Ten Things You Didn't Know About Denver

Denver, the Mile-High city, is synonymous with the state of Colorado, the Rocky Mountains and the Broncos of the National Football League. After Phoenix, Denver is the largest city in the Mountain West region. While it's well-known and populous, there's a lot about Denver that even long-time residents don't know. To shed some light on the "Mile-High" metropolis, we've compiled a list of the 10 things your probably didn't know about Denver...

1. Itsy Bitsy City - Denver is tiny. Okay it's not that tiny, after all its Colorado's most populated city and the 24th most populated city in the United States. However, Denver's 154.9 square miles is a smaller tract of land than Colorado's second most populated city, Colorado Springs. Denver's total land area is surpassed by 49 American cities including Honolulu, Houston, Phoenix, Nashville, Los Angeles, Kansas City, and New York.

2. Rocky Mountains Nigh - We all know Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because it's 5,280 feet (or one mile) above sea level. We all know Colorado is associated with the Rocky Mountains. However, despite the elevation and the association with the Rockies, Denver is not located within the majestic mountain range. Denver is situated 15 miles east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. By the way, Denver is also east of the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River.

3. Party For The Donkey Party - Denver has hosted the Democratic National Convention not once but twice. The first time was in 1908. Back then the Dems nominated William Jennings Bryan for President and John W. Kern for Vice President. That didn't go so well. A century later, the Democrats returned to Denver and nominated a Chicago politician by the name of Barack Obama. That presidential nominee did a whole lot better.

4. Olympics Torched - In 1970, Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics. However, in 1972, thanks to Colorado politician Richard Lamm, voters defeated an initiative that would have allocated public funds to pay for the games. Lamm used environmental issues to persuade voters. With the loss of funding the games were moved to Innsbruck, Austria. This marks the first and only time a city declined a winning bid to host the Olympics.

5. No News Is No News - We take daily papers for granted but on Feb. 28, 2009 Denver residents woke up to find no Rocky Mountain News on their doorstep. The paper, which first hit newsstands April 23, 1859, had folded. Its final edition was published on Feb. 27, 2009. Rocky, as the paper was called, was owned by the E.W. Scripps Company and its closing made Denver a one "daily" town. It was a good paper too. Since 2000, Rocky had won four Pulitzer Prizes.

6. DIA is B.I.G. - Denver International Airport is the largest, by land area, in the United States. DIA, as it's also known, is bigger than the island of Manhattan. Not only is it big but it's busy. DIA is the tenth busiest airport in the world and fourth in the U.S. The airport serves as the hub for United Airlines and headquarters for Frontier Airlines. We cheated a little bit on this one. DIA is not actually in Denver, it's located over 18 miles northeast of the city.

7. Lots and Lots of Arts - It's known locally as "The Plex," or the "Denver Center," or "The DCPA." Its official name is the Denver Performing Arts Complex and it's the second largest of its kind in America. Only the Lincoln Center in New York City is larger. "The Plex" covers four blocks, or 12-acres, and contains 10,000 seats. It's home to the Colorado Ballet, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Colorado, and the several theatrical companies.

8. Sports And The City - Sports fans everywhere know that Denver is one of a handful of U.S. cities that has a representative in the four major sports leagues of North America: Broncos (NFL), Nuggets (NBA), Rockies (MLB) and Avalanche (NHL). What a lot of sports fan don't realize is Denver is one of only four U.S. cities (the others being Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia) where all four major sports team play within the city limits.

9. It's Always Sunny In Denver - Due to its elevation, its proximity to the Rocky Mountains, and numerous nationally televised Broncos games played in blizzards, Denver is associated with snow. Contrary to that perception Denver has a high average amount of sunshine. Annually, the sun is out 69 percent of all possible daylight hours. Denver gets more sunshine than San Diego, Kahului, and Tampa. The city's climate is known as "high-desert."

10 You Can Park It Anywhere - If you like parks, you'll love Denver. There are over 200 parks and 29 recreation centers in the city. In total, Denver's parks cover more than 9,000 acres of open space. The largest is the 314-acre City Park. Denver also owns park lands that are located outside the city limits such as the famous Red Rocks Park, home of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the land on which the Winter Park Resort lies. Denver also has 17 bike trails.

Ryan Hogan is a top-notch fact-finder and knows more than he should about Denver, CO. He contributes to DenverSmarts, a site dedicated to providing entertainment information about the Denver area.