About

Arvada’s rich history begins before Colorado's statehood in 1876 and includes the first discovery of the precious metal that started the Gold Rush in the West. It's also known for the development of the Colorado Central Railroad and was indeed an agricultural hub known for, you guessed it . . . celery! 

In June of 1850, Lewis Ralston made the first documented discovery of gold as he panned in Clear Creek. While Ralston made his way to California on his gold-seeking journey, he did return in 1858 as he guided a group of gold seekers back to the ancestral lands of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe to see if fortune could be found on the banks of the creek that now bore his name.

At the confluence of Ralston and Clear Creeks, explorers indeed found gold, but not enough to make a significant profit, even with the addition of sluice boxes powered by canals. They moved upstream with hopes of finding richer deposits and even veins of gold. And so, they did, at Gregory Gulch, with the famous find that started the Gold Rush of 1859. Ralston and his gold-seeking group also unknowingly dug canals that proved extremely valuable to the real future of farming in Arvada. 

By 1870, the Colorado Central Railroad had reached this far West, and enough people had moved into the area that an official U.S. Post Office was requested. The leading citizen, Benjamin F. Wadsworth, asked his wife Mary Ann to name their new community. Her sister had married a man named Hiram Arvada Haskin. Hiram's mother had chosen his middle name off of a map in their old Scofield Bible. And so, Arvada was born, named for an island off the coast of Syria.

Wadsworth and his friend Louis Reno platted the town in 1870, marking its first existence as an organized territory. The population at that time topped out at about 100 people. Arvada was officially incorporated in 1904 and today boasts over 120,000 residents.