Did You Know?

Did you know: Denver

1. Denver is truly one mile high: The 13th step on the west side of the State Capitol is 5,280 feet above sea level.
2. Denver is one of the few cities in history that was not on a road, railroad, lake, navigable river or body of water when it was founded. Denver is where the first flakes of gold were found in 1858 and it was here that the first camp was made. The first permanent structure built was a saloon.
3. Denver receives 300 days of sunshine a year – more than San Diego or Miami Beach.
4. Denver is built on high plains and is one of the flattest of all American cities.
5. Denver boasts the largest city park system in the nation. It includes over 450 miles of paved designated bike paths, 20,000 acres of park lands, a buffalo herd and Red Rocks Amphitheater.
6. The cheeseburger was invented in Denver by Louis Ballast who operated the Humpty Dumpty Barrel drive-in. He applied for a patent on his now famous invention in 1935.
7. A large portion of Jack Kerouac’s beat classic On the Road takes place in Denver.
8. Denver is home to eight professional sports teams.
9. The National Western Stock Show, the largest stock show in the world, is held annually every January in Denver, and attracts visitors from all over the world.
10. The name “Denver City” was chosen to honor Kansas territorial governor James W. Denver by General William Larimer, founder of the Kansas Territory. Ironically, when Larimer named it after Denver, he was unaware that James Denver had already resigned as governor.
11. The Colorado Rockies baseball team are the 2007 National League Champions.
12. In August 2008, Denver will play host to the 2008 Democratic Convention.

Did you know: DU

1. Founded in 1864, the University of Denver is the oldest independent institution of higher education in the Rocky Mountain region.
2. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Denver 85th for top national universities.
3. The University’s first graduating class consisted of one student – John Hipp. He created his own class cheer. “Hear me roar, hear me roar. I’m the class of ‘84”. Of course, the crowd cheered, “Hipp, Hipp, Hooray!”
4. Denver Pioneer Athletics has won 25 NCAA National Championships, and 98 individual National Championships.
5. The University counts more than 114,000 alumni since the school’s founding. Of 102,000 living alumni, approximately 39,000 reside in Colorado. Approximately 2,100 live outside the United States.
6. University Hall, the oldest building on campus, was built over 100 years ago at exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.
7. Founded in 1908, the Daniels College of Business is the eighth oldest business school in the United States.
8. DU is committed to environmental conservation and sustainability efforts.  Twenty-eight percent of the campus’s energy is provided by wind power, the largest wind-energy purchase of any college or university in Colorado.  The wind power program was initiated by students and is supported by the students through an increased activity fee.
9. In 2007 BusinessWeek magazine ranked the Daniels College of Business 6th nationally and 1st regionally.
10. In 1941, the DU College of Law hired the first female law professor in U.S. history.
11. DU’s Meyer-Womble Observatory sits atop 14, 418-foot Mount Evans, which was named after the founder of the University, John Evans. This location gives it the second-highest vantage point of any telescope on Earth. The telescope’s resolution rivals that of the Hubble Space Telescope.