Nederland (, ) is a

statutory town A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...

located near Barker Meadow Reservoir in the foothills of southwest Boulder County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States. As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

it had a population of 1,445.

History

Nederland was established in 1874. The town started as a trading post between Ute Indians and European settlers during the 1850s. The town's first economic boom came when minerals such as

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

were discovered near

Tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

(east of Nederland), Caribou (northwest of Nederland, 1859), and Eldora (west of Nederland, 1875). Today Nederland is better known as a gateway to outdoor recreation in the nearby Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park, Roosevelt National Forest, and the recently established

James Peak Wilderness The James Peak Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area in north central Colorado in the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests. The wilderness area borders Indian Peaks Wilderness to the north and the James Peak Protection Area to the west. Geograp ...

. Nederland is located west of Boulder, south of Estes Park, and northwest of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

at the Junction of SH 119 and SH 72 on the Peak to Peak Highway.

Name origin

In the mid-19th century the first homesteaders gave a variety of names for the area. The town was first called Dayton, then Browns Crossing. In 1871, when the US Postal Service first set up an office, the name was changed to Middle Boulder after the creek that flows through the center of town (and continues eastward to become Boulder Creek). In 1873 the Caribou Mine, at an elevation of roughly and northwest of the town, was sold to the ''Mining Company Nederland'' from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The high elevation meant fierce winds and deep winter snow, so the new owners of the mine decided that it was beneficial to bring ore from Caribou down to Middle Boulder for milling. In the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

, ''Nederland'' ("Netherlands" in English) means low land, and based on casual usage by the Dutch miners, Middle Boulder came to be known as Nederland. In 1874 the town was incorporated and adopted Nederland as the official name.

Geography

Nederland is located in southwest Boulder County at (39.961986, −105.510604). The elevation in the center of town is above sea level. Due west from the town is the Indian Peaks Wilderness within Roosevelt National Forest. The Continental Divide passes through the Wilderness west of Nederland. The town of Nederland has a total area of , of which is land and , or 4.29%, is water, consisting primarily of the west end of Barker Reservoir on Middle Boulder Creek.

Climate

Nederland has an alpine subarctic climate (Dfc) due to its high altitude. Summer days are warm but nights are cool and frost is possible even in mid-summer. Snowfall is possible most of the year.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 1,445 people, 657 households, and 349 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 749 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.4%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.7% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.9% some other race, and 1.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

or Latino of any race were 4.1% of the population. There were 657 households, of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18, 41.7% were headed by married couples living together, and 46.9% were non-families. Of all households, 32.6% were made up of individuals, and 4.0% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19, and the average family size was 2.77. In the town, the population was spread out, with 19.8% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 34.5% from 25 to 44, 32.0% from 45 to 64, and 5.9% being 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over there were 112.7 males. For the period 2007–2011, the estimated median income for a household in the town was $69,638, and the median income for a family was $90,329. Male full-time workers had a median income of $60,526 versus $65,052 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $31,730. About 7.0% of families and 12.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

. The median house or condo value in between 2007 and 2011 was estimated at $329,600.

Arts and culture

Annual cultural events

Nederland hosts several major events every year, including the diverse NedFest (Nederland Music & Arts Festival), the historical Miners Day celebration, and the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, all next to Barker Meadow Reservoir. Frozen Dead Guy Days, which occurs every year in early March, commemorates a substandard attempt by Norwegian immigrant Trygve Bauge to practice cryonics on Bredo Morstoel, his deceased grandfather. In addition to extensive local press, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' covered the festival in 2011 and 2012.

Notable people

* Kathy Butler, Olympian runner for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

* Timothy Duggan, road bicycle racer *

Ian MacGregor Sir Ian Kinloch MacGregor, KBE (21 September 1912 – 13 April 1998) was a Scottish-American metallurgist and industrialist, most famous in the UK for his controversial tenure at the British Steel Corporation and his conduct during the 1984 ...

, road bicycle racer * Rob Savoye, primary developer of Gnash software * Ann Trombley, Olympic cyclist * Carl Wilson, vocalist, founding member of

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

Legalization of marijuana

On Tuesday, April 6, 2010, Nederland became the third community in Colorado (after

and Breckenridge) to legalize the sale, purchase, possession, consumption, and transportation, cultivation, manufacturing, dispensing of medical marijuana and its concentrates and related paraphernalia for persons 21 years of age and older.

References

External links

Town of Nederland official website
at City-Data.com
Nederland Community CenterNederland Area Chamber of CommerceNederland Community LibraryNederland Middle/Senior High SchoolNederland Area Historical SocietyNathan Lazarus SkateparkNedRink - Nederland Ice and Racquet Park''The Mountain-Ear''
local newspaper
{{authority control Towns in Boulder County, Colorado Towns in Colorado Populated places established in 1885 1885 establishments in Colorado