Throughout our more than 130-year history, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce has continually worked to make Denver a prosperous, highly livable city. From bringing the first railroad to Denver in 1867 to helping make Denver International Airport (DIA) a reality in 1994, the Chamber has played an important role in shaping the quality of life in the Front Range. Below is a timeline of significant events in the history of Denver that the Chamber helped to bring about.

 

Denver Board of Trade raises funds to bring the railroad to Denver from Cheyenne.

 

The Denver Board of Trade becomes the Denver Chamber of Commerce.

 

The Chamber houses the first public library.

 

The Chamber successfully lobbies the federal government to select a site here for what becomes Fort Logan. The same year, the Chamber launches a "Bureau of Information" that mails literature to 50,000 prospective visitors.

 

The Chamber facilitates and resolves the conflicts between Populist Governor Davis Waite and Denver police commissioners.

 

The U.S. Mint is located here, thanks to strong Chamber lobbying.

 

After intense promotion, the National Stock Growers Association Convention meets here. By 1906, the National Western Stock Show is officially at home in Denver.

 

The Chamber provides strong support for the construction of a system of storage reservoirs and begins promoting water conservation.

 

The Chamber supports the construction of Cherry Creek Blvd.

 

The Chamber forms the Denver Convention League, which books 42 conventions its first year.

 

The Chamber raises funds to prevent the closure of the Denver Museum of Natural History.

 

The Chamber organizes a Good Roads Convention, which raises $500,000 for road construction.

 

The Chamber drafts a smoke ordinance, later adopted by the Denver City Council, to reduce black clouds believed to be caused by wasted fuel in area factories.

 

The Chamber purchases, and later donates, the land on which Fitzsimons Army Medical Center was located.

 

The Chamber begins fundraising for land to be used for Lowry Aviation Field, and in 1926 helps win airmail service for Denver.

 

The Chamber, after a decade of work for an airport, celebrates the opening of

Denver Municipal Airport (later renamed Stapleton International Airport).

 

The Chamber donates the land for Lowry Air Force Air Base to the federal government.

 

The Chamber launches Forward Metro Denver, an economic acceleration program. Its efforts attracted 280,000 new jobs.

 

The Chamber is instrumental in the formation of the Regional Transportation District (RTD).

 

Auraria Higher Education campus is opened, after years of Chamber support and involvement.

 

The Chamber's special Airport Task Force recommends that a new regional hub airport be built, rather than waiting for the year 2000 as planned.

 

The 16th Street Mall opens, which was a project strongly supported by the Chamber.

 

The Chamber forms the Metro Denver Network, The Greater Denver Corporation and the Small Business Profit Center.

 

The Colorado Convention Center opens, a project strongly supported by the Chamber.

 

The Greater Denver Corporation and the Chamber help create more than 190,000 jobs for the six-county metro Denver region over a seven-year span.

 

Denver International Airport opens, which was a top economic development project of the Chamber.

 

The Chamber, led by the Metro Denver Network, successfully positioned Denver and the Front Range as a high-tech hub and introduced the moniker "Convergence Corridor-Technology with Altitude." In addition, the Chamber, which has backed the development of light rail since 1994, helped celebrate the opening of the new Southwest Light Rail line.

 

The Chamber increases its representation from six counties to seven as Broomfield becomes the metro area's seventh county.

 

The Chamber proposes a $15-billion, 20-year, multi-modal transportation legislation compromise, which is passed by Colorado legislators and signed by Governor Bill Owens.

 

In partnership with Aurora and the region's economic development leadership, the Chamber provides business support for the passage of a bill to ensure the CU Health Sciences Center Fitzsimons campus build-out.

 

The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Metro Denver EDC achieve victory with the nation’s largest one-time build-out of a mass transit system--FasTracks.

 

As architects of the campaign for Referendum C, the Chamber provided both the leadership and economic resources to assure passage of the ballot measure and played a key role in Colorado's economic recovery. Created a new affiliate, the Colorado Competitive Council (C3), a statewide lobbying entity that will support other local efforts to assure that the business sector has a voice in regard to upcoming legislation.

 

Members of the Board and the Chamber at-large served on Governor Bill Ritter’s transition committees. The Chamber released a report on the nearly $1 billion annual cost of inaction along Interstate 70 and secured our competitive status by supporting the Labor Peace Act. The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation brought to Colorado a nonstop flight to Munich, Germany, as well as the United Launch Alliance headquarters and the Vestas Blades facility. The foundation acquired the Colorado Leadership Alliance, a leadership program on 10 collegiate campuses across the state.