City of Longmont, Colorado | |
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Home Rule Municipality | |
Longmont Safety and Justice Center
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Location in Boulder County and the state of Colorado |
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Coordinates: 40°10′18″N 105°6′33″W / 40.17167°N 105.10917°WCoordinates: 40°10′18″N 105°6′33″W / 40.17167°N 105.10917°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Colorado |
Counties |
Boulder County Weld County |
Founded | 1871 |
Incorporated | November 15, 1885 |
Named for | Stephen Harriman Long and Longs Peak |
Government | |
• Type | Home Rule Municipality |
• Mayor | Dennis Coombs (List) |
Area | |
• Total | 27.6 sq mi (71.6 km2) |
• Land | 26.2 sq mi (67.8 km2) |
• Water | 1.5 sq mi (3.8 km2) |
Elevation | 4,984 ft (1,519 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 86,270 |
• Estimate (2014) | 90,237 |
• Density | 3,294/sq mi (1,272.0/km2) |
Time zone | MST (UTC-7) |
• Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
ZIP codes | 80501-80504 |
Area code(s) | Both 303 and 720 |
FIPS code | 08-45970 |
GNIS feature ID | 0202560 |
Website | www |
The City of Longmont is a Home Rule Municipality in Boulder and Weld counties of the U.S. state of Colorado. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder and 33 miles (53 km) north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.
Longmont's population was 86,270 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. Longmont is the 13th most populous city in the state of Colorado.
The word "Longmont" comes from Longs Peak, a prominent mountain named for explorer Stephen H. Long that is clearly visible from Longmont, and "mont", from the French word "montagne" for mountain.
Longmont was founded in 1871 by a group of people from Chicago, Illinois. Originally called the Chicago-Colorado Colony, the men sold memberships in the town and with the proceeds purchased the land necessary for the town hall. As the first planned community in Boulder County, the city streets were laid out in a grid plan in a square mile. The city began to flourish as an agricultural community after the building of the Colorado Central Railroad line arrived northward from Boulder in 1877. During the 1940s, Longmont began to grow beyond these original limits.
During the 1960s the federal government built an air traffic control center in Longmont, and IBM built a large factory near Longmont. 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.