CENTRAL CITY

city, seat (1861) of Gilpin county, north-central Colorado, U.S. It lies along North Fork of Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rockies, 26 miles (42 km) west of Denver. A historic mining town on a rocky hillside along Gregory Gulch (elevation 8,560 feet ), it originated soon after the first important lode gold discovery was made there in 1858 by John H. Gregory and was named for its locus as the centre of supplies and mail for other mining camps. During its boom days in the 1860s it was known as the richest square mile on earth; its population reached 15,000, and it rivaled Denver as Colorado's leading city. After its ramshackle playhouses were destroyed by fire in 1874, a fine opera house was built (1878) of mountain stone. Central City languished with the drop in gold production, and by the 1930s it was almost a ghost town. Mementos of Central City's past are preserved in a reconstructed narrow-gauge railway (1867), Teller House (1872), and in the Central Gold Mine and Museum. Central City became perhaps the best known of all Colorado mining towns because of its annual summer opera and drama festival held in the Opera House. After limited-stakes gambling was legalized in Central City in 1991, many casinos were built that changed the town's character and attractions dramatically. Glory Hole, a huge mining pit (900 feet long and 300 feet deep), is in nearby Quartz Hill. Inc. town, 1886. Pop. (1990) 335.