Why is Denver called the Mile High City?
Denver's official elevation is exactly one mile, or 5,280 feet, above sea level. The specific benchmark for this elevation is marked on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building.
Questions about Denver
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who founded Denver and when was it established?
General William Larimer staked a claim on the 22nd of November 1858, and named the townsite Denver City after Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver, hoping it would help the settlement become a county seat. Larimer was unaware that Governor Denver had already resigned from office. The city was formally incorporated on the 7th of November 1861.
Why did Denver refuse to host the 1976 Winter Olympics?
In November 1972, Colorado voters rejected ballot initiatives that would have allocated public funds for the games, forcing the Olympics to move to Innsbruck, Austria. The movement against hosting was driven largely by environmental concerns and was led by State Representative Richard Lamm. Denver became the only city in history to decline to host an Olympiad after being selected.
What was the Sand Creek massacre and how does it relate to Denver's history?
The Sand Creek massacre occurred during the Colorado War of 1864-1865, which grew out of disputes over the Treaty of Fort Wise. That treaty had required Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples to cede more than 90 percent of the lands previously recognized by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, including the area of modern Denver. By the end of the 1860s, indigenous peoples had been removed from the Denver area entirely.
What was the Rocky Flats Plant and how did it affect Denver?
The Rocky Flats Plant was a Department of Energy nuclear weapons facility about 15 miles from Denver that operated from 1953 to 1989. A fire in 1957 and waste leakage between 1958 and 1968 contaminated parts of Denver with plutonium-239, a radioactive substance with a half-life of 24,200 years. A 1981 study by Jefferson County health director Carl Johnson linked the contamination to increased rates of birth defects and cancer in central Denver.
When did Denver first legalize marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms?
In 2005, Denver became the first major U.S. city to vote to legalize private possession of less than an ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and older, with 53.5 percent of voters in favor. In May 2019, Denver became the first U.S. city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms after a ballot initiative passed with 50.6 percent of the vote; Colorado subsequently legalized psilocybin at the state level in 2022.