City: Boulder, CO

Category: Relocation

Address: 8 miles from Boulder

Description: When the Pony Express needed to get overland mail from Julesburg, Scottsbluff, or Fort Laramie to Denver, carriers changed horses at Broomfield. Travel gave the farming town fame again in 1952, when Broomfield became the site of a toll station on the new Boulder/Denver Turnpike (now known as US 36). The road was especially popular during Saturday CU-Boulder football games. In 1967, it became the nation’s first toll road to pay for itself, approximately 13 years ahead of schedule.That history of a town at the crossroads became a bureaucratic headache as the town found itself in four counties and five different school districts. In 2000, Broomfield became its own county, the first time since 1902 that a city and county was created in Colorado. The city is busily creating the government structure, and the buildings, to support that status.Meanwhile, growth continues at a phenomenal rate. The city’s population increased from 24,000 to more than 53,691 in the past decade. The huge campus-like Interlocken high-tech office park continues to expand. The park is wired with fiber-optic cables to keep the high-tech tenants connected to the world. Interlocken is zoned for at least 25 percent open space, including wetlands and natural grasses, plus a golf course next to a hotel.Flatirons Crossing Mall opened in 2000, with 1.5 million square feet of retail and restaurant space that draws shoppers from all around the region.As Broomfield grows it is attempting to preserve some open space as well—more than 2,000 acres so far. The Bay, Broomfield’s outdoor aquatic park, attracts bathers from around the region. For more information contact the city (and county) of Broomfield, 1 DesCombes Drive, (303) 469-3301.