Superior

History

Superior is located in Colorado’s Front Range on the western side of the Denver Basin and is a part of the Laramie Formation. The formation is known for its deposits of bituminous and lignite coal, which led to the area’s development as a coal mining hub in the late 1800s. The area became known as the “Northern Field,” covering a 20-mile (32.19 km) radius from the city of Boulder, extending through the present-day counties of Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld. The land was originally used by Native American people including the Arapaho and Ute. It was territory of the Southern Arapaho in February 1861, when Colorado Territory and Boulder County were created and the tribe was forced to relocate as part of the Treaty of Fort Wise. From the perspective of the United States, the area was on the western edge of the Kansas Territory when gold was discovered near Idaho Springs, spawning the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859. William C. and Emmaline Hake emigrated from their home in Platteville, Wisconsin as a part of the Colorado gold rush and settled along present-day Coal Creek in 1860. Coal was discovered on the Hake homestead in 1864 after heavy floods exposed a seam along the creek. Hake formalized his ownership of the land in 1870 under the Homestead Acts. He founded the Town of Superior in 1896, and it was formally incorporated in 1904. It was reportedly named after the “superior” quality of coal found in the area, a sub-bituminous grade rather than the lignite predominant in the Northern Field. In 1892, Hake contracted with James Hood to build the Industrial Coal Mine just south of Coal Creek and present-day Original Town Superior. The mine was fully operational by 1895. In 1900, the Hakes sold the Industrial Mine to Northern Coal and…

Geography

Superior is at (39.93119, −105.159085) with an elevation of . It is bordered by the city of Louisville to the northeast, the city of Broomfield to the east and south, Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge to the south, and Boulder County [https://bouldercolorado.gov/government/departments/open-space-mountain-parks open space] to the west. U.S. Highway 36, also known as the Denver-Boulder Turnpike, runs along the northeast boundary of the town, and Colorado Route 128A runs along the south. A [https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/7f76fce5e14d4e828eef5c263ec65289 current land use map] of Superior is maintained by the Planning and Building Department. According to the United States Census Bureau as of 2021, Superior has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  66,997
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  58,237
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  54,760
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  53,765
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  51,862
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  47,717
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  46,465
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  45,206

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