The County of Denver and the City of Denver are both the most densely inhabited city and county in Colorado. The city is situated on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in the South Platte River Valley. The downtown district within Denver is located east of the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, roughly 12 miles or 19 km east of the Rocky Mountain foothills. Due to its elevation of exactly one mile, Denver is referred to as Mile-High City since it lies 5,280 feet or 1.6 km or 1,609.344 m above sea level. The Mountain Time Zone's temporal reference is derived from the truth that the 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station.
Denver was founded during November of the year 1858, beginning as a mining town. It became more famous during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush located within Western Kansas Territory. The summertime of 1858, a group of gold prospectors came from Lawrence, in the state of Kansas and they established Montana City on the South Platte River's banks. This was the very first settlement that would later become established as Denver. Immediately after its beginnings, the location faded. By the summer of 1859 however, it was abandoned in favor of the city of St. Charles and in favor of Auraria, named after the gold mining township of the same name situated within Georgia State.
The city of Denver presently has a fast paced growing population approaching 560,000 people and is the transportation, industrial and commercial hub for the state of Colorado. The economy has been further influenced by the biomedical technology and telecommunication businesses. Construction, real estate, tourism and mining also play essential parts. Numerous federal agencies like for instance a U.S. Mint, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency all call the city of Denver home. Opened in the year 1995, the Denver International Airport is the largest airport in all of North America, covering more than 53 square miles.
The economy of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan region is extremely strong, with numerous possibilities for both business and professional growth in the city. There are 17 Fortune 1000 company head offices situated in the state of Colorado. 16 of these corporate head offices are located within the Denver-Aurora metropolitan region. Qwest Communications is the largest corporation who has their corporate head office within the Denver area. The Sports Authority and Molson Coors Brewing are two of the most famous companies that have their head offices situated here.
Within the city of Denver, the work force is well educated, ranking in the top 20 American cities, based on the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey. Around 36 percent of the population boasts a college degree or higher education. Central Connecticut State University ranked Denver 6th among the most literate cities in the United States during 2005.
The site of Denver, places it in the centre of the state, making it ideal for distribution allowing good movement to and from the state as well as being effective for storage. There is likewise a large concentration of federal government institutions in the Denver-Aurora metro area. With the exception of Washington D.C. the metropolitan region of the city of Denver comprises more federal employees compared to any other metropolitan region in the city.