Timeline of Boulder, Colorado

19th century

1858 - Settlement formed.

1859

Boulder City Town Company formed.

Town laid out.

1860 - Schoolhouse opens.

1869 - Boulder County News begins publication.

1870

Denver and Boulder Valley Railroad begins operating.

Population: 1,939.

1871 - Town incorporated.

1873 - Railroad begins operating.

1875

Colorado Banner newspaper begins publication.

Boulder High School established.

1876 - Boulder becomes part of new State of Colorado.

1877 - September 5: University of Colorado opens.

1883 - University of Colorado Medical School opens.

1885 - Denver, Marshall and Boulder Railway begins operating.

1890

Boulder Railroad Depot built.

Boulder Camera begins publication.

1891 - Feeny Opera House active (approximate date).

1892

Highland School built.

University of Colorado Law School established.

1893 - Philharmonic Club formed.

1895 - Crockett Ricketts elected mayor.

1896 - Colorado Sanitarium in business.

1898

Chautauqua Auditorium built.

Colorado & Southern Railway in operation.

1900s-1940s

1900 - Colorado Chautauqua established.

1902

Boulder Oil Field well in operation.

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History founded.

1906

Curran Opera House opens.

University of Colorado College of Commerce established.

1907 - Carnegie Library built.

1909

Denver, Boulder and Western Railroad begins operating.

Hotel Boulderado in business.

1910 - Population: 9,539.

1923 - Macky Auditorium opens.

1924 - Colorado Stadium opens.

1926 - Rialto Theatre built.

1929 - Denver Municipal Airport begins operating.

1937 - Balch Fieldhouse (arena) opens.

1941 - Civic Symphony Orchestra founded.

1944 - Boulder Historical Society established.

1947 - KBOL radio begins broadcasting.

1948

Andrews Arboretum established.

Conference on World Affairs begins at the University of Colorado.

1949 - Sommers–Bausch Observatory built.

1950s-1990s

1952

U.S. National Bureau of Standards-Atomic Energy Commission Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory in operation.

Denver-Boulder Turnpike opens.

Population: 19,999.

1953 - Colorado Daily in publication.

1954 - September: U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology facility dedicated.

1955 – Denver Regional Council of Governments formed.

1958

Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra founded.

Colorado Shakespeare Festival begins.

1963 - Crossroads Mall in business.

1966 - Attention Homes opens its first home on 14th St.

1967 - U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesa Laboratory built.

1969 - Regional Transportation District (public transit system) organized.

1970

City "comprehensive plan" created.

Paladin Press in business.

1971 - Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative founded.

1972 - Historic Boulder, Inc. formed.

1973 - Vajradhatu headquartered in Boulder.

1974 - Naropa Institute and Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics established.

1975 - KBVL radio begins broadcasting.

1976

Colorado Music Festival begins.

Residential-growth management ordinance approved.

1977

Pearl Street Mall constructed.

KBCO begins broadcasting.

1978 - Boulder Magazine begins publication.

1979

Colorado University Events Center (arena) opens.

Bolder Boulder footrace begins.

1980 - Kinetics Conveyance Race begins.

1983 - January 1: Polar Bear Plunge begins.

1986

Farmer's Market begins.

Sister city relationship established with Lhasa, Tibet.

1987 - Sister city relationship active with Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

1988 - Colorado MahlerFest begins.

1989 - Rocky Mountain Spiritual Emergence Network Times begins publication.

1990 - Radio Reading Service of the Rockies founded.

1991

Culinary School of the Rockies founded.

eTown (radio program) begins broadcasting.

1993

Mountain Sun pub in business.

Boulder Weekly begins publication.

1994

Denver International Airport begins operating.

Sister city relationship established with Yamagata, Japan.

Boulder Community Network online.

1996

Boulder Area Trails Coalition founded.

Smoking ban enacted.

1998

October 31: Naked Pumpkin Run begins.

Bob Greenlee becomes mayor.

Dushanbe Tea House opens.

Bent Lens Cinema founded.

21st century

2000

Sister city relationship established with Ciudad Mante, Mexico.

Moondance Film Festival begins.

2002 - Spot Bouldering Gym in business.

2004

Mark Ruzzin becomes mayor.

Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival begins.

Boulder Chamber Orchestra founded.

2005 - Boulder Adventure Film Festival begins.

2006

November: Carbon tax approved.

Twenty Ninth Street shopping center in business.

Bikes Belong coalition headquartered in Boulder (approximate date).[1]

2007 - Communikey Festival begins.

2009

Susan Osborne becomes mayor, succeeded by Matthew Appelbaum.

Jared Polis becomes Colorado's 2nd congressional district representative.

Sister city relationship established with Kisumu, Kenya.

2010 - Population: 97,385.

2011

November: Municipal electric utility approved.

Boulder Food Rescue active.

2012 - National Institute of Standards and Technology Precision Measurement Laboratory dedicated.

2013 - Falling Fruit (urban agriculture map) launched.