Longmont

Sister cities

• Ciudad Guzmán

History

Longmont was founded in 1871 by a group of people from Chicago, Illinois. Originally called the Chicago-Colorado Colony, led by president Robert Collyer, the men sold memberships in the town, purchasing the land necessary for the town hall with the proceeds. As the first planned community in Boulder County, the city streets were laid out in a grid plan within a square mile. The Longmont, Colorado Territory, post office opened on April 14, 1873. The city began to flourish as an agricultural community after the Colorado Central Railroad line arrived northward from Boulder in 1877. The Town of Longmont was incorporated on November 15, 1885. In 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 exploded over Weld County, Colorado, 8 miles east of Longmont, killing 44 passengers and crew. During the 1960s, the federal government built the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center in Longmont, and IBM built a manufacturing and development campus near Longmont. Longmont Foods was a turkey processor that once supplied turkey products throughout the United States. For example, turkey hot dogs with the Longmont Foods label were sold throughout the U.S. In 1950 they constructed a large plant on southern Main St. that received trucks full of live turkeys. The company was eventually purchased by Butterball and then closed 2011. As agriculture waned, more high technology has come to the city, including companies like Seagate and Amgen; Amgen closed its Longmont campus in 2015. In April 2009, the GE Energy Company relocated its control solutions business to the area. The downtown along Main Street, once nearly dead during the 1980s, has seen a vibrant revival in the 1990s and into the 21st century. During the mid-1990s, the southern edge of Longmont became the location of the first New Urbanist…

Geography

Longmont is located in northeastern Boulder County and extends eastward into western Weld County. U.S. Highway 287 (Main Street) runs through the center of the city, leading north to Loveland and south to downtown Denver. State Highway 119 passes through the city south of downtown and leads southwest to Boulder and east to Interstate 25. The elevation at City Hall is above sea level. St. Vrain Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River, flows through the city just south of the city center. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Longmont has a total area of , of which is land and , or 5.30%, is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  38,472
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  35,539
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  35,074
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  33,913
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  32,910
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  31,707
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  31,416
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  31,331

Largest nearby schools

• Niwot High School
  High · NIWOT · 1,355 students · 24.2:1 ratio
• Skyline High School
  High · LONGMONT · 1,354 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Longmont High School
  High · LONGMONT · 1,262 students · 20:1 ratio
• Silver Creek High School
  High · LONGMONT · 1,250 students · 23.1:1 ratio
• Twin Peaks Charter Academy
  Other · LONGMONT · 807 students · 13.2:1 ratio
• Timberline PK-8
  Elementary · LONGMONT · 791 students · 13.2:1 ratio
• Flagstaff Charter Academy
  Elementary · LONGMONT · 772 students · 12.9:1 ratio
• Altona Middle School
  Middle · LONGMONT · 770 students · 19.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2025-06-13
  7 km SE of Erie, Colorado
• M 2.5 — 2020-10-24
  2 km ESE of Georgetown, Colorado
• M 2.9 — 2019-03-30
  7 km NE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 3 — 2016-11-06
  8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 2.7 — 2016-11-06
  8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 2.6 — 2016-08-23
  2 km SSE of Eaton, Colorado