Arapahoe County covers 805 square miles in north central Colorado, running east across the high plains from the southern edge of Denver. It is named for the Arapaho, who once inhabited the area. One of the oldest counties in the state, Arapahoe County is…

Buffalo Peaks Ranch is one of the oldest ranches in South Park, with roots in Adolphe and Marie Guiraud’s 1862 homestead along the Middle Fork of the South Platte River between Hartsel and Fairplay. Over the next eighty years, three generations of the…

As Europe stumbled into war in late July and early August 1914, Coloradans viewed the conflict with mixed emotions. Some favored the English, French, Italians, Russians, and their allies. Others preferred the Germans and Austrians and their friends. The…

Denver is the capital of Colorado and the twenty-first largest city in the United States, sprawling over six counties and 3,497 square miles of the High Plains and the Rocky Mountain foothills. Centered at the confluence of the South Platte River and…

Elijah McClain (1996–2019) was a massage therapist in Aurora who was walking down the street when approached and killed by Aurora Police and Aurora Fire Rescue officers on August 24, 2019. The death of McClain, a young Black man whom his family described…

Located about ten miles south of Leadville in the Upper Arkansas Valley, Hayden Ranch was one of the most important early agricultural operations in Lake County. Owned by the Hayden family from 1872 to 1933, the ranch raised hay and cattle for sale in…

Jamaica Primary School is a midcentury elementary school designed by Atchison & Kloverstrom that opened in Aurora’s Havana Park neighborhood in 1958. Part of a massive school-building effort by Aurora Public Schools to keep up with the city’s booming…

Mike Coffman (1955–) is a Colorado politician who is currently the mayor of Aurora, his childhood hometown. From 2009 to 2019, Coffman served in Congress, representing Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District, which includes Aurora. He also previously…