Denver, Colorado is one of the most fascinating places in the world and is worth the time to visit of anyone who has the opportunity. The city is widely known for a number of features, but here are seven things you don’t know about Denver, Colorado.

1. The city of Denver was named after James W. Denver who had been the Kansas Territorial Governor. The city founder was hoping naming the city after him would carry enough favor for Denver to be named the county seat.

2. Denver’s Grant-Frontier Park sits on the site of the first settlement in the area which at the time was named Montana City.

3. The city of Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, but for the first time ever in Olympics history the voters declined hosting an Olympics and the games were instead moved to Innsbruck, Austria.

4. There have been three United States Navy ships named after the city of Denver. A USS Denver cruiser served from 1904 to 1931, a light cruiser commissioned the USS Denver served from 1942 to 1947, and there is currently an amphibious dock named the USS Denver that was commissioned in 1968.

5. Most of the streets in the older downtown area of Denver run NW-SE and NE-SW. This was by design, giving snow accumulation on both cross streets the ability to be melted off by the sun.

6. The first public school opened in Denver in 1859.

7. Denver does have ties to the American folk music movement as John Denver, Judy Collins and even Bob Dylan all called the city home at one time or another.

Denver has a rich history and has grown from a mining town on the banks of the South Platte River into a powerful and important major city in the west. Denver truly has something for everyone whether they are visiting or choose to live there.