Longmont, Colorado
City in the United States in Boulder County, Weld County
About Longmont
Longmont is a home rule city located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Its population was 98,885 as of the 2020 U.S. census. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder. It is named after Longs Peak, a prominent mountain that is clearly visible from the city (mont means "mountain" in French).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How Longmont is governed
Form of government not yet listed.
1 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.
Residents of Longmont
Registered voters elect the officials below.
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Mayor
Executive
- Susie Hidalgo-Fahring Democratic
The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.
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City Manager / Administrator
Executive
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The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).
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Police Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the police department.
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Fire Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the fire and emergency services department.
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Public Works Director
Administration & departments
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Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.
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Finance Director
Administration & departments
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The budget, taxes, and city accounts.
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Planning & Zoning Director
Administration & departments
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Land use, zoning, building permits.
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Parks & Recreation Director
Administration & departments
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Parks, programs, and public facilities.
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City Council
Legislative
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The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.
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City Clerk
Administration & departments
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Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.
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City Attorney
Administration & departments
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The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.
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Boards & Commissions
Legislative
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Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.
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Municipal Court
Judicial
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Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.
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Municipal Judge
Judicial
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Presides over the municipal court.
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- Website
- ci.longmont.co.us
Looking for your county, state and federal representatives too? See who represents 80501 or everyone in Colorado.
Population over time
From 86,270 in 2010 to 98,885 in 2020 (+14.6%).
Show the numbers
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 98,885 |
| 2010 | 86,270 |
History
Indigenous peoples originally inhabited the region, with the Clovis culture representing the earliest documented population to establish settlement in this territory.
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 1925, the Ku Klux Klan gained control of Longmont's City Council in an election. They began construction of a large pork-barrel project, Chimney Rock Dam, above Lyons and marched up and down Main Street in their costumes. In the 1927 election they were voted out of office, and their influence soon declined. Work on Chimney Rock Dam was abandoned as unfeasible, and its foundations are still visible in the St. Vrain River.
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 project in Colorado, called Prospect New Town, designed by the architects Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
Longmont was the site of Colorado's first library, founded in 1871 by Elizabeth Rowell Thompson, though it lasted up to a year before its collection of 300 books was lost. Following this, Longmont also was the site of one of Carnegie's libraries with the single-story structure being opened in 1913. It remained open until August 7, 1972, when, due to overcrowding with approximately 22,000 books within the space, it was closed just a week before the new library that had been constructed next door was opened.
In May 2013, the Longmont City Council voted to finance and build out its own municipal gigabit data fiber-optic network, known as NextLight, to every house and business over a three-year period starting in late 2013.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.