The Town of Granby is the

Statutory Town In India, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), also called municipalities, are self-government institutions responsible for the administration of cities, towns, and transitional areas within a state or Union Territory. The 74th amendment to the Const ...

that is the most populous municipality in Grand County,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States. The town population was 2,079 at the 2020 United States census. Granby is situated along U.S. Highway 40 in the Middle Park basin, and it is about northwest of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

and southwest of

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is s ...

History

The town was founded in 1904 along the route of the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway and was incorporated one year later. It was named after Granby Hillyer, a Denver lawyer who later served as the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for that city's district. Many Granby and Grand County residents are descended from pioneer settlers who arrived before the country was fully surveyed. Early families established themselves under the

Homestead Act of 1862 The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...

, which allowed easy access to land to those who would inhabit and improve upon the territory. Since the turn of the century, families have contended for prime ranch land. Their waning ranch once covered approximately and was rich in cattle and hay.

Bulldozer rampage

Marvin Heemeyer Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was an American automobile muffler repair shop owner who demolished numerous buildings with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, in June 2004. Heemeyer's machine was posthumously n ...

was a local auto muffler shop owner who had multiple disputes with the town over zoning, sewage, and other issues. As a result, on June 4, 2004, Heemeyer went on a rampage through town, driving a modified bulldozer. Several buildings were damaged, including a bank, a hardware store, the concrete company, a utility service center, the town hall, the police department, and a former mayor's home. The rampage lasted 2 hours and 7 minutes, ending when the bulldozer got stuck attempting to go through the alleyway of Gambles Hardware Store. Heemeyer then committed suicide with a handgun. No other deaths occurred, but an estimated $7 million in damage was done.

Geography

Granby sits at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

in the valley of the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

, east of its mouth at the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

. It is located in eastern Grand County in an area subject to average annual rainfall of inches and annual snowfall of more than .

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

passes through the center of town as Agate Avenue, leading south and east over

Berthoud Pass Berthoud Pass ( ; elevation ) is a high mountain pass in central Colorado, in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of the western United States. The pass is located west of Denver, and provides a high route between upper Clear Creek Canyon ...

to the Denver area, west to Hot Sulphur Springs, the Grand County seat. Kremmling is to the west on US 40. U.S. Route 34 intersects US 40 on the west side of Granby and leads northeast into Rocky Mountain National Park, crossing the mountains as

Trail Ridge Road Trail Ridge Road is the name for the stretch of U.S. Highway 34 (Colorado), U.S. Highway 34 that traverses Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park, Colorado in the east to Grand Lake, Colorado in the west. Together with the connecting Be ...

and reaching

Estes Park Estes Park () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory town, statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States census. Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropo ...

northeast of Granby. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of , all of it land.

Climate

This climate type is dominated by the winter season, a long, bitterly cold period with short, clear days, relatively little precipitation mostly in the form of snow, and low humidity. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Granby has a warm summer humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,525 people, 579 households, and 390 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 628 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.26%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.46%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.26% Native American, 0.98% Asian, 0.07%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.44% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.61% of the population. There were 579 households, out of which 37.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.5% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.05. In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.3 males. The median income for a household in the town was $46,667, and the median income for a family was $55,250. Males had a median income of $35,455 versus $24,417 for females. The per capita income for the town was $21,224. About 4.0% of families and 5.8% 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 ...

, including 3.9% of those under the age of 18 and 9.0% of those ages 65 and older.

Transportation

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, the national passenger rail system, provides daily service to Granby, operating its ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

'' daily in both directions between

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley, California, Berkeley and Oakland, California, Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisc ...

, across the bay from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Granby-Grand County Airport , a small airport one mile east of town, serves as a stopover for transient general aviation flights, as well as hosts some local aviation activity. There are currently no scheduled passenger carrier flights into or out of the airport, which features a by asphalt runway. Services at the airport are limited to aviation fuel for both piston and jet/turboprop aircraft. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the United States, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, ...

(OAG), the airport was previously served by Rocky Mountain Airways which operated scheduled passenger flights to

during the mid 1970s with small

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...

turboprop aircraft.April 15, 1975, Official Airline Guide (OAG), North American edition, Denver flight schedules

Notable residents

* Penny Rafferty Hamilton, aviation educator, writer, and photographer *

, perpetrator of the 2004 Granby rampage in an armored bulldozer

References

External links

Town of Granby websiteCDOT map of the Town of GranbyGranby Visitor Information''Sky-Hi News''
Granby's local newspaper
Photographs from the Denver Public Library
now kept at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

{{authority control Towns in Colorado Towns in Grand County, Colorado Populated places established in 1904