Lakewood is a city in Colorado, the United States. It was founded in 1889. Its population ranks fifth of all the Colorado cities. It ranks 167th (in population) out of all the cities in the United States. In 2020, the population was 155,984. Lakewood is to the west of Denver, Colorado's capital. It is one of the key cities of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor.
History
This urban and suburban community was started in 1889 by Charles Welch and W.A.H. Loveland; who platted a 13-block area along Colfax Avenue west of Denver in eastern Jefferson County. Loveland used to be the president of the Colorado Central Railroad and lived in Golden. After retiring, he moved to the new area known as Lakewood.
Up until 1969, this area known as Lakewood didn't have a city government. Instead, they relied on water districts, fire districts, and the government of Jefferson County. This area known as Lakewood was more of a community and had been around for 80 years. Police protection was provided to them by the Jefferson County Sheriff and volunteers from fire districts.
In 1969, the City of Lakewood was legally turned into Jefferson City. Not too long after, they held an election. They decided to change the city's name to Lakewood because the majority disliked "Jefferson City," and believes it would be confused with existing communities in Colorado and Missouri. At this time, the population was already over 90,000.
Lakewood never had a traditional downtown area. West Colfax Avenue served the metropolitan area as U.S. Route 40 and the main route that joined Denver with the Rocky Mountains. Colfax from Harlan west to Kipling and beyond had mostly commercial establishments. Originally, in Lakewood, there was only the Jewish Conspumtive Relief Society (JCRS) for tuberculosis patients, a small, frame Methodist Church, and telephone exchange. However, by the 1950s, grocery and drug stores, gas stations, restaurants and taverns, several motels, branch banks, a movie theater, a roller rink, a bowling alley, and used car lots could be found as well. Several shopping centers with multiple businesses also developed.
In 2011, Lakewood was named an All-America City for the first time.
Geography
Lakewood is located at at an elevation of . It is located in the middle of U.S. Route 6 and Colorado State Highway 121 in central Colorado,positioned immediately west of Denver and north-northwest of Colorado Springs.
Lakewood lies in the Colorado Piedmont on the western edge of the Great Plains, just east of the Front Range of the southern Rocky Mountains. Green Mountain, a mesa tall, is located in the far west-central part of the city.
Lakewood is located in the watershed of the South Platte River. Several small tributaries of the river flow east through it. From north to south, this includes Lakewood Gulch, Weir Gulch, Sanderson Gulch, and Bear Creek. Two tributaries of Lakewood Gulch, Dry Gulch and McIntyre Gulch, flow east through the northern part of the city. Turkey Creek, a tributary of Bear Creek, flows northeast through the far southwestern part of the city. In addition, Lena Gulch, a tributary of Clear Creek to the north, flows east then north through the extreme northwestern part of the city.
Several small lakes and reservoirs are in Lakewood. The Soda Lakes lie in the far southwestern part of the city. East of them lies Bear Creek Lake, a reservoir fed by Bear Creek and Turkey Creek. Clustered near each other in central Lakewood are Main Reservoir, East Reservoir, Smith Reservoir, Kendrick Lake, and Cottonwood Lake. Northeast of them lies Kountze Lake. In the northwestern part of the city, Lena Gulch both feeds and drains Maple Grove Reservoir. In the far southern part of the city lies Bowles Reservoir No. 1 and, just outside the city limits to the reservoir's northeast, Marston Lake.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . Of which are land and (2.6%) are covered by water.
As a suburb of Denver, Lakewood is part of both the greater Denver metropolitan area and the Front Range Urban Corridor. It borders other communities on all sides, including Wheat Ridge to the north, Edgewater to the northeast, Denver to the east and southeast, Dakota Ridge to the south, Morrison to the southwest, and Golden, West Pleasant View, East Pleasant View, and Applewood to the northwest.
