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A History of Broomfield… Editor’s Note: This content is an edited consolidation of content available from the City and County of Broomfield on broomfield.org. Thank you to Broomfield History Collections for sharing content and photos.
1885
Farms dotted what is now the Broomfield landscape in the late 1800s, and in 1885 when Adolph Zang bought the area in the vicinity of 120th Avenue and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard, the train stop there became known as Zang’s Spur, memorializing the spur off of the main railroad line where locally grown grains would be loaded into railroad cars for delivery to the Zang Brewing Company in Denver. Ultimately, Zang bought 4,000 acres of land in the area for his Elmwood Stock Farm where he bred Percheron horses, and tended fruit orchards.
1898
At the turn of the century, Broomfield was a little town near 120th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard. Grain elevators, a grocery, hotel, a bank and other thriving businesses drew the farmers in the area together and they created the Crescent Grange in 1898. The organization brought area residents together for diverse activities including a petition for postal service, arrangements to buy clothing at reduced prices, insurance, programs, and social activities.
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Our Broomfield™ Magazine | June 2021
1904 – 1909
In 1904, the Colorado and Southern formed the Denver & Interurban Railway, and by 1908, the big cars were serving Broomfield on a regular basis, taking passengers to Denver, Westminster, Marshall, Boulder, Superior, Valmont, and Louisville on its Main Line. By 1909, Broomfield had 19 passenger trains per day coming through town, prompting construction of a new depot which stood at the corner of present-day 120th Avenue and Old Wadsworth Boulevard. In those early years, Broomfield had a garage, then two, and a filling station. They joined the Grange Hall, a hotel and general store, flour mill, cheese factory, bank, creamery, grain elevator, restaurants, a lumber yard, and a barbershop. From 1900 to 1957, about 100 people lived on farmland in the area.
1950
In 1950, construction began on the Boulder Turnpike, a toll road, and one of the first paved roads in the area. It stretched between Wadsworth Boulevard and Boulder, with a tollbooth in Broomfield. The road’s cost was paid by the tolls. Shortly after, the new Broomfield began during a growth boom when developers decided to build the state’s first dream community. The first filing, the area north of 120th Avenue between Main Street and U.S. 287, was built, elementary school classes were held in “cottage schools” built by the developers of Broomfield Heights, and a shopping center sprouted where a lake had once stood in the area by U.S. 287 and Midway Blvd. All Photos courstesy of City of Broomfield History Collection
