Golden (Colorado)

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Golden
Washington Street in Golden
Washington Street in Golden
Location in Colorado
Jefferson County Colorado Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Golden Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : June 16, 1859
State : United States
State : Colorado
County : Jefferson County
Coordinates : 39 ° 45 ′  N , 105 ° 13 ′  W Coordinates: 39 ° 45 ′  N , 105 ° 13 ′  W
Time zone : Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 )
Residents : 18,867 (as of 2010)
Population density : 809.7 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 23.3 km 2  (approx. 9 mi 2 ) of
which 23.3 km 2  (approx. 9 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 1730 m
Postcodes : 80400-80499
Area code : +1 303, 720
FIPS : 08-30835
GNIS ID : 0202837
Website : ci.golden.co.us
Mayor : Jacob Smith

Golden is a city in Jefferson County in the US state of Colorado , United States , and is the seat of the county administration. Golden is part of the greater Denver area and is approximately 25 km from there. The city was named after the gold prospector Thomas L. Golden .

Golden City, as the city was then called, was founded during the Pike Peak Gold Rush on June 16, 1859 and was the capital of the Jefferson Territory from 1860–1861 and the capital of the Colorado Territory from 1862–1867 . It was not until 1867 that the seat of the territory's government was moved to the city of Denver, some 20 km further east.

The Colorado School of Mines and the Coors Brewing Company are located in Golden. The town is also the birthplace of Jolly Rancher , a candy brand that has since been bought out by the Hershey Company . Famed western entertainer William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody is buried on nearby Lookout Mountain .

The largest earthquake information center in the United States, the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) is located in Golden. It determines the strength of earthquakes worldwide and notifies governments, agencies, scientists and the general public around the clock. The Colorado Railroad Museum and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are also located in Golden.

geography

Golden's geographic coordinates are 39 ° 45 '  N , 105 ° 13'  W (39.746837, −105.210911). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has an area of ​​23.3 km 2 , all of which is land.

Golden is located on Clear Creek on the eastern foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains . Within the urban area are North and South Table Mountain , Mount Zion, Lookout Mountain, and Clear Creek. Mount Zion is clearly visible because of the large white M, which stands for the Colorado School of Mines .

Golden is largely located directly north of Interstate 70 , to which Golden is connected via US Highway 6 . The Colorado State Highway 470 has its starting point in Golden. In addition, the lead US Highway 40 and Colorado State Highways CO 58 and CO 93 through the city.

Golden is now a western suburb of Denver, to whose metropolitan area the city belongs. As part of the FasTracks project, the city ​​is to become the end point of a new light rail line.

history

Founded during the gold rush, Golden quickly became an economic and political center of the region and a hub for trade between the gold rush settlements and the east. In late 1860, in a referendum, it became the county seat of the provisional Jefferson Territory. Although the city lost much of its population and leading residents during the Civil War - due in part to economic and military reasons - Golden became the capital of the Colorado Territory in 1862 and remained so until 1867. At certain times there were four flour mills, five Smelters, the first railway line into the Colorado mountains, the Coors Brewery , brickworks, the only paper mill west of Missouri at the time , pits for clay and coal and other operations. The Golden Transcript newspaper was founded in 1866. During the 1870s, three higher education institutions, the Colorado University Schools , emerged, of which the Colorado School of Mines still exists today . In Golden there was also an opera house and seven churches, including the historically third church building of Colorado with a Methodist church, the oldest church of the Baptists , as well as the first church buildings of the Disciples of Christ and also the Lutherans , which was built by Swedish immigrants. There were significant communities of German, Swedish, Italian and Chinese immigrants in the city, five of whom later became mayors of Golden.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Golden remained a small town with around 2500 inhabitants. Several industries died or were tragically wiped out, while others flourished, including brewing, brickworks, clay mining, and the china industry. Golden was connected to Denver's local public transport system by two trolleybus routes and a cinema replaced the opera house. Urban renewal efforts began in the 1920s . The historic cultural tension between the north and the south of the city built out and the city succeeded in overcoming the silver crash of 1893 and the Great Depression . The School of Mines achieved a world-wide recognized academic reputation; Coors became a leader in the brewing and ceramics industries.

After World War II , Golden boomed. The population and economy grew rapidly. In 1959, the city tripled in size as large areas of the south were incorporated, including the new Magic Mountain theme park. A number of new districts were created and the public infrastructure was modernized. New buildings for the senior high school, town hall, library, museum, main fire station and police headquarters were built. Department stores and food markets were also built. The oil crisis and the almost simultaneous collapse of several department stores in the city center led to a recession in the early 1980s. In 1993, the old Golden High School building was converted into the American Mountaineering Center. The Coors Brewery developed into the world's largest single brewery, the subsidiary CoorsTek into one of the leading companies in the porcelain industry.

Culture

Golden is home to the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra , which has performed regularly in the Bunker Auditorium in the Green Center of the Colorado School of Mines since 1953. An art exhibition is located in the historic First Presbyterian Church of Golden and Unger House . There are two theater groups in town; one of them has existed since 1986 and performs in the Heritage Square Music Hall. The second group has been playing at the Miners Alley Playhouse in central Golden since 2001. There are also several museums in the city, including the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Colorado Railroad Museum , Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum, Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum , Golden History Center, Astor House Hotel Museum, and Clear Creek History Park.

Several annually recurring events take place in Golden, including the E-Days of the Colorado School of Mines in April since 1927, two fireworks for Independence Day since 1971 and 1972 , an art festival in August since 1990, and in September since 1978 Golden Festival and since 1972 a Christmas market in November and December. The biggest event since 1946 has taken place in late July, the Buffalo Bill Days.

The American Mountaineering Center is home to the American Alpine Club and The Colorado Mountain Club . The Henry S. Hall, Jr. American Alpine Club Library and the Colorado Mountain Club Collection are the world's largest repository of mountaineering literature.

administration

Golden is a Home Rule Municipality organized City . It is run by the city council and a city manager. The seven-member, directly elected city council consists of the mayor elected by the entire city population, two members, each representing one district , and four other members, each representing one ward , with two wards forming one of the two districts . The city council appoints and controls the city director. The city director is responsible for the daily routine of the city administration; he is the head of the city administration and leads its employees.

Golden was one of the first self-governing cities in Colorado. Since 1860, the composition of the city council has been determined by regular elections.

traffic

Urban road network

Most of the city's streets are aligned with the historic street grid. This is based on the course of the Clear Creek from northwest to southeast. Most of these streets are 20 meters wide, including the sidewalks, which in the older parts of the city are separated from the carriageway by a strip of greenery with tall trees. The only street that has not been named "street" is the main thoroughfare, 25 m wide Washington Avenue, which is lined with trees and ornate lanterns. Golden's streets are numbered if they run from east to west and the streets from north to south bear the names of pioneers, Indian tribes and trees. In the southeastern part of the city, the streets are aligned with the Denver grid. Accordingly, they follow the cardinal points exactly and also have the names given to these streets in the Denver metropolitan area. Neighborhoods on the outskirts have their own, often winding, streets that connect to varying degrees with the rest of the city. Several of the thoroughfares date back to the gold rush days, including West 44th Avenue, West 32nd Avenue, and South Golden Road.

Highways

Golden has been at the crossroads of major thoroughfares since it was founded. Interstate 70 runs through the southern part of the city. The Colorado State Highway 470, which runs in a southerly direction, also begins there . Colorado State Highway 6 , built in 1950, runs east-west through south Golden before turning north and through the west of the city to Clear Creek Canyon. Colorado State Highway 93 , whose beginnings date back to the 1860s, heads north towards Boulder . Colorado State Highway 58 divides Golden between 6th and 7th Streets in an east-west direction and also leads up the Clear Creek Canyon. West Colfax Avenue , the historic State Highway 40 runs northeast to southwest through the south of the city and runs parallel to I-70 west through Mt. Vernon Canyon.

Bus and rail transport

The city of Golden is on the public transit network, which provides bus and light rail connections in the Denver metropolitan area. Bus routes 16, 16L, 17, 44L, and GS connect the city to Denver and Boulder. A light rail line is under construction along 6th Avenue to Golden to the terminus at Jefferson County Government Center. Golden has been connected to the railway network since 1870 . Today, however, people are no longer transported, but the BNSF only transports goods for industry, trade and commerce in the northeast of the city. The Coors Brewery is also connected to the railway network and operates its own railway on the company premises. A tourist narrow-gauge train leaves from Heritage Square.

air traffic

The nearest airport is the nearby Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in northeast Jefferson County, but Denver International Airport in northeast Denver is generally used by air passengers .

Demographics

Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado
Population development
Census Residents ± in%
1860 1014 -
1870 587 -42.1%
1880 2730 365.1%
1890 2383 -12.7%
1900 2152 -9.7%
1910 2477 15.1%
1920 2481 0.2%
1930 1013 -59.2%
1940 1339 32.2%
1950 2382 77.9%
1960 7118 198.8%
1970 9817 37.9%
1980 12,237 24.7%
2000 17,159 -
2010 18,867 10%

At the time of the United States Census 2000, Golden inhabited 17,159 people. The population density was 735.3 people per km 2 . There were 7146 housing units at an average of 306.2 per km 2 . The population of Golden was 90.66% White , 1.03% Black or African American , 1.05% Native American , 2.99% Asian , 0.06% Pacific Islander , 1.98% said other races belong to and 2.24% named two or more races. 6.59% of the population declared to be Hispanic or Latinos of any race.

The residents of Goldens distributed to 6877 households out of which 26.4% were living in children under 18 years. 44.7% of households were married, 8.8% had a female head of the household without a husband and 43.1% did not form families. 29.5% of households were made up of individuals and someone lived in 5.9% of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.85 people.

The population was divided into 20.3% minors, 16.9% 18–24 year olds, 33.4% 25–44 year olds, 21.4% 45–64 year olds and 8.0% aged 65 years or more. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 women there were 120.2 men. For every 100 women over 18, there were 118.7 men.

The median household income in Golden was 49,115 US dollars and the median family income reached the amount of 67,414 US dollars. The median income for men was $ 41,822 compared to $ 32,413 for women. The per capita income was $ 25,257. 11.3% of the population and 3.5% of families had an income below the poverty line , including 6.4% of minors and 7.6% of those aged 65 and over.

education

Golden, which historically housed Colorado's second school, is now part of Jefferson County's R-1 School District . There are three elementary schools in town, Mitchell, Shelton, and Ralston, as well as Bell Middle School and Golden High School . The Colorado School of Mines is one of the oldest public higher education institutions in the state; their campus is in the heart of the city.

Sports

Golden High School athletes participate in team and individual sports, with the beginnings of the football division dating back to the 1890s. The Colorado School of Mines competes in NCAA Division II, including football (since 1888), baseball, and basketball. A nationally known kayak trail is located at Clear Creek . There are opportunities for climbing, hiking, mountain biking and paragliding in the vicinity of the city. So far, Golden has three major league baseball players and two Olympic medalists.

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Golden, Colorado  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files
View east from Mt. Zion to Golden. The Coors site can be seen in the center of the picture, with the North and South Table Mountains on the left and right in the background.