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Westminster still had a population of less than 2,000 at the beginning of the 1950's, but that began to change when construction of
the Denver-Boulder Turnpike (a.k.a. US Highway 36) was started. The highway was completed in 1952 and ran through Westminster, even
forcing the closure of one of its most famous orchards. The Turnpike's traffic volume, which permitted the rapid growth of many suburbs
northwest of Denver, had become so high by 1967 that the toll road was converted to a freeway 15 years ahead of schedule. Many of those
drivers were veterans of World War II, who had fallen in love with Colorado while stationed in the state during the war and who had
returned to raise their families. Many of those veterans and others were employed by Dow Chemical, which opened its Rocky Flats plant in
1951 for the development and production of nuclear weapons.
By the late 50's the population of Westminster had surged past 10,000. With so many moving into the city, its citizens decided that
they needed more control over their own destiny, and approved a new city charter in January of 1958. This charter allowed the city's
government to implement important measures in the following decades, such as the Growth Management Plan (adopted in 1978) and the
Westminster Center Plan (adopted 1982), both of which allowed Westminster to manage the blistering growth which continues to this day.
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