Arvada

 

(ärvăd'ə) , city (1990 pop. 89,235), Jefferson and Adams counties, N central Colo., a suburb of Denver; inc. 1904. Primarily residential, Arvada has some light manufacturing. The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities is there.

City of Arvada, Colorado
Location in Jefferson County, State of Colorado
Coordinates: 39°49′12″N 105°6′40″W / 39.82, -105.11111
Country	United States
State	State of Colorado
Counties	Jefferson and Adams
Settled	1859[3]
Platted	1870-12-01[3]
Incorporated	1904-08-24[3][4]
Government
- Type	Home Rule Municipality
- Mayor	Ken Fellman, Esq.[1]
- City Manager	Craig Kocian[2]
Area
- City	km²  ( sq mi)
- Land	km² ( sq mi)
- Water	km² ( sq mi)
Elevation	m ( ft)
Population (2006-07-01)
- City
- Density	/km² (/sq mi)
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
- Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC-6)
ZIP codes	80001-80007 and 80403[5]
Area code(s)	303, 720
FIPS code	08-03455
GNIS feature ID	0204709
Website: http://www.arvada.org/

The City of Arvada (IPA: /aɹˈvædə/) is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson County and Adams County of the State of Colorado in the United States. Arvada is a northwest suburb of Denver. Olde Town Arvada is located  miles ( km) northwest of the Colorado State Capitol. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Arvada was 104,830 on 2006-07-01.^[6] Arvada is the eighth most populous city in the State of Colorado and the 241st most populous city in the United States.

History

The first documented discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountain region occurred on 1850-06-22, when Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector headed for the California gold fields, dipped his sluice pan into a small stream near its mouth at Clear Creek.^[3] Ralston found about 1/4 ounce (6 g) of gold worth about five dollars. Ralston's companions named the stream Ralston's Creek in his honor, but they all left the next morning, drawn by the lure of the California gold fields.

During the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858, Ralston brought another group of prospectors back to the site of his first discovery. The placer gold in the area soon played out, but hard rock deposits of gold were found in the mountains to the west. Some of the miners abandoned their search for gold and returned to farm the rich bottom land along Ralston Creek and Clear Creek. They found an eager market for their crops among other gold seekers. The Territory of Colorado was formed on 1861-02-28, and the farms in the valley expanded to feed the growing population of the region.

In 1870, the Colorado Central Railroad laid tracks through the area on its route up Clear Creek to the gold fields. On 1870-12-01, Benjamin F. Wadsworth and Louis A. Reno platted a townsite along the railroad which Wadsworth's wife, Mary, named Arvada in honor of her brother-in-law, Hiram Arvada Haskin. Benjamin Wadsworth became the first postmaster of Arvada. Colorado was granted statehood on 1876-08-01, and the Town of Arvada was formally incorporated on 1904-08-24. A vibrant agricultural community, Arvada claimed the title "Celery Capital of the World."

Arvada grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th Century. Arvada became a Statutory City on 1951-10-31, and a Home Rule Municipality on 1963-07-23. By the end of the millennium, the population of Arvada exceeded 100,000.

Government

The City of Arvada is a Home Rule Municipality with a council-manager form of government. The Arvada City Council has seven members: a mayor and two councilmembers elected at large, and four councilmembers elected from council districts.

Arvada City Council

office	incumbent
Mayor	Ken Fellman
Councilmember At-large and Mayor Pro Tem	Aaron Azari
Councilmember At-large	Marc Williams
Councilmember, District One	Don Allard
Councilmember, District Two	Steve Urban
Councilmember, District Three	Lorraine Anderson
Councilmember, District Four	John Malito

The City Council selects the city manager. The Arvada City Manager is Craig Kocian.

Geography

Arvada is located at 39°49′12″N, 105°6′40″W (39.819962, -105.110975)¹.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 85.1 km² (32.8 mi²). 84.6 km²; (32.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.5 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (0.58%) is water.

Transportation

Arvada is the western terminus of Interstate 76, which begins at the intersection of Interstate 70 and State Highway 121. Other state highways in Arvada include State Highway 72, State Highway 93, and State Highway 95. Major highways near Arvada include Interstate 25, Interstate 270, U.S. Highway 36, and U.S. Highway 287.

The Amtrak California Zephyr passes through the City of Arvada each morning and evening. Full Amtrak passenger and parcel service is available at the nearby Denver Union Station.

The Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) currently serves Arvada with seven local bus routes (31, 51, 52, 72, 76, 80, 100), seven express bus routes (58X, 68X, 72X, 76X, 80X, 82X, 108X), the CC regional bus route, and the Arvada Call-and-Ride service. RTD plans to provide Arvada with a commuter rail Gold Line by 2015, although a 1.5 billion dollar budget increase could derail this effort.

Arvada is served by Denver International Airport and nearby Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1910			—
1920			8.9%
1930			39.5%
1940			16.1%
1950			59.2%
1960			719.9%
1970			157.7%
1980			69.7%
1990			5.5%
2000			14.5%

As of the census² of 2000, there were 102,153 people, 39,019 households, and 27,742 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,207.6/km² (3,128.1/mi²). There were 39,733 housing units at an average density of 469.7/km² (1,216.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.04% White, 0.66% African American, 0.65% Native American, 2.17% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 3.08% from other races, and 2.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.82% of the population.

There were 39,019 households out of which 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.5% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.9% were non-families. 23.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $55,541, and the median income for a family was $63,273. Males had a median income of $42,126 versus $30,802 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,679. About 3.5% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.4% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or older.

Sister cities

Arvada has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

• Mechelen, Belgium
• Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan

Notable Residents

• Robert Louis "Bob" Beauprez (1948- ), former U.S. Congressman
• Rick Carelli (1955- ), NASCAR truck racer
• Jay Clementi (19??- ), composer and lead singer for The Lucky Bucks
• Joanne Conte (nee ???) (19??- ), politician and political commentator
• Clive Cussler (1931- ), popular author and automobile collector
• Bob Enyart (1959- ), talk show host
• Nick Fazekas (1985- ), professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks
• Joe King (1980- ), composer, guitarist, vocalist, and co-founder of The Fray
• Lloyd King (1907-1998), grocery chain founder
• Marty Lindsey (nee Marty Mariani) (1970- ), actor
• Keenan Roberts (19??- ), evangelist and creator of Hell House
• Isaac Slade (1981- ), composer, pianist, lead singer, and co-founder of The Fray
• Nick Stabile (1971- ), actor
• John Charles Vivian (1889-1964), 30th Governor of the State of Colorado
• Dave Welsh (1984- ), lead guitarist for The Fray
• Ben Wysocki (1984- ), percusionist for The Fray

See also

• Adams County School District 50
• Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
• Colorado municipalities
• Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area
• Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area
• Front Range Urban Corridor
• Jefferson County School District R-1
• Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge

External links

• City of Arvada website
• Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities website
• Arvada Fire Protection District website
• North Jeffco Park and Recreation District website
• Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge website

References

	State of Colorado Denver (capital)
Topics	Coloradans | Economy | Geography | Highways | History | Images | Law & Government | Military | Museums | National Parks | Rivers | WikiProject Colorado
Anthems	Where the Columbines Grow | Rocky Mountain High
Regions	Central Colorado | Colorado Piedmont | Colorado Plateau | Denver‑Aurora Metropolitan Area | Eastern Plains | Front Range | Grand Valley | High Rockies | Mineral Belt | Roaring Fork Valley | Sangre de Cristo Mountains | San Luis Valley | South‑Central Colorado | Southwestern Colorado | Uinta Mountains | Western Slope
Cities	Arvada | Aurora | Boulder | Broomfield | Castle Rock | Centennial | Colorado Springs | Commerce City | Denver | Fort Collins | Fort Morgan | Grand Junction | Greeley | Lakewood | Littleton | Longmont | Loveland | Parker | Pueblo | Sterling | Thornton | Westminster
Counties	Adams | Alamosa | Arapahoe | Archuleta | Baca | Bent | Boulder | Broomfield | Chaffee | Cheyenne | Clear Creek | Conejos | Costilla | Crowley | Custer | Delta | Denver | Dolores | Douglas | Eagle | El Paso | Elbert | Fremont | Garfield | Gilpin | Grand | Gunnison | Hinsdale | Huerfano | Jackson | Jefferson | Kiowa | Kit Carson | La Plata | Lake | Larimer | Las Animas | Lincoln | Logan | Mesa | Mineral | Moffat | Montezuma | Montrose | Morgan | Otero | Ouray | Park | Phillips | Pitkin | Prowers | Pueblo | Rio Blanco | Rio Grande | Routt | Saguache | San Juan | San Miguel | Sedgwick | Summit | Teller | Washington | Weld | Yuma

Donate to Wikimedia