In an effort to curry political favor, he named the land Denver, after the governor of the neighboring Kansas Territory, James Denver.Ĭouple the Civil War and battles with Native Americans with rampant fires and flash floods that nearly obliterated the city, and you get an idea of the hardships Denver faced the next few decades. Larimer staked flags along Cherry Creek’s eastern side and began his version of urban development. Teepees and tents that were slapped together gave way to shoddy lean-tos which gave way to buildings that marked the makings of a small boomtown. In short order, the dusty trails of a barely-sought region became the feverishly traveled roads of a Gold Rush frenzy. 1858: Prospectors from Georgia crossed the Colorado Territory and literally struck gold at the base of the Rockies.
