As a purple dusk descends, fans stroll the stadium's upper walkways. The fading sun glints off weaving rail lines and old brick warehouses below, symbols of this city's early power as the Rocky Mountain transportation hub. Glassy high-rises poke up farther south, and beyond them, stadiumgoers can see suburbs spreading over the plains toward Colorado Springs. The Colorado Rockies aren't winning tonight, but their home field is major-league. So is their hometown.
Statistics fill out the story.
Regional unemployment is a mere 3.8 percent. Business muscle has stretched beyond traditional oil and gas with strong growth in high-tech. These heady times are a far cry from Denver's shady beginnings. In 1858 he jumped someone else's claim to found the town on the banks of Cherry Creek. Later he named the city for territorial governor James W. Denver, in hopes the governor would name the town the county seat.