Among Colorado's fastest growing cities in the 21st century, Commerce City was settled in the 1850s, located today 8 miles northeast of Denver's capitol building. Known for hog farms, truck farms, and dairies, as well as refineries and grain elevators, Commerce City was, during World War II, the site of the enormous Rocky Mountain Arsenal, a U.S. Army weapons manufacturing facility. Incorporated in 1952 as Commerce Town, the name was changed to Commerce City in 1962, which adopted home rule in 1970. Commerce City is regionally famous and nationally recognized for parks and recreation, Buffalo Run Golf Course, Mile High Kennel Club (dog racing), and nearby Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The new Commerce City Civic Center and Dick's Sporting Goods Park, which is home to pro soccer's Colorado Rapids, were completed in 2007. Commerce City remains a speedily changing municipality with a diverse cultural mix and generations of residents with strong community roots.
Author Debra Bullock, a former administrator of Denver's famous Brown Palace Hotel and currently the director of education at Starkey Institute of Household Management, is a founder with her husband, Rene Bullock, of United Residents for Commerce City (URCC), an organization preserving the city's history. The images in this Commerce City album were gathered from the city, Commerce City Beacon, Rocky Mountain Arsenal archives, URCC members, and other residents and businesses.