Denver Facts

1. Interesting fact: Denver is one of the few cities in history that was not built on a road, railroad, lake, navigable river or body of water when it was founded. It just happened to be where the first few flakes of gold were found in 1858.

2. Fun fact: The first permanent structure in Denver was a saloon.

3. Weird fact: The 13th step of the state capital building in Denver is exactly 1 mile high above sea level.

4. Random fact: Colfax Avenue in Denver is the longest continuous street in America.

5. Denver has the largest city park system in the nation with 205 parks within city limits and 20,000 acres of parks in the nearby mountains.

6. Led Zeppelin played their first ever American show at the Denver Auditorium Arena on December 26, 1968.

7. Bob Dylan lived for a while at 1736 East 17th Avenue in Denver while he was doing a regular series of gigs at the Satire Lounge just down the street.

8. Both Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull have dined at Denver's Buckhorn Exchange, a restaurant that's still one of the most popular in the city. Buffalo Bill's grave is just outside Denver.

9. Every year, Denver host the world's largest rodeo, the Western Stock Show.

10. Local boosters named the frontier mining camp on the South Platte River "Denver" after Kansas Territorial Governor James Denver in hopes of gaining political favor. Unfortunately, Denver had retired by the time they named the town.

11. There were originally three separate towns, with three separate names, where Denver now stands. In 1859, the other names were dropped in return for a barrel of whiskey to be shared by all.

12. Colorado is the only state in history to turn down the Olympics. In 1976 the Winter Olympics were planned to be held in Denver, but 62% of voters decided they did not want Denver to host the Olympics because of the cost, pollution, and population boom.