Pueblo, Colorado

How Pueblo is governed

Form of government not yet listed.

1 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

  • Nick Gradisar per Wikidata

  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

  Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

  Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    Presides over the municipal court.

Looking for your county, state and federal representatives too? See who represents 81001 or everyone in Colorado.

Population over time

From 106,595 in 2010 to 111,876 in 2020 (+5.0%).

History

Indigenous history

From 1050 to 1450, the area that is now Pueblo was first inhabited by Paleo-Indians and Archaic peoples, as well as people of the Apishapa culture. By 1500, the Ute hunter-gatherers inhabited the region, who hunted in the mountains during the summer and wintered in warmer areas, such as modern-day Pueblo, during the winter. In 1521, Spain assumed control of the land, however, very little settlement or occupation ever occurred. By the time of the 17th century, the Ute acquired horses from the Spanish allowing them to hunt bison on the plains. The Ute bands of the Pueblo area were the Tabaguache and the Muache. Along the eastern Arkansas River, the Jicarilla Apache lived in villages and hunted bison, and grew corn, beans, and squash.

During the middle of the 18th century, the Comanche came through the middle of Colorado on horseback, claiming the Arkansas River valley and pushing up against the boundary of New Spain. The Ute and Comanche formed an alliance, trading and raiding along modern-day Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. In 1779 between modern-day Pueblo and Colorado City, Juan Bautista de Anza invaded the area and killed the Comanche leader Cuerno Verde. Despite the loss, the indigenous peoples continued to fight back against the Spanish, with the Comanche claiming swathes of land from Southeastern Colorado to Texas.

By the early 1800s, the Arapaho entered and claimed modern-day Pueblo as well, having a fierce rivalry with the Ute. The area was also frequented by the Cheyenne and the Pawnee.

El Pueblo

James Beckwourth, George Simpson, and other trappers such as Mathew Kinkead and John Brown, claimed to have helped construct the plaza that became known as El Pueblo around 1842. According to accounts of residents who traded at the plaza (including that of George Simpson), the Fort Pueblo Massacre happened sometime between December 23 and 25, 1854, by a war party of Utes and Jicarilla Apaches under the leadership of Tierra Blanca, a Ute chief. They allegedly killed between fifteen and nineteen men, as well as captured two children and one woman. The trading post was abandoned after the raid.

Early development: railroads, steel, expansion, and orphanages

In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American War, the United States acquired the area of Pueblo County south of the Arkansas as part of the Mexican Cession. The Colorado Gold Rush began in 1858, springing interest in the area back up. Independence, a traveling camp opened on the east side of Fountain creek, later being named Fountain City once Josiah Smith's prospecting party arrived in September. Pueblo as well as Fountain City were both platted in 1860. The Pueblo, Kansas Territory, post office opened on December 13, 1860. Pueblo became the namesake of the county when the Territory of Colorado was established by Congress in 1861.

By the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the area was used as a secret gathering place for Coloradoan recruits of the Confederate States Army.

The Cheyenne and Arapahoe were ousted from Colorado to Oklahoma in 1867 from the Medicine Lodge Treaty, and the Ute were ousted to Western Colorado via the Treaty of 1868. 1869 saw Charles Goodnight pioneering the Goodnight-Loving Trail, afterwards he grazed cattle in the region. His ranch headquarters were established in Rock Canyon Ranch (also known as Goodnight Ranch), west of Pueblo in the Nolan Grant. The bison population nationwide began to significantly lower, leading to cattle heads from the plains coming during the 1870s.

The current city of Pueblo represents the consolidation of four towns: Pueblo (incorporated 1870), South Pueblo (incorporated 1873), Central Pueblo (incorporated 1882), and Bessemer (incorporated 1886). Pueblo, South Pueblo, and Central Pueblo legally consolidated as the City of Pueblo between March 9 and April 6, 1886. Bessemer joined Pueblo in 1894.

The consolidated city became a major economic and social center of Colorado, and was home to important early Colorado families such as the Thatchers, the Ormans, and the Adams. By the early 1870s the city was being hailed as a beacon of development, with newspapers like the Chicago Tribune boasting of how the region's lawless reputation was giving way to orderly agriculture with triumphalist rhetoric. One author crowed of Pueblo that "the necessity exists no longer for Sharp's rifles and revolvers. These have been [supplanted] by the plow and the mowing-machine."

Pueblo's development stretched beyond agriculture. Steel emerged as a key industry very early, and in 1909 the city was considered the only steel town west of the Mississippi River.

Until a series of major floods culminated in the Great Flood of 1921, Pueblo was considered the 'Saddle-Making capital of the World'. Roughly one-third of Pueblo's downtown businesses were lost in this flood, along with a substantial number of buildings. Pueblo struggled with this significant loss, but has had a resurgence in growth.

Historically, many people were influenced by the orphanages of Pueblo, and the homes are now all historical sites. The three orphanages in Pueblo were known as Sacred Heart, Lincoln, and McClelland. Lincoln was the first historically black orphanage in Colorado, and one of only seven in the country. Sacred Heart was run by the Catholic Welfare Bureau, while McClelland was run by the Lutheran Church. Several children from Cuba were placed at Sacred Heart as part of "Operation Pedro Pan". Though the orphanages in Pueblo are no longer in service, the buildings still exist and have transformed with the times. According to the Rocky Mountain News, in 1988 the Sacred Heart Orphanage was bought by the Pueblo Housing Authority and turned into 40 small-family housing units.

Steel mill

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Colorado

• Denver 715,522
• Colorado Springs 478,961
• Aurora 386,261
• Fort Collins 169,810
• Thornton 141,867
• Arvada 124,402
• Westminster 116,317
• Greeley 108,795

All Colorado cities →