Founding of Boulder, February 10, 1859

From the City of Boulder web site.

Gold seekers established the first non-native settlement in Boulder County on October 17, 1858 at Red Rocks near the entrance to Boulder Canyon. Less than a year later, on February 10, 1859, the Boulder City Town Company was organized by A.A. Brookfield, the first president, and 56 shareholders. Four thousand forty-four lots were laid out at a purchase price of $1,000 each, a price that was later lowered in order to attract more residents.

At this time, Boulder was apart of Nebraska Territory and remained so until February 28, 1861, when Colorado became a territory.

Flatirons Photo - 1950's

One of the most photographed areas in Boulder include the Flatirons. I was born in Boulder and could not begin to count how many photos of these beautiful rocks in our Rocky Mountain foothills that I have seen. Yet, there are no two photos of the Flatirons alike. Send me your photos of the flatirons and we will post them on our blog. This photo is a post card that my mother had purchased in the 1950's. She loved sending postcards of Boulder to our family from out of town. So send a post card to your loved ones and invite them to Boulder for our Sesquicentennial Celebration!

How did Pearl Street get it's name?

Positively Pearl St. Sylvia Pettem 2007
From "Introduction: Who was Pearl?"

For as long as anyone can remember, residents and visitors in Boulder, Colorado have asked, Who was Pearl? In 1859 when Boulder's main thoroughfare was named, a collection of a few log cabins was a frontier town for gold prospectors in the mountains to the west - not a likely place to find a gem from the sea.

The prospectors were all men. At the time, the wives of the original party remained in the East or Midwest. In February of 1859, prospector A. A. Brookfield wrote a letter home to his wife Emma. He stated, "We thought that as the weather would not permit us to mine, we would lay out and commence to build what may be an important town."

Pearl Street is the heart of our very important town, Boulder, Colorado. To date, it is unknown who Pearl Street is named for. Do you know? Please e-mail us if you do.

Bouder's Beginnings 1858

Boulder, Evolution of a city. (Revised Ed.) Silvia Pettem. 2006
From the forward by Liston E. Leyendecker, 1994.

Boulder received it's start in the late fall of 1858 when gold rush participants erected log cabins for shelter just below the mouth of Boulder Canyon. In January of 1859, these newcomers ventured 12 miles further west and 3,000 miles higher up to locate the mining camp of Gold Hill. Their tiny settlement at the canyon's entrance served as a supply point for people entering or leaving the newly found gold region.

Posted by Donlyn A. Arbuthnot, descendant of Carson Arbuthnot, 1859 Gold Hill Miner