Where did the name Denver Come From? Philadelphia means the “City of Brotherly Love.” San Francisco invokes Saint Francis of Assis. New York sounds like an improvement on Old York. Cheyenne refers to the people displaced from their homeland by the settlers who founded the city. Salt Lake City is… well, obvious. But what about Denver? Where did Denver get its name?
The mining camp at the base of the Rockies was named Denver City in 1858 for General James W. Denver, Governor of Kansas Territory, of which Denver was a part until 1861. The city founders hoped that the name would earn the fledgling settlement enough political favor to be designated the seat of Arapahoe County. Governor Denver, however, retired before news of the honor could travel back to Kansas.
But Denver City didn’t need approval from Kansas to succeed. When Congress created the Colorado Territory in 1861, the first territorial legislators designated Denver as the new capital. The honor traveled briefly in the ensuing years to Colorado City (now part of Colorado Springs) and Golden City before returning to permanently settle in Denver in 1867.
In later years, James Denver visited his namesake twice. Both times, he expressed his chagrin at the less-than-adoring welcome he endured, writing to a friend after the final visit that he was left with “the impression there were not many people in Denver City who cared much about me."
- Courtesy of “Dr. Colorado” Tom Noel
Photo caption: James W. Denver, photographed on a visit to his namesake city by Denver portrait photographer A.E. Rinehart. (Credit: History Colorado, 2000.129.1204)
