1857: “Mexican Diggings,” the first white settlement, is founded on the South Platte River.
June 1858: William Green Russell and his party from Auraria, Ga., discover gold in the South Platte near Cherry Creek.
Nov. 22, 1858: Denver City Town Co. is founded by the William H. Larimer party from Leavenworth, Kansas Territory.
1861: The Colorado Territory is created.
1870: The Denver Pacific, Kansas Pacific and Colorado Central railroads reach Denver, ending the town’s isolation and stagnation.
1871: The first Denver streetcar line is built from Auraria to Five Points.
1876: In the nation’s 100th anniversary year, Colorado becomes the 38th state, known as “Centennial State.”
1880s: Colorado’s first great boom, propelled by mining and railroads, takes Denver’s population to 106,713 in 1890.
1889: Denver Public Library is established.
1893: The silver crash sends Denver into a depression.
1902: City and county of Denver is carved out of Arapahoe County.
1904-18: Mayor Robert Speer’s urban planning transforms Denver into a “City Beautiful.”
1906: The National Western Stock Show is founded.
1908: The Democratic National Convention is held in Denver.
1913: Record snowfall — 45.7 inches on Dec. 1-6 — hits city.
1918-19: Some 1,500 residents die in the influenza epidemic.
1920s: The Ku Klux Klan comes to power, with the elections of Klansmen Clarence Morley as governor of Colorado and Ben Stapleton as mayor of Denver.
1929: Denver Municipal Airport (Stapleton) opens.
1930s: Denver develops its mountain-parks system, including Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the Winter Park ski area.
1933: The Great Depression leaves 25 percent of the state’s population unemployed.
1935: Denverite Louis Ballast patents the cheeseburger.
1947-1955: Mayor Quigg Newton modernizes Denver, installing Dr. Florence Sabin as head of Health and Hospitals. Henry Barnes sets up one-way streets and “The Barnes Dance” — diagonal pedestrian crossings downtown.
1976: The Auraria Higher Education Center opens in Denver’s oldest neighborhood; Denver celebrates the Colorado Centennial and U.S. bicentennial by opening its Platte River Greenway at Confluence Park.
1970s: The Denver Performing Arts Complex is developed.
1981: Federico Peña becomes Denver’s first Latino mayor.
1982: The oil bust sends Denver into an economic recession.
1991: Wellington Webb becomes Denver’s first African- American mayor.
1993: Pope John Paul II visits for World Youth Day.
1994: The Regional Transportation District opens first light-rail line from Auraria to Five Points.
1995: Denver International Airport, Coors Field and the new Denver Central Library open.
1997: World leaders convene in Denver for Summit of the Eight.
1998: The Denver Broncos win Super Bowl XXXII, resulting in riots in LoDo and a victory parade attended by 650,000.
2003: John Hickenlooper is elected mayor.
2004: The expanded Colorado Convention Center opens.
2008: The Democratic National Convention comes to Denver.
