Black Hawk (Colorado)
| Black Hawk | |
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 View of the small town of Black Hawk |
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| Location in county and in Colorado | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | June 12, 1886 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Colorado |
| County : | Gilpin County |
| Coordinates : | 39 ° 48 ′ N , 105 ° 30 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 ) |
| Residents : | 114 (as of 2009) |
| Population density : | 30 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 3.8 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) of which 3.8 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 2602 m |
| Postcodes : | 80403, 80422 |
| Area code : | +1 303 |
| FIPS : | 08-07025 |
| GNIS ID : | 0204706 |
| Website : | www.cityofblackhawk.org |
| Mayor : | Richard F. Lessner |
 Restored Colorado Central Railroad locomotive |
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Black Hawk is a small town in the central part of the US state Colorado and is located about 50 km west of Denver in Gilpin County . As the center of the Colorado gold rush , the mining town, together with neighboring Central City, was instrumental in the development of Denver and the state of Colorado from 1859 onwards . With the legalization of gambling in Colorado in 1991, Black Hawk became one of the most important gambling havens in Colorado.
history
News of gold discoveries in the Front Range led thousands of prospectors and miners to the Gregory Gulch , a ravine in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains , from 1859 . In the months before, the nearby region at the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek , today's Denver, proved to be quite unproductive. The Colorado Central Railroad expanded its railroad network to Black Hawk in the early 1870s, giving the young mountain settlement a further boost in growth. The neighboring Central City was also developed; the Gilpin Tramway , which ran from Black Hawk to the mines, connected the two places. Today, a restored freight yard and a locomotive to the east of the city center are a reminder of the city's early history.
Black Hawk saved a referendum in 1990 to legalize gambling in Colorado from insignificance. After the majority of the population approved the proposal, Black Hawk and Central City developed into the most important player havens in the state in the 1990s. The city's historic facades were restored and by the turn of the millennium, numerous companies were promoting the construction of casinos , hotels and entertainment complexes. Fierce competition broke out between the two neighboring cities. Central City in particular suffered from the situation that Denver and Golden Black Hawk were first reached on Highway 119 . Central City drove a direct development of the city with the freeway I-70 and opened on November 19, 2004 a 13 km long freeway (Central City Parkway) , over which Black Hawk is bypassed.
