Timeline of Boulder, Colorado
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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of
Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...
, Colorado, USA.


19th century

* 1858 ** October 17 - A group of gold prospectors from Fort St. Vrain 30 mi. to the east camp in Red Rocks on Boulder Creek in modern-day Settler's Park at the mouth of Boulder Canyon. This was in Arapaho territory, near the camp of Southern Arapaho chief Chief Niwot (Left Hand) (1825–64) in Valmont Butte. Chief Niwot rode to their camp to warn them to leave, but changed his mind after being given food and liquor. He welcomed the visitors, but not before uttering the Curse of the Boulder Valley: ''"People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty."'' * 1859 ** January 15 - gold is discovered in Gold Hill, Colorado above
Left Hand Canyon Left Hand Canyon is a canyon, near Boulder, Colorado, United States. The area It is a natural area, and has much wildlife.Colorado DailyBear ransacks Left Hand Canyon home - Colorado Daily accessdate: April 14, 2017 Uses It has been used for o ...
in NW Boulder. ** February 10 - the Boulder City Town Company is formed, and the town laid out into 4,044 lots, offered for $1,000 each.https://bouldercolorado.gov/visitors/history
/ref> * 1861 ** February 28 - the
Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...
is created by the U.S. Congress, causing Boulder to no longer be part of Nebraska Territory. ** November 7 - legislation is passed making way for the state university to be located in Boulder. * 1869 - ''Boulder County News'' begins publication. * 1870 ** Denver and Boulder Valley Railroad begins operating. ** Population: 323 * 1871 ** November 4 - town incorporated in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. * 1873 - Railroad begins operating. * 1875 ** September 20 - the first cornerstone is laid for the first building (Old Main Building) on the University of Colorado campus. ** ''Colorado Banner'' newspaper begins publication. **
Boulder High School Boulder High School is a high school in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It is part of the Boulder Valley School District. Boulder High School was founded in 1875 as a preparatory school to the University of Colorado. In 1876, it was the first ...
established. * 1876 ** August 1 - Boulder becomes part of new
State of Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of the ...
. * 1877 - September 5 - The University of Colorado at Boulder officially opens. * 1878 - **The first mayor, Jacob Ellison, is elected for a two-month term. **January - Mary Rippon, first female professor at the University of Colorado, joined the faculty. * 1880 - The town passes the 3,000 population mark, making it eligible for incorporation. * 1882 ** April 3 - Boulder is incorporated as a 2nd class town, and later that month a new town hall is completed in time for the first meeting of the city council. * 1883 ** The first courthouse is built. ** The University of Colorado Medical School opens. * 1885 - Denver, Marshall and Boulder Railway begins operating. * 1890 **
Boulder Railroad Depot Boulder Station is a hotel and casino located in Sunrise Manor, Nevada on Boulder Highway. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos. Groundbreaking began on August 5, 1993. The project was built at a cost of $103 million, and opened on August ...
built. ** '' Boulder Camera'' begins publication. ** Population: 3,300. * 1891 - Feeny Opera House active (approximate date). * 1892 ** Highland School built. ** University of Colorado Law School established. * 1893 - Philharmonic Club formed. * 1895 - Crockett Ricketts elected mayor. * 1896 - Colorado Sanitarium in business. * 1898 ** Chautauqua Auditorium built. ** Colorado & Southern Railway in operation. ** Boulder Citizen's Band established
now the Boulder Concert Band
* 1900 **
Colorado Chautauqua The Colorado Chautauqua, located in Boulder, Colorado, United States, and started in 1898, is the only Chautauqua west of the Mississippi River still continuing in unbroken operation since the heyday of the Chautauqua Movement in the 1920s. It i ...
established. ** Population: 6,150.


20th century


1900s-1940s

* 1902 **
Boulder Oil Field The Boulder Oil Field was an oil field, in the area of Boulder, Colorado. Some history Ute Indians were the first to discover oil, in Colorado. The McKenzie Well still stands, near Boulder, and Isaac Canfield found it in 1901, by dowsing ...
well begins operation. **
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History The University of Colorado Museum of Natural History is a museum of natural history in Boulder, Colorado. With more than four million artifacts and specimens in the areas of anthropology, botany, entomology, paleontology and zoology, the muse ...
founded. * 1906 ** Curran Opera House opens. ** University of Colorado College of Commerce established. * 1907 ** Boulder adopts an anti- saloon ordinance. ** Carnegie Library built. * 1909 ** Denver, Boulder and Western Railroad begins operating. ** Hotel Boulderado opens. * 1910 - Population: 9,539. * 1916 **Statewide prohibition starts in Colorado, ending with the repeal of national prohibition in 1933. **
Florence Molloy and Mabel MacLeay Florence C. Molloy (1878 - 1951) and Mabel N. MacLeay (1883 - 1950) were American businesswomen who ran the Molloy-MacLeay taxicab company in Boulder, Colorado (about 1916 - 1926). Florence C. Molloy Florence Hayden Cowie Molloy was born in Nov ...
start a taxi service in Boulder. *1918 -
Lucile Buchanan Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones (1884-1989) was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Colorado Boulder. She graduated with a degree in German in 1918 and the Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship was created in her honor in April, ...
is first black female graduate from University of Colorado Boulder. * 1923 -
Macky Auditorium The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...
opens. * 1924 -
Colorado Stadium Folsom Field is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. It is the home field of the Colorado Buffaloes of the Pac-12 Conference. Opened in 1924, the ...
opens. * 1926 - Rialto Theatre built. * 1929 -
Denver Municipal Airport Stapleton International Airport was a major airport in the western United States, and the primary airport of Denver, Colorado, from 1929 to 1995. It was a hub for Continental Airlines, the original Frontier Airlines, People Express, United Airli ...
begins operating. * 1932 - The courthouse burns down, and is rebuilt in 1934. * 1937 - Balch Fieldhouse (arena) opened. * 1941 - Civic Symphony Orchestra founded. * 1942 - US Navy School of Oriental Languages moves from California to Boulder and begins training recruits to the US Navy and the Marine Corps in Japanese. * 1944 - Boulder Historical Society established. * 1947 - KBOL radio begins broadcasting. * 1948 ** Andrews Arboretum established. **
Conference on World Affairs The Conference on World Affairs (CWA) is an annual conference, open to the public, featuring panel discussions among experts in international affairs and other areas, hosted since 1948 by the University of Colorado Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, U ...
begins at the University of Colorado. * 1949 -
Sommers–Bausch Observatory Sommers–Bausch Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on and owned by University of Colorado Boulder. The building was initially completed in 1953 and named after Elmer E. Sommers and Carl L. Bausch. It is operated by the univers ...
built.


1950s-1990s

* 1950 ** Population: 19,999. * 1952 ** U.S. National Bureau of Standards- Atomic Energy Commission Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory in operation. **
Denver-Boulder Turnpike U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is a United States highway that travels from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado to Uhrichsville, Ohio. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route mostly in the northern portion of the Great Plains. At its ...
opens. * 1953 - '' Colorado Daily'' in publication. * 1954 - September: U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now known as National Institute of Standards and Technology) facility dedicated. * 1955 – Denver Regional Council of Governments formed. *1956 -
Ball Aerospace Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE: BAL ...
& Technologies Corp. (commonly Ball Aerospace), opens. * 1958 **
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1958, is a professional symphony orchestra based in Boulder, Colorado. It is led by Music Director Michael Butterman. The Boulder Philharmonic’s season at Macky Auditorium on the University of Colo ...
founded. **
Colorado Shakespeare Festival The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is a professional acting company in association with the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was established in 1958, making it one of the oldest such festivals in the United States, and has roots going back ...
begins. * 1963 - Crossroads Mall in business. * 1966 - Attention Homes opens its first home on 14th St. * 1967 - U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research
Mesa Laboratory The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is a research center located in Boulder, Colorado. The building complex was designed by modernist architecture, modernist architect I. M. Pei in 1961 as his first project outside ...
built. * 1969 - Regional Transportation District (public transit system) organized. * 1970 ** City "comprehensive plan" created. ** Paladin Press in business. * 1971 **Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative founded. ** Penfield Tate, Boulder's first and only black mayor, elected to Boulder City Council. * 1972 - Historic Boulder, Inc. formed. * 1973 - Vajradhatu headquartered in Boulder. * 1974 -
Naropa Institute Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university describes itself as ...
and Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics established. *1974 - a series of bombings kill six Chicano activists (
Los Seis de Boulder Los Seis de Boulder () were six Chicano activists and students killed in two car bombings in Boulder, Colorado. The bombings occurred at the end of May 1974, with the name ''Los Seis de Boulder'' coined posthumously. The students were protesting th ...
). * 1975 **KBVL radio begins broadcasting. **March 26 - Boulder County Clerk
Clela Rorex Clela Ann Rorex (July 23, 1943 – June 19, 2022) was an American county clerk who issued the first same-sex marriage license in the United States. Serving as the Boulder County Clerk, Rorex issued a marriage license to a gay couple in 1975 aft ...
issued first same-sex marriage license in U.S. * 1976 ** Colorado Music Festival begins. ** Residential-growth management ordinance approved. * 1977 ** Pearl Street Mall constructed. ** KBCO begins broadcasting. * 1978 ** Boulder Magazine'' begins publication. ** Community radio station
KGNU KGNU (1390 AM) & KGNU-FM (88.5 FM) are a pair of community radio stations licensed to Denver and Boulder, Colorado respectively. KGNU is owned by Boulder Community Broadcast Association, Inc. History KFML 1390 AM was first licensed on April 4, ...
begins broadcasting * 1979 ** Colorado University Events Center (arena) opens. ** Bolder Boulder 10K footrace begins. * 1980 - Kinetics Conveyance Race begins. * 1983 - January 1: Polar Bear Plunge begins. * 1986 ** Sister city relationship established with Lhasa, Tibet. * 1987 ** Farmer's Market opens. ** Sister city relationship activated with Dushanbe, Tajikistan. * 1988 -
Colorado MahlerFest Colorado MahlerFest is an annual event held in Boulder, Colorado, which each year celebrates one major symphonic work by Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. While "Colorado MahlerFest" is the official name of the event and the organization, the indi ...
begins. * 1989 - ''Rocky Mountain Spiritual Emergence Network Times'' begins publication. * 1990 - Radio Reading Service of the Rockies founded. * 1991 ** Culinary School of the Rockies founded. ** eTown (radio program) begins broadcasting. * 1993 ** Mountain Sun pub in business. ** ''
Boulder Weekly ''Boulder Weekly'' is an alternative newsweekly that publishes every Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. The paper is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) and is owned and published by Stewart Sallo. Overview Following the L ...
'' begins publication. * 1994 **
Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...
begins operating. ** Sister city relationship established with Yamagata, Japan. ** Boulder Community Network online. * 1996 ** Boulder Area Trails Coalition founded. **
Smoking ban Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor work ...
enacted. **
Murder of JonBenét Ramsey Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
* 1998 ** October 31: Naked Pumpkin Run begins. **
Bob Greenlee Bob Greenlee (born July 6, 1941, in Omaha, Nebraska) is the executive director of the Greenlee Family Foundation. Greenlee was educated at Iowa State University where he received his B.A. in 1963 and M.A. in 1968. Decades later, in 1997, Iowa Stat ...
becomes mayor. ** Dushanbe Tea House opens. ** Bent Lens Cinema founded. * 2000 ** Sister city relationship established with
Ciudad Mante Mante, formally Ciudad Mante, is a city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city is the municipal seat of El Mante municipality in extreme southern Tamaulipas, and lies in the northwestern portion of the municipality. It had a 2005 census p ...
, Mexico. **
Moondance Film Festival The Moondance International Film Festival is an independent annual film festival and awards competition in the USA that takes place in the fall. The first Moondance Film Festival was held in 2000. The festival has usually been held in Boulder, Co ...
begins.


21st century

* 2002 — Spot Bouldering Gym in business. * 2004 ** Mark Ruzzin becomes mayor. ** Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival begins. ** Boulder Chamber Orchestra founded. * 2005 —
Boulder Adventure Film Festival The Adventure Film Festival is an international film festival in Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,2 ...
begins. * 2006 ** November: Carbon tax approved. ** Twenty Ninth Street shopping center in business. ** Bikes Belong coalition headquartered in Boulder (approximate date

* 2007 ** Communikey Festival begins. ** October - Outdoor gear co-op REI opens prototype green store on 28th St. * 2009 ** Susan Osborne becomes mayor, succeeded by Matthew Appelbaum. ** Jared Polis becomes
Colorado's 2nd congressional district Colorado's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Colorado. The district is located in the north-central part of the state and encompasses the northwestern suburbs of Denver including Boulder and Fort Coll ...
representative. ** Sister city relationship established with Kisumu, Kenya. * 2010 — Population: 97,385. ** Radio station KBCO leaves Boulder for Denver Tech Center studios **
Fourmile Canyon Fourmile Canyon or Four Mile Canyon is a mountainous canyon in western Boulder County, Colorado that channels a stream known as Fourmile Creek or Four Mile Creek (this is not Fourmile Canyon Creek which runs a few miles north of Fourmile Creek).) ...
fire burns over 400 homes. * 2011 ** November: Municipal electric utility approved. ** Boulder Food Rescue active. * 2012 — National Institute of Standards and Technology Precision Measurement Laboratory dedicated. * 2013 ** Falling Fruit ( urban agriculture map) launched. ** September — record-setting major flood disruption * 2014 **Galvanize opens Boulder location *2016 ** October — Sen. Bernie Sanders headlines ColoradoCare healthcare-for-all ballot Amendment 69 rally at CU Farrand Field ** Nov. 10 — US36 shut down briefly as anti-Trump protesters march * 2017 ** October —
OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...
State of the Map U.S. conference at CU Folsom Field * 2018 ** Ban on assault weapons, bump stocks, large magazines ** Boulder History Museum, rebranded as Museum of Boulder, opens in former Masonic Lodge on Broadway ** Radio station
KGNU KGNU (1390 AM) & KGNU-FM (88.5 FM) are a pair of community radio stations licensed to Denver and Boulder, Colorado respectively. KGNU is owned by Boulder Community Broadcast Association, Inc. History KFML 1390 AM was first licensed on April 4, ...
celebrates 40th anniversary, commemorated with Museum of Boulder exhibit * 2021 ** March 21 — A mass shooting occurs at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder.


See also

* History of Boulder, Colorado *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Boulder County, Colorado __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Boulder County, Colorado. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Boulder County, Col ...
* Education in Boulder * Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area *
Timeline of Colorado history This timeline is a chronology of significant events in the history of the U.S. State of Colorado and the historical area now occupied by the state. __NOTOC__ Timeline 2020s 2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 193 ...
*
Timelines A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representi ...
of other cities in Colorado: Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver


References


Bibliography

;Published in the 19th century * * * * ;Published in the 20th century * * * * ;Published in the 21st century *


External links

* Boulder Library
Carnegie Branch Library for Local History
*

* Digital Public Library of America
Items related to Boulder, Colorado
various dates {{coord, 40.017624, -105.27966, type:city_region:US, display=title
Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...
Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...
boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...