Arvada Celebrates 120 Years

Prime Time News | May 20, 2024

Arvada – (May 20, 2024) The City of Arvada, in partnership with Visit Arvada, the Arvada Economic Development Association (AEDA), the Olde Town Business Improvement District (BID), the Arvada Chamber of Commerce and other local partners will be celebrating the 120th anniversary of the incorporation of Arvada, Colorado this summer.

“In 120 years, Arvada has grown from just 500 residents to more than 120,000 spread over two counties, Jefferson and Adams,” City Manager Lorie Gillis said. “As we celebrate our unique past this summer, we also look to the future and continue our journey of making Arvada, Colorado a great place to live, work and play.”

The festivities begin in June with the recognition of the first documented discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountain region. On June 22 in 1850, Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector, was headed for the California gold fields. That day, though, he found a quarter ounce of gold in a small stream near its mouth at Clear Creek in Arvada, Colorado. It was worth $5 in 1850, and would be worth more than $1,000 today!

Events will be held throughout the summer with special recognition of the 120th anniversary during the Arvada Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Arvada July 11, the Arvada Festival’s Commission’s Arvada on Tap July 13 and culminating with a celebration that will be held August 24, 2024 during Arvada Days with free, old-fashioned family fun at Clear Creek Valley Park.

The City of Arvada was formally incorporated on August 14, 1904. It’s always been a city of “firsts” – from the first documented gold strike, to the first King Soopers grocery store and the first traffic light in Jefferson County at the intersection of Grandview and Olde Wadsworth. Many miners who didn’t discover gold turned to farming and Arvada was the first “Celery Capital of the World.”

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