. For one thing, the sky really is bluer due to less pollution and water vapor in the upper atmosphere. Baseballs, golf balls and footballs travel 9 percent farther. Special high altitude tennis balls have to be made using toned-down rubber and less pressure and basketballs are inflated with 7-10 pounds less air than at sea level.  In Denver, water boils at 202 degrees instead of 212 degrees, and it takes four minutes to soft boil a three-minute egg and

Denver will never replace Seattle as a coffee center because it is hard to brew a perfect cup of coffee a mile above sea level. Coffee experts say that when Denver's water boils at 202 degrees, the temperature is too low to extract top flavor from coffee beans. 

But high altitude is excellent for beer, causing it to have more fizz and carbonation. However, be careful opening champagne bottles. Most of them are bottled at sea level and the change in pressure in Denver's light air causes the cork to fly out much quicker.

In fact, be careful drinking any alcohol for the first couple of days. Since the lungs have to work harder to get oxygen into the blood in high altitudes, alcohol is absorbed into the blood system quicker, speeding up the effect that a couple of drinks would normally have. The bottom line -- two or three drinks in Denver will pack more of a wallop than at sea level.

Some people experience a little shortness of breath in Denver, but generally you have to be much higher (9,000 feet and above) to feel this effect. Even when felt, the body adjusts after a day or two.

Cars made before 1987 and driven from sea level might not calculate the right air to fuel mixture and might run a little rough, but newer cars with fuel injection systems will not notice any difference at high altitude.

Strangely enough, winters feel much warmer in Colorado because high altitude means there are fewer air molecules pressing against your skin. Also, the low humidity in Denver produces a "dry cold" that most people find less penetrating than a "wet cold" at sea level.

Perhaps the most serious consideration in high altitude is ensuring proper sun protection. Mile high Denver receives 24% more ultraviolet radiation than sea level cities. The air above the mountain resorts has only half the protection from the sun's harmful rays that can be found at sea level. Sunscreen and sunglasses are a must.

Tips for High Altitude Living in Denver

• Don't overdo exercise the first day or two. Let your body adjust.
• Use sunscreen with an SPF rating of at least 15.
• Drink more liquids than you would at sea level. Denver is very dry and it's easy to become dehydrated.
• Drink less alcohol and consume less rich foods.
• Be prepared for the most beautiful sunsets. The high altitude and spectacular natural location give Denver some of the most gorgeous sunsets on earth.

State/Area Trivia and Interesting or Little Known Facts:

• In 1935, Louis Ballast melted a slice of cheese on a hamburger at his Denver Humpty Dumpty drive‑in restaurant, and patented the invention as the world's first "cheeseburger.' The restaurant is gone today, but there is a small memorial to this historic dining event at 2776 North Speer Blvd. (in the parking lot for Key Bank).
• Denver truly is one mile high. The 15th step on the west side of the State Capitol Building is 5,280 feet (1,609 m) above sea level.
• It was on top of nearby Pikes Peak in 1893 that Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to write the words to "America the Beautiful."
• The mountainous area of Colorado is six times the size of Switzerland and contains 9,600 miles (15,449 km) of fishing streams, 2,850 lakes and over 1,000 peaks two miles (3,218 km) high.
• The road up 14,260 foot (4,346 m) high Mount Evans is the highest paved road in North America ‑‑ and it is maintained and operated by Denver City Parks Department. Denver's Mountain Parks Department maintains 20,000 acres of park lands including its own private buffalo herd and Red Rocks Amphitheatre ‑‑ all part of the largest city park system in the nation.
• In hopes of gaining political favors, local boosters named the frontier mining camp on the South Platte River "Denver" after Kansas Territorial Governor James Denver. They never received any favors ‑‑ by the time they named the town, Denver had already resigned. 
• There were originally three separate towns on the current site of Denver, with three different names. In 1859, in return for a barrel of whiskey to be shared by all, the other names were dropped and the tent and log cabin city officially became "Denver."
• Denver is one of the few cities in history that was not on a road, railroad, lake, navigable river or body of water when it was founded. Denver just happened to be where the first few flakes of gold were found in 1858 and it was here that the first camp was made. The first permanent structure was a saloon.
• The Indians warned early settlers not to build there, but no one listened. In its first few years, Denver was destroyed twice, by fire and flood.
• The dome of the State Capitol in Denver is covered with 200 ounces of 24K gold, but the really priceless building material was used inside as wainscoting. It is Colorado onyx, a rare stone found near Beulah, Colorado. The entire world's supply was used in this building and no more of it has ever been found.

Information and photos submitted by:

Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau
1555 California Street, suite 300
Denver, CO  80202
303-892-1112 | www.denver.org | visitorinfo@dmcvb.org

 

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