Lakewood, Colorado

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 172nd (in population) out of all the cities in the United States. 
In 2010, the population was 142,980. 
According to the United States Census in 2010, the city population was 142,980. 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  (2.7%) 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.

Climate
Lakewood experiences a semiarid climate (Köppen BSk) with winters tha fluctuate between mild to cold and snowy while summers are warm to hot, with great temperature differences (about 30°F) between day and night year round. Precipitation happens mostly in the spring and summer.

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, 142,980 people, 61,986 households, and 35,882 families lived in the city. The population density was 3,334.4 people per square mile (1,286.9/km). Its 65,758 housing units averaged 1,533.5 per square mile (591.9/km). The racial makeup of the city was 82.9% White, 3.1% Asian, 1.6% Black, 1.4% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 7.7% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 22.0% of the population.

Out of the 61,986 households, 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a male householder with no wife present, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were not families. About 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27, and the average family size was 2.92.

When looking at the population by age, it was 20.8% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The average age was 39.2 years. The population divided by gender was 48.9% male and 51.1% female.

The average income for a household in the city was $52,960, and for a family was $66,947. Males had an average income of $46,907 versus $41,476 for females. The city's per capita income was $30,027. About 9.1% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Lakewood makes money in a lot of different way, but gets the most money from the government. Companies based in Lakewood include Einstein Bros. Bagels, FirstBank, and The Integer Group.

As of 2013, 67.3% of the population over the age of 16 had a job. 0.1% was in the armed forces, and 67.3% was in the civilian labor force with 61.1% employed and 6.2% unemployed. The different types of the employed civilian labor force was 38.6% in management, business, science, and arts; 25.9% in sales and office occupations; 16.9% in service occupations; 9.9% in production, transportation, and material moving; and 8.7% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were educational services, health care, and social assistance (18.4%); professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (13.8%); and retail trade (11.9%).

References

Cities in Colorado