Westminster is a Home Rule Municipality in Adams and Jefferson
counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Westminster is a northwest
suburb of Denver. The Westminster Municipal Center is located 9 miles
(14 km) north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol. As of the 2010
census the population of Westminster was 106,114, and as of 2019 the
estimated population was 113,166. Westminster is the seventh most
populous city in Colorado and the 237th most populous city in the
United States. Westminster is a part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO
Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined
Statistical Area.Gold discovered in the South Platte River Valley in
1858 brought national attention to the area that would become
Westminster, Colorado. The promise of fortune and The Homestead Act of
1862 encouraged many pioneers from the east to settle in Colorado
rather than continue on to California. Before the settlements came,
wildlife like antelope and buffalo made their homes in the area. There
is also evidence of Arapaho Indians near the Crown Point (Gregory
Hill) area. Westminsters' first permanent settler was Kentucky farmer
Pleasant DeSpain, who built his home in 1870 on 160 acres (near what
is now West 76th Avenue and Lowell Street). The area became known as
DeSpain Junction and attracted other settlers including Edward Bruce
Bowles, who in 1881 constructed a brick Italianate house now known as
the Bowles House. It was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1988. The village of DeSpain Junction grew into a small
farming community and continued to attract new settlers despite the
difficulty of farming in Colorado's arid climate. Connecticut real
estate developer C.J. Harris arrived in DeSpain Junction in 1885 and
purchased the DeSpain farm, among others. Harris combined the separate
homesteads and divided it into smaller tracts of land, which he sold
to fruit farmers. Harris renamed DeSpain Junction with his own and the
area was referred to as Harris, Colorado. In 1890, New Yorker Henry T.
Mayham convinced the Denver Presbytery to build a university on land
that he owned in Harris. After delays caused by the depression of
1893, the school was built from red sandstone quarried in Colorado's
Red Rocks region. The curriculum was patterned after Princeton
University and was referred to as the "Princeton of the West". The
school was incorporated as Westminster University of Colorado, and
classes began in 1908 with one year's tuition costing $50 ($1,411 in
2018). The school ceased operating in 1917, when all students in
attendance left to fight in World War I. In the following decade it
operated as a church and school. In 1911, Harris voted to incorporate
as a city and changed its name to Westminster, in honor of the
university which is now on the National Register of Historic
Places.Gold discovered in the South Platte River Valley in 1858
brought national attention to the area that would become Westminster,
Colorado. The promise of fortune and The Homestead Act of 1862
encouraged many pioneers from the east to settle in Colorado rather
than continue on to California. Before the settlements came, wildlife
like antelope and buffalo made their homes in the area. There is also
evidence of Arapaho Indians near the Crown Point (Gregory Hill) area.
Westminsters' first permanent settler was Kentucky farmer Pleasant
DeSpain, who built his home in 1870 on 160 acres (near what is now
West 76th Avenue and Lowell Street). The area became known as DeSpain
Junction and attracted other settlers including Edward Bruce Bowles,
who in 1881 constructed a brick Italianate house now known as the
Bowles House. It was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1988. The village of DeSpain Junction grew into a small
farming community and continued to attract new settlers despite the
difficulty of farming in Colorado's arid climate. Connecticut real
estate developer C.J. Harris arrived in DeSpain Junction in 1885 and
purchased the DeSpain farm, among others. Harris combined the separate
homesteads and divided it into smaller tracts of land, which he sold
to fruit farmers. Harris renamed DeSpain Junction with his own and the
area was referred to as Harris, Colorado. In 1890, New Yorker Henry T.
Mayham convinced the Denver Presbytery to build a university on land
that he owned in Harris. After delays caused by the depression of
1893, the school was built from red sandstone quarried in Colorado's
Red Rocks region. The curriculum was patterned after Princeton
University and was referred to as the "Princeton of the West". The
school was incorporated as Westminster University of Colorado, and
classes began in 1908 with one year's tuition costing $50 ($1,411 in
2018). The school ceased operating in 1917, when all students in
attendance left to fight in World War I. In the following decade it
operated as a church and school. In 1911, Harris voted to incorporate
as a city and changed its name to Westminster, in honor of the
university which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.In
July 2006, it was ranked as the 24th best place to live in the US by
Money magazine.Westminster City Hall features a 14-story bell tower
topped by a pyramid shaped steel mesh structure. The 130-foot spire,
which is widely known and referenced as a community landmark, was
first conceptualized as a symbolic tie and tribute to the clock tower
of Westminster Palace in England known as Big Ben. The unveiling of
the Bell Tower in 1986 was attended by the then mayor of Westminster,
England. An English Oak can be seen on the City Hall property today- a
gift to Westminster, Colorado, from Westminster, England. Westminster, Colorado Top Movies & Young Movies