Robert W. Speer and the Queen City

This project is the culmination of a semester’s long history research project. It investigates the urban and political history of the city of Denver, Colorado. It begins by looking into why and how Denver became the urban-epicenter of the Front Range, during a time in which other cities such as Golden and Colorado Springs were also being founded. It discovers that the politicking of prominent Denver-men resulted in Denver dominating the gold and silver trade out of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Following this it journeys through the next 40 years of Denver history during which the Colorado economy faced total economic collapse, including its capital city of Denver. The remainder of the project dives into the life and works of Mayor Robert W. Speer and how he rebuilt the city and its economy. Through infrastructure, city beautification, and politicking Speer pulled the city out of economic ruin and set in on a course for regional economic dominance. The ultimate thesis of the project is that Mayor Speer should be viewed as the second founder of the city for his efforts in saving the city.