Longmont, Colorado

History

Longmont was founded in 1871 by a group of people from Chicago, Illinois. Originally called the Chicago-Colorado Colony, the men sold memberships in the town and with the proceeds purchased the land necessary for the town hall. As the first planned community in Boulder County, the city streets were laid out in a grid plan in a square mile. The city began to flourish as an agricultural community after the building of the Colorado Central Railroad line arrived northward from Boulder in 1877. During the 1940s, Longmont began to grow beyond these original limits.

During the 1960s the federal government built an air traffic control center in Longmont, and IBM built a large factory near Longmont. As agriculture waned, more high technology has come to the city, including companies like Seagate and Amgen; Amgen closed its Longmont campus in 2015. In April 2009, the GE Energy Company relocated its control solutions business to the area.

The downtown along Main Street, once nearly dead during the 1980s, has seen a vibrant revival in the 1990s and into the 21st century. During the mid-1990s, the southern edge of Longmont became the location of the first New Urbanist project in Colorado, called Prospect New Town, designed by the architects Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.

The Longmont City Council in May 2013 voted to finance and build out its own municipal gigabit data fiber-optic network to every house and business over a three-year period starting in late 2013.

Geography

Longmont is located in northeastern Boulder County at 40°10′18″N 105°06′33″W. The city extends eastward into western Weld County. U.S. Highway 287 (Main Street) runs through the center of the city, leading north 16 miles (26 km) to Loveland and south 34 miles (55 km) to downtown Denver. State Highway 119 passes through the city south of downtown and leads southwest 15 miles (24 km) to Boulder and east 5 miles (8 km) to Interstate 25.

The elevation at City Hall is 4,978 feet (1,517 m) above sea level. St. Vrain Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River, flows through the city just south of the city center.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Longmont has a total area of 27.6 square miles (71.6 km²), of which 26.2 square miles (67.8 km²) is land and 1.5 square miles (3.8 km²), or 5.30%, is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 86,270 people residing in the city (2014 estimate: 90,237). The population density was 3,294 people per square mile. There were 35,008 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was:

There were 33,551 households out of which 36.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the city, the population was spread out with 28.6% under the age of 20, 6.3% from 20 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years.

The median income for a household in the city was $58,698, and the median income for a family was $70,864. Males had a median income of $51,993 versus $41,025 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,209. About 11.1% of families and 14.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

In 2011 Longmont was rated the 2nd safest city in Colorado.

Education

Longmont is home to the Boulder County Campus of Front Range Community College, the St. Vrain Valley School District, and to a number of private schools. Longmont is also home to the Master Instructor Continuing Education Program (MICEP) a voluntary accreditation program for aviation educators.

Transportation

Longmont is part of the RTD transit district that provides local and regional bus service to Denver and Boulder.

Outside of RTD, Longmont is connected to Fort Collins, Loveland, and Berthoud via a FLEX regional bus service.

In 2012, Longmont was recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a silver-level bicycle-friendly community. Longmont is one of 38 communities in the United States to be recognized with this distinction. It is the only city in Colorado placed at the silver level that is not a major tourist center or a university city.

Media

The Longmont Times-Call is the local daily newspaper.

Longmont's radio stations include KRCN, KGUD, and KKFN. Country music is broadcast on KWOF from a tower about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Longmont. Also located nearby is KDSP with a progressive talk format. The KDSP transmitter site is about 15 miles (24 km) east of Boulder.

NPR programming can be heard on Colorado Public Radio stations KCFR from Denver, and KCFC in Boulder. The NPR affiliate KUNC from the Fort Collins-Greeley market can also be heard in Longmont.

Longmont is also served by Pacifica Radio affiliate KGNU, a non-commercial community radio station from Boulder.

The Longmont Compass is the local online events, entertainment and lifestyle resource.

Economy

According to the Longmont Area Economic Council, the top ten employers in Longmont are:

In addition, Longmont supports a thriving craft brewing industry as well as many recreational and travel-related businesses. Local breweries include Left Hand, Oskar Blues, 300 Suns, GrossenBart, Shoes & Brews and Wibby Brewing. Due to its proximity to the Rocky Mountain National Park, Longmont is home to many hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that cater in part to the tourists visiting the park each year. One recreational business that calls Longmont home is Mile Hi Skydiving, which is one of the largest skydiving facilities in the state of Colorado. Longmont is also home to the World's Largest Sticker Ball at StickerGiant, a custom sticker and label printing company on the city's east side. TinkerMill, the largest makerspace in the region, is located in Longmont. Other businesses support skiing and other snowsports, bicycling, and rock climbing.

Government

This is a list of mayors of Longmont.

Notable people

Sister cities

Longmont is a sister city of these municipalities: