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() is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties in the Denver Metropolitan Area of the U.S. State of Colorado. Olde Town Arvada is located northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Arvada was 106,328 on 2007-07-01. Arvada is the eighth most populous city in the state of Colorado and the 239th most populous city in the United States.
The first documented discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountain region occurred on 1850-06-22, when Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector headed for the California gold fields, dipped his sluice pan into a small stream near its mouth at Clear Creek. Ralston found about 1/4 ounce (6 g) of gold then worth about five dollars. Ralston's companions named the stream Ralston's Creek in his honor, but they all left the next morning, drawn by the lure of the California gold fields.
During the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858, Ralston brought another group of prospectors back to the site of his first discovery. The placer gold in the area soon played out, but hard rock deposits of gold were found in the mountains to the west. Some of the miners abandoned their search for gold and returned to farm the rich bottom land along Ralston Creek and Clear Creek. They found an eager market for their crops among other gold seekers. The Territory of Colorado was formed on 1861-02-28, and the farms in the valley expanded to feed the growing population of the region.
In 1870, the Colorado Central Railroad laid tracks through the area on its route from Golden to link up with the Kansas Pacific Railroad and the Denver Pacific Railroad at Jersey Junction, north of Denver. On 1870-12-01, Benjamin F. Wadsworth and Louis A. Reno platted the Ralston Point townsite along the railroad. To avoid confusion with other communities along Ralston Creek, Ralston Point was soon renamed Arvada in honor of Hiram Arvada Haskin. Benjamin Wadsworth became the first postmaster of Arvada. Colorado was granted statehood on 1876-08-01, and the Town of Arvada was formally incorporated on 1904-08-24. A vibrant agricultural community, Arvada claimed the title "
Arvada grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century as a suburb of nearby Denver, the state capital. Arvada became a Statutory City on 1951-10-31, and a Home Rule Municipality on 1963-07-23. By the end of the millennium, the population of Arvada exceeded 100,000.