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Old Posted Sep 12, 2019, 2:59 AM
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BG918 BG918 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
Older states in the east often had state boundaries determined by rivers and other bodies of water, and cities really liked being near navigable water in the olden days, so the big cities were often found at the edges of the states. Out west, these issue weren't at play as much, so you ended up with cities like Denver and Phoenix smack dab in the middle of a relatively arbitrary rectangle.
Denver was founded at the confluence of two prairie rivers where gold was found. It grew as a city because of the gold mines in the nearby mountains and access to the railroads. When Colorado became a state in 1876 Denver just happened to be in a central location and as the largest city it made sense to be the state capitol.
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