BECAUSE YOU ASKED
Q: Who is Galen Smith? On Interstate 70 between Loma and Mack, and the Utah border, is the Galen Smith Memorial Highway, or something like that. Who is he, and what did he do?
A: The sign you are referring to is one of the blue signs saying who cleans that segment of highway through the Adopt-a-Highway program, not a memorial highway sign.
Galen Smith, who lives in the area, has cleaned the 2 miles of I-70 from the Utah border to Rabbit Valley at the first Colorado interchange for about 10 years.
Source: Colorado Department of Transportation
Q: Can you tell us how the town of Derby got its name?
A: The Adams County town, which is now a neighborhood in Commerce City, was named for Derby, England. In 1952, Commerce City incorporated the communities of Adams Heights, Derby, Dupont, Irondale and Rose Hill.
Sources: Commerce City; “Colorado Place Names” by William Bright; “Place Names in Colorado” by J. Frank Dawson; Denver Post archives
– Compiled by Bonnie Gilbert
