History of Arvada, Colorado
Arvada, Colorado is a residential suburban area of Denver in Jefferson County, at the edge of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The initial activity in the area was the hunt for gold. The first well-known exploration was in 1850. In 1858, Lewis Ralston, who had actually located the initial nugget in 1850, returned with even more miners.
The first recorded strike of gold in the Rocky Mountain area took place on June 22, 1850, when Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector went to the California gold areas, dipped his sluice pan into a small stream near its mouth at Clear Creek. Ralston found around 1/4 ounce (6 g) of gold, then worth around 5 dollars. Ralston’s companions called the stream Ralston’s Creek in his honor, but they all left the next early morning, attracted by the lure of California gold.
During the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in 1858, Ralston brought another group of prospectors back to the site of his initial discovery. The placer gold in the location soon played out, however, hard rock deposits of gold were located in the hills to the west. A few of the miners deserted their look for gold and also returned to farm the abundant bottom land along Ralston Creek as well as Clear Creek. They found an anxious market for their crops to name a few gold hunters. The Territory of Colorado was formed on February 28, 1861, and also the farms in the valley expanded to feed the expanding populace of the region.
In 1870, the Colorado Central Railroad laid tracks throughout the area on its course from Golden to link with the Kansas Pacific Railroad as well as the Denver Pacific Railroad at Jersey Junction, 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of Denver. On December 1, 1870, Benjamin F. Wadsworth, as well as Louis A. Reno, platted the Ralston Point townsite along the railroad. To prevent confusion with various other communities along Ralston Creek, Ralston Point was soon renamed Arvada, Colorado in honor of Hiram Arvada Haskin, brother-in-law of inhabitant Mary Wadsworth. Her husband, Benjamin Wadsworth, came to be the initial postmaster of Arvada. Colorado was granted statehood on August 1, 1876, and the Town of Arvada, Colorado was officially incorporated on August 14, 1904. A dynamic agricultural community, Arvada claimed the title “Celery Capital of the World.”
Arvada proliferated during the last half of the 20th century as a residential area of nearby Denver, the state capital. Arvada ended up being a Statutory City on October 31, 1951, and also a Home Rule Municipality on July 23, 1963. By the end of the millennium, the populace of Arvada, Colorado went beyond 100,000.