Welcome to the Official
City of Commerce City Colorado
Community Directory
Among the first establishments in the modern Commerce City were cemeteries. Riverside Cemetery, founded in 1876, is
located in the city's southwest corner at East 52nd Avenue and Brighton Boulevard. Rose Hill Cemetery, in the heart of historic
Commerce City, was established in 1892 on what at the time was an open plain by the United Hebrew Cemetery Association.
The
first school in the area began in 1871 as a one-room schoolhouse, with other schools added in 1899 and later in 1907. This
latter school is now part of the North Building at today's Adams City High School.
Several towns were founded in this
part of Adams County in the 19th century. Derby, a Burlington Northern RailroadBurlington Railroad station in 1887, was laid
out as a town in 1889, although it was largely vacated by 1891. Irondale was first settled in 1889, named after a foundry
that was opened that year. It was incorporated as the Town of Irondale in 1924, but unincorporated in the 1930s due to increasing
vacancy. Meanwhile, Adams City was laid out in 1903, with developers hoping the county seat
would be established there; however, Brighton, ColoradoBrighton was elected county seat in 1904 and Adams City was vacated
in 1922.
Until the late 1920s, the area was devoted to agriculture, including wheat fields, dairies, and pig farms.
Industry moved in, with a refinery established in 1930 and grain elevators built in the late 1930s. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal
was founded in 1942 due east of the growing community.
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