CU (as the University of Colorado is known) had grown to 6,000 students by the early 1900's, and the area around campus known as
"The Hill" had begun to expand. Boulder's population had reached 6,150, and Boulder's first first-class hotel, the Hotel Boulderado,
opened on January 1, 1909. Tourism, particularly from Texas, continued to dominate Boulder's economy for the next three decades, until the
advent of World War II. With the outbreak of war, the United States Navy's Japanese language school was located at CU, and Boulder received another
boost to its stature.
Many of the language school's trainees returned on their own after the war, and joined the veterans attending CU on the G.I. Bill.
Boulder's population had only been 12,958 according to the 1940 United States Census, but by 1950 its population was 20,000. The
Boulder-Denver Turnpike (a.k.a. US Highway 36) was built, and the National Bureau of Standards was brought to Boulder in 1952. Many
companies in
research and development industries soon followed (including Ball Aerospace, a major participant in NASA's recent "Deep Impact" Project),
and Boulder's population grew to 72,000 by 1972. Today Boulder comprises 25.37 square miles.
Boulder's growth has been well-managed, however. Thousands of acres of Open Space were purchased beginning in 1967, and building height
restrictions were introduced in 1972. Today, Boulder's population includes 94,000 residents and 25,000 CU students. A city that was once
considered uninhabitable, as it was once a part of the Great American Desert, has flourished to what it is today thanks to well thought-out
planning and preservation. Turns out that Chief Niwot was only half-right...
