Pueblo, Colorado, United States

🇺🇸 Pueblo is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. Pueblo is the ninth most populous city in Colorado. Pueblo is the principal city of the Pueblo, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor.

Pueblo is situated at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, 112 miles (180 km) south of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The area is considered semi-arid desert land, with approximately 12 inches (304.80 mm) of precipitation annually. With its location in the "Banana Belt", Pueblo tends to get less snow than the other major cities in Colorado.

Pueblo is one of the largest steel-producing cities in the United States, for which reason Pueblo is referred to as the "Steel City". The Historic Arkansas River Project (HARP) is a riverwalk in the Union Avenue Historic Commercial District, and shows the history of the devastating Pueblo Flood of 1921.

History 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 December 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, but it became important again between 1858 and 1859 during the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859.

Early development: ** railroads, steel, expansion, and orphanages** 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 centre 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 The main industry in Pueblo for most of its history was the Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) Steel Mill on the south side of town. For nearly a century the CF&I was the largest employer in the state of Colorado. The steel-market crash of 1982 led to the decline of the company. After several bankruptcies, the company was acquired by Oregon Steel Mills and changed its name to Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. The buyout, as well as the end of the union contract in 1997 led to a union strike over pension liabilities, as well as working conditions, wherein the union argued the new owners still needed to pay the pension liabilities provided by the previous owners. With the conclusion of the strike on December 30, 1997, CF&I had replaced several hundred union workers with local employees.

In September 2004, both United Steelworkers locals 2102 and 3267 won the strike and the unfair labor practice charges. All of the striking steel workers returned to their jobs, and the company paid them the back pay owed for the seven years they were on strike. In 2007, shortly after Oregon Steel made amends with the union and its workers, Evraz Group, one of Russia's biggest steel producers, agreed to buy the company for $2.3 billion.

Of the many production and fabrication mills that once existed on the site, only the steel production (electric furnaces, used for scrap recycling), rail, rod, bar, and seamless tube mills are still in operation. The wire mill was sold in the late 1990s to Davis Wire, which still produces products such as fence and nails under the CF&I brand name. The facility operated blast furnaces until 1982, when the steel market collapsed. The main blast furnace structures were torn down in 1989, but due to asbestos content, many of the adjacent stoves still remain. The stoves and foundations for some of the furnaces can be seen from Interstate 25, which runs parallel to the plant's west boundary.

Several of the administration buildings, including the main office building, dispensary, and tunnel gatehouse were purchased in 2003 by the Bessemer Historical Society. In 2006, they underwent renovation. In addition to housing the historic CF&I Archives, they also house the Steelworks Museum of Industry and Culture.

"Melting Pot of the West" Due to the growth of the CF&I steel mill and the employment that it offered, Pueblo in the early twentieth century attracted a large number of immigrant laborers. The groups represented led to Pueblo becoming the most ethnically and culturally diverse city in Colorado and the West. At one point, more than 40 languages were spoken in the steel mill and more than two-dozen foreign language newspapers were published in the city. Irish, Italian, German, Slovenian, Greek, Jewish, Lithuanian, Russian, Hungarian, Japanese, and African-American groups arrived in the area at the turn of the century and remain to the present time. The convergence of cultures led to a cosmopolitan character to the city that resulted in a number of ethnically-rooted neighborhoods that are typically not seen west of the Mississippi. Respective cultural groups maintain cultural festivals to the present, with the city being home to locations of the Order Sons of Italy, American Slovenian Catholic Union, and I.O.O.F., among others.

Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo Another major employer in Pueblo is Colorado State Hospital. The hospital is the preeminent mental health facility in the Rocky Mountain region. Established in 1879 as the Colorado State Insane Asylum, it was renamed as the Colorado State Hospital in 1917. In 1991, the name was changed to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHIP). The Robert L. Hawkins High Security Forensic Institute opened in June 2009 and is a 200-bed, high-security facility.

Home of Heroes Pueblo is the hometown of four Medal of Honor recipients (tied only with Holland, Michigan, also with four, each having more than any other municipality in the United States): William J. Crawford, Carl L. Sitter, Raymond G. Murphy, and Drew D. Dix. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, upon presenting Raymond G. "Jerry" Murphy with his medal in 1953, commented, "What is it… something in the water out there in Pueblo? All you guys turn out to be heroes!"

In 1993, Pueblo City Council adopted the tagline "Home of Heroes" for the city due to the fact that Pueblo can claim more recipients of the Medal per capita than any other city in the United States. On July 1, 1993, the Congressional Record recognised Pueblo as the "Home of Heroes". A memorial to the recipients of the medal is at the Pueblo Convention Center.

Geography Pueblo is 100 miles (160 km) south of Denver and is on the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Pueblo sits on the western edge of the Great Plains in a high desert area of terrain in southern Colorado and is near the western edge of the Southwestern Tablelands ecology region.

According to the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total area of 35,893 acres (145.254 km²), including 448 acres (1.815 km²) of water.

Demographics As of the 2010 census, the population of Pueblo was 106,544 (259th most populous U.S. city), the population of the Pueblo Metropolitan Statistical Area was 159,063 (190th most populous MSA), the population of the Pueblo–Cañon City, CO Combined Statistical Area was 205,887, the population of the South Central Colorado Urban Area was 851,500, and the population of the Front Range Urban Corridor in Colorado was an estimated 4,166,855.

In 2010, the racial makeup of the city was: 75.2% White, 2.5% Black or African American, 2.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 4.1% two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents (of any race) were 49.8% and Non-Hispanic Whites were 45.2% of the population.

Economy Pueblo is the home of the Federal Citizen Information Center, operated by the General Services Administration, and its Consumer Information Catalog. For over 30 years, public service announcements invited Americans to write for information at "Pueblo, Colorado, 81009". In recent times GSA has incorporated Pueblo into FCIC's toll-free telephone number.

Vestas Wind Systems constructed the largest (nearly 700,000 square feet) wind turbine tower manufacturing plant in the world at Pueblo's industrial park. It sold the facility to CS Wind in 2021.

Renewable Energy Systems Americas broke ground on the Comanche Solar Project seven miles south of Pueblo in 2015. When complete, it will be the largest solar energy farm east of the Rocky Mountains, and its backers say the project will produce electricity more cheaply than natural gas. The project will cover 1,000 acres with 500,000 solar panels, providing a capacity of 156 megawatts of power—enough to supply 31,000 homes. The project will be run by SunEdison, with a power purchase agreement signed by Xcel Energy. A number of scientific studies now list Pueblo as the state's primary locale for solar energy development and the premier setting for solar companies to locate, placing it ahead of regional rivals such as Boulder, Colorado and Taos, New Mexico.

In February 2017, Pueblo City Council voted to commit the city to 100% renewable energy ("Ready for 100%") by 2035, with the city's electric franchisee, Black Hills Energy, expected to ramp up its renewable energy portfolio from 29% to 65%. Pueblo County commissioners joined the renewable commitment in April 2018. For several years, Pueblo's Energy Future has been pushing the city to become a municipal electric provider. Among the claimed advantages for the move toward independence: lower cost to the consumer, increased reliability and the opportunity to move more aggressively toward renewable energy development. At one time, an August 2020 "divorce" seemed possible.

Economy: Top employers According to Pueblo's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Parkview Medical Center; 2 Pueblo School District 60; 3 Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo; 4 Pueblo County; 5 Pueblo County School District 70; 6 Walmart; 7 Evraz Steel Mills; 8 Vestas; 9 St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center; 10 City of Pueblo.

Arts and culture Pueblo is the home to Colorado's largest single event, the Colorado State Fair, held annually in the late summer, and the largest parade, the state fair parade, as well as an annual Chile & Frijoles Festival.

Venues, museums, and sites • Rosemount Museum • Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center • Buell Children's Museum • City Park Carousel • El Pueblo History Museum • Lake Pueblo State Park • Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center • Pueblo Ice Arena • Pueblo Zoo • Steelworks Museum managed by the Steelworks Center of the West • Union Avenue Historic Commercial District • Weisbrod Aircraft Museum • Pueblo City-County Library District.

Sport Pueblo is the hometown of Dutch Clark, the first man from Colorado inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well as the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. The primary football stadium belonging to Pueblo School District 60 is named for him. Two long-standing high school rivalries are played annually at this stadium. The Bell Game has been played annually since 1892 between the Central Wildcats and the Centennial Bulldogs in what is touted as the oldest football rivalry west of the Mississippi River.

In 2008, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) moved its corporate headquarters to Pueblo. This became the site of their world headquarters based at the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk located bordering the Union Avenue Historic Commercial District.

In 2014, the Colorado State University Pueblo ThunderWolves won the NCAA Division II Football Championship, a first national title for the football program.

In 2019, the Pueblo Bulls junior ice hockey team in the United States Premier Hockey League, began play out of the Pueblo Ice Arena.

Government Pueblo is a state-chartered municipal corporation, previously governed by its city council without the office of mayor and administered by a city manager. In 2017 voters passed Question 2A changing the city charter to a strong-mayor form of city government known as "Mayor-Council Government". Only two other cities in the state of Colorado use the strong-mayor form of government, Denver and Colorado Springs. In 2018 an election was held for mayor for the first time in over sixty years, due to none of the sixteen candidates getting more than fifty percent of the vote, a runoff was required to decide the winner.

The deputy mayor is selected by the mayor and must be confirmed by a vote of the city council, the deputy mayor serves a term of one year. According to the city charter, the deputy mayor must be a city department head.

The city council is elected by the residents of the city. There are seven council seats, four of which are elected by district, and three elected at-large.

Pueblo is included in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pueblo is also included in the 3rd District of the Colorado State Senate, and districts 46 and 62 of the Colorado State House.

Municipal law enforcement The Pueblo Police Department is led by Chief Chris Noeller Per capita, the crime rate in Pueblo is higher than the national average for a city of the same size and does not take into account the surrounding unincorporated cumulative population of 176,529. In 2016, the FBI's Uniform Crime Report listed Pueblo's major reported crimes stats as: 1,081 violent crime, murders 9, rape 171, robbery 224, aggravated assault 677, property crimes (all) 7,473, burglary 1,797, larceny 4,505, motor vehicle theft (all) 1,171, arson 49.

Education: University Pueblo is home to Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo), a regional comprehensive university. It is part of the Colorado State University System (CSU System), with about 4,500 students. On May 8, 2007, CSU Pueblo received approval from the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System to bring back football as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The first game was played in the fall of 2008 at the ThunderBowl, a stadium at CSU Pueblo for over 12,000 spectators. In 2014, the football team won the NCAA Division II Football Championship.

Pueblo Community College (PCC) is a two-year, public, comprehensive community college, one of thirteen community colleges within the Colorado Community College System (CCCS). It operates three campuses serving a widely dispersed eight-county region in Southern Colorado. The main campus is located in Pueblo and serves Pueblo County. The Fremont Campus is located approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Pueblo in Cañon City and serves Fremont and Custer Counties. The Southwest Campus, 280 miles (450 km) south-west of Pueblo, serves Montezuma, Dolores, La Plata, San Juan, and Archuleta counties. PCC is a Hispanic Serving Institution as designated by the Federal Government. Approximately 5,000 students attend PCC per semester.

Education: Primary and Secondary Almost all of the city limits is within Pueblo School District 60. Very small portions lie within Pueblo County School District 70.

Centennial High School was founded north of downtown on Eleventh Street in 1876, the year Colorado entered the Union. Centennial was rebuilt on a new site to the north-west in 1973. Central High School was founded in Bessemer in 1882. Central's present campus on East Orman Avenue was built in 1906 and expanded in the early 1970s. Its original building still stands four blocks away on East Pitkin Avenue. South High School and East High School were built in the late 1950s to accommodate the Baby Boomer generation. Pueblo County High School, east of the city in Vineland, serves rural residents. Rye High School is in a foothills town south-west of Pueblo. Pueblo West High School is located in the north-western suburb of Pueblo West.

Pueblo Catholic High School closed in 1971. Its building became Roncalli Middle School in the early 1970s. By 1975 all Catholic schools in Pueblo (under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo) had closed. As of 2017 there are two Catholic grade schools in Pueblo: St. John Neumann Catholic School and St. Therese Catholic School.

Dolores Huerta Preparatory High School was founded in 2004, and relocated to its current building in 2007. It features the only Early College Program in Pueblo recognised by the State of Colorado, where many students graduate with their associate degree from Pueblo Community College while also earning credit from Colorado State University Pueblo. Other Pueblo area high schools include Southern Colorado Early College, School of Engineering and Biomedical Science (formerly Pueblo Technical Academy), Parkhill Christian Academy and the Health Academy.

Media: Print • Pueblo Star Journal • Thrifty Nickel • The Pueblo Chieftain • CSU Pueblo TODAY • PULP News Magazine • Senior Beacon.

Media: Radio The Pueblo radio market includes all of Pueblo County. In its Fall 2013 ranking of radio markets by population, Arbitron ranked the Pueblo market 238th in the United States. Six AM and 15 FM radio stations broadcast from or are licensed to the city.

Due to Pueblo's proximity to Colorado Springs, local listeners can also receive the signal of most radio stations broadcasting from the Colorado Springs radio market.

Media: Television The Colorado Springs–Pueblo market is the 90th largest television market in the United States.

Local and regional buses The City of Pueblo operates Pueblo Transit. Greyhound Lines provides bus service towards Denver, Colorado; Amarillo, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico. Regional bus service to La Junta, Lamar, Colorado Springs, Alamosa, and Trinidad is provided by the CDOT operated Bustang.

Transport: Rail Freight rail service is provided by BNSF and Union Pacific.

Pueblo and its Union Depot last saw passenger train service in 1971. Once an important hub, the city was served by four Class 1 railroads, as well as a number of smaller operators.

Amtrak's daily Southwest Chief makes a stop 64 miles (103 km) east of Pueblo at La Junta, providing direct rail transport to Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Kansas City, Chicago, and dozens of smaller locales. In 2016, Amtrak looked at rerouting the Southwest Chief to serve Pueblo directly. It estimated the new stop would increase annual ridership by 14,000 and ticket revenue by $1.45 million.

Pueblo has been proposed as the southern terminus for Front Range Passenger Rail, which would provide service to Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Cheyenne.

Transport: Air • Pueblo Memorial Airport - The local airport lies to the east of the city. Throughout the year, aircraft spotters can see large C-130, C-17, and E-3 performing landings and takeoffs. Modern fighters such as the F-22, F-15, F-35, and F-16 are also seen on occasion flying around the facility and parked on the ramp. SkyWest Airlines under the flag of United Express services the airport with non-stop daily flights to Denver International Airport, utilizing Bombardier's CRJ-200 aircraft. The airport is also home to the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum (named for Fred Weisbrod, late city manager), reflecting the airport's beginnings as an Army Air Corps base in 1943. • Pueblo Historical Aircraft Society • Fremont County Airport is a general aviation field approximately 35 miles (56 km) north-west of Pueblo, near Penrose.

Transport: Road Interstate 25 and US Route 85 run in tandem on the same north–south expressway through Pueblo. US Route 50 runs east–west through Pueblo.