Cañon City, Colorado

Fremont County

08-11810

Cañon City [ ˌ kænən sɪtɪ ] (until 1994 Canon City ) is an American small town in the state of Colorado. The Home Rule Municipality located about 150 km south of Denver and 60 km southwest of Colorado Springs on the Arkansas River. Cañon City is located in Fremont County and is its administrative headquarters. In 2010, the city had 16,400 inhabitants. The Vice Admiral Emory S. Land was born in Cañon City. Because of their twelve prisons, the city also bears the nickname Capital Prison ( Prison ). In Colorado Territorial Prison Museum, the history of crime and prison up to the last gas chamber in Colorado is shown.

History

The city was founded in 1859 as a gold mining town during the Colorado Gold Rush and witnessed by the construction of the railway line to the west an upswing.

1861, the city on two companies of volunteers, the 2nd Colorado Infantry joined and participated in the American Civil War. The regiment fought in New Mexico and Indian Territory on the territory of present-day Oklahoma, and Missouri before it was decommissioned in 1865.

1862 AM Cassaday drilled about ten kilometers north of the town for crude oil. At a depth of about 15 m, he came across the black gold and thus opened up the first commercial oil well west of the Mississippi. He drilled yet successfully on several spots in the area and refined kerosene and other petroleum products, which he sold in Denver.

1871 established the Territory of Colorado, the first prison in Cañon City. Colorado Department of Corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons today are the largest employers in the county. For the present, past two institutions were built after 1989. Colorado State Prison II is under construction in 2010.

Geography

Cañon City's geographic coordinates are 38 ° 27 'N, 105 ° 14' W38.446666666667 - 105.22833333333. The town is located 1625 m above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.2 km ², of which 31.1 km ² of land and 0.1 km ² omitted ( = 0.08 %) to water.

Approved in 1994 the United States Board on Geographic Names adding the tilde in the official name of Cañon City, which was named Canon City before due to the earlier decisions in the years 1906 and 1975. The city is one of the few cities in the U.S., which introduces ñ in their name.

Tourism

Cañon City is the starting point for the ride on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, which leads to the Arkansas River along through the Royal Gorge, up to 330 m deep granite canyon, whose main attraction is the Royal Gorge Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the world is. From here, many white water rafting run on the rough headwaters of the Arkansas River.

Demography

At the time of the census of 2000, there were 15,431 people Cañon City. The population density was 495.7 people per km ². There were 6617 housing units at an average 212.5 per km ². The Cañon City's population consisted of 93.15 % White, 1.59 % African American, 1.04% Native American, 0.54 % Asian, 0.06 % Pacific Islander, 1.61 % reported other to belong to races and 2.01 % from two or more races. 8.33 % of the population to be Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The residents of Cañon City's distributed to 6164 households out of which 28.8 % were living in children under 18 years. 48.0 % married couples living together, 10.5 % had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 33.7 % of households were made ​​up of individuals and someone lived in 17.2 % of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size is 2.90 people.

The city population was spread out with 23.5 % under the, 6.7 % 18 -24- year-old, 28.2 % 25 -44- year-old, 21.5% 45-64 year olds and 20.1 % under the age of 65 years or more. The average age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 100.1 males. In the over -18s accounted for 100 women 99.3 males.

The median household income in Cañon City was $ 31,736, and the median family income reached the level of 42 917 U.S. dollars. The average income of men was 31 258 U.S. dollars, compared to 21 849 U.S. dollars for women. The per capita income in Cañon City was 16,970 U.S. dollars. 11.5 % of the population and 7.1% of families had affected an income below the poverty line, including 11.9 % of minors and 9.6 % of those age 65 or over.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Donald S. Fredrickson, physiologist, described in 1961 as the first Tangier disease

Movies

• David Dufresen, Philippe Brault: Prison Valley. Documentation, France, 2010, 59 min ( The TV documentary is a preparation of the same interactive web documentation of the two authors. Access also here with the name " arte " of the transmitter for access. )