Lower Downtown District, Inc.

How Did Denver Get Its Name?

Apr 12, 2000

When a city is named after a person, usually, that individual was a resident. Or at least someone who frequented the area. The namesake of Denver, however, never lived here and only visited once. "Discovering?” Denver
William Larimer and his associates left Leavenworth, Kansas, for the Pikes Peak region on October 1, 1958. They soon met another Colorado-bound group from Lecompton, Kansas. This group carried a decree from the governor of Kansas Territory, James Larimer, to organize the area of the recent gold strikes into Arapahoe County. A surprise to the
first party, the Governor had named Larimer the post of County Treasurer.
The Larimer group arrived near the mouth of Cherry Creek on November 16. Larimer had political ties to Governor Denver and some of his associates and fellow town founders his associates and fellow town founders held paper appointments as officers of Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory. Larimer's group resolved to win the governor's blessing for
their new town by christening it Denver City. Little did they know that, only a few weeks after they left on their journey and before they had arrived at the confluence of Cherry Creek and Platte River, James Denver had resigned as Governor of the territory. The Lawyer/Editor James Denver
James William Denver was born in Winchester, Virginia, on October 23, 1817, and moved with his parents to a farm north of Wilmington, Ohio, at the age of 14. There he attended the public schools, studying engineering and land surveying.
In 1841 he went to Missouri to try to find surveying work but soon returned to Ohio to begin law school at the University of Cincinnati. After graduating in 1844, James Denver started a law practice in Xenia, Ohio, while also editing The Thomas Jefferson, a local newspaper. In
only a few months, however, Denver grew restless and moved to Platt City, Missouri.
>From California to Colorado
In 1853 Denver served as Secretary of State for California, and in 1855 he was elected to the United States Congress. President Buchanan appointed Denver commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1857. In 1858, Denver became Governor of the "Bleeding Kansas Territory". In 1859 he returned
to California to run for the United States Senate. When he failed to recapture the favor of the California public, he returned to his home state of Ohio.
War and Politics
Not long afterward, when the Civil War Broke out, Denver was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, and placed in command of troops in Kansas. Denver served under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War until he retired for
service in 1863, and returned to Washington, D.C., to start a law firm. During his remaining years, Denver was active in politics. He presented as a potential democratic candidate for presidential election in 1876 and 1884, but his bids for the nomination were defeated.
The Death of Denver
James Denver died in Washington D.C., on August 9, 1892. His wife Louisa C. Romach, and his son, Matthew Romach Denver, survived him. Matthew went on to serve as a member of the Ohio Congress and was instrumental in construction of the General Denver Hotel in his hometown of Wilmington, Ohio. The hotel was built in 1928, a four-story Tudor
Revival financed through a fundraising effort headed by Denver's son. It has gone through many restorations and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Although he never was a resident of his namesake city and may have only visited it once after its founding, James Denver did help fight for Colorado statehood, which succeeded in 1876.