Longmont, Colorado
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Location in the state of Colorado |
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| County | Boulder |
| Mayor | Julia Pirnack |
| Time zone - summer (DST) |
MST (UTC#-7) MDT (UTC#-6) |
| Official website: http://www.ci.longmont.co.us | |
The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder County and Weld County, Colorado, United States. Longmont is the 13th most populous city in the State of Colorado. The word "Longmont" comes from Longs Peak, a prominent mountain named for explorer Stephen H. Long that is clearly visible from Longmont, and "mont" from the French word for mountain. The city is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder. In contrast to its better-known neighbor, Longmont has a much more quiet and residential feel, although the city has begun to grow rapidly in recent years, in part as a bedroom community to the more-expensive Boulder and to nearby Denver.
Also notable, Longmont was declared an "All-America City" by the National Civic League in June 2006. The city was also named number 61 on the 2006 list of the top 100 places to live in the United States by Money Magazine[1].
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[edit] History
Longmont was founded in 1871 by a group of Chicagoans who had decided to found a new town in Colorado. Originally called the Chicago-Colorado Colony, the men sold memberships in the town and with the proceeds purchased the land necessary for the town. As the first planned community in Boulder County, the city streets were laid out in a grid plan in a square mile. The city began to flourish as an agricultural community after the building of the Colorado Central Railroad line arrived northward from Boulder in 1877. In the 1940s the city began to grow beyond these original limits. In the 1960s the federal government located an air-traffic control center in town and IBM built a large plant near the city. As agriculture waned, more high technology has come to the city especially in the computer hard drive industry including companies like Seagate and Maxtor. The downtown along Main Street, once nearly dead during the 1980s, has seen a vibrant revival in the last decade. In the mid 1990s, the south edge of the city became the location of the first New Urbanist project in Colorado, called Prospect New Town, designed by renowned architect Andres Duany.
- For more information on Longmont's history, see the official City of Longmont history on the city's website.
[edit] Geography
Longmont is located at (40.171583, -105.109085)GR1. Elevation is about 1525 meters (approx. 5000 feet) above sea level.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.5 km² (21.8 mi²). 56.4 km² (21.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.05% is water.
Longmont is an exurb of Denver, on U.S. Highway 287. By 2016, it will be the Route 36 Corridor endpoint for the FasTracks commuter rail network.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2005, there were 76,181 people, 26,667 households, and 18,453 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,259.7/km² (3,262.3/mi²). There were 27,394 housing units at an average density of 485.4/km² (1,257.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was:
- 86.1% White
- 0.4% African American
- 1.2% Native American
- 2.4% Asian
- 0.0% Pacific Islander
- 7.6% from other races
- 2.3% from two or more races.
- Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.8% of the population.
There were 26,667 households out of which 36.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $51,174, and the median income for a family was $58,037. Males had a median income of $40,978 versus $29,582 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,409. About 5.9% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Economy
According to the Longmont Area Economic Council[2], the top ten employers in Longmont are:
- St. Vrain Valley Schools (regional school district) with 2650 employees
- Seagate Technology with 1605
- Longmont United Hospital with 1242 employees
- ConAgra Foods (which operates a turkey processing plant) with 920 employees
- City of Longmont with 817 employees
- Amgen with 700 employees
- Intrado with 660 employees
- McLane Western with 545 employees
- Federal Aviation Administration with 389 employees
- Xilinx with 333 employees
[edit] Notable residents
- Vance D. Brand, former astronaut
- Kylie Ireland, pornographic movie actress (born in Longmont)
- Greg Biekert, professional football player (born in Longmont)
- David Pauley, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
[edit] Sister cities
Longmont is a sister city of these municipalities:
[edit] External links
- City of Longmont (official website)
- InfoLongmont (local community website)
- Longmont Daily Times-Call (local newspaper)
- [3] [Yourhub.com/Longmont]
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
