Conifer, Colorado

Conifer, Colorado
Coordinates: 39°31′14″N 105°18′21″W / 39.52056°N 105.30583°W / 39.52056; -105.30583Coordinates: 39°31′14″N 105°18′21″W / 39.52056°N 105.30583°W / 39.52056; -105.30583
Country	United States
State	State of Colorado
County	Jefferson County[1]
Settled	1860s
Government
- Type	unincorporated town
Elevation[1]	2,523 m (8,278 ft)
Population
- Total	About 13,000
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
- Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC-6)
ZIP Code[2]	80433
Area code(s)	Both 303 and 720

Conifer is an unincorporated town in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Conifer is located along U.S. Route 285 in the foothills West of Denver. The Conifer Post Office has the ZIP Code 80433.^[2]

History

Conifer was known in the 1860s as Bradford Junction, a stop on the stagecoach road to South Park. A few buildings were erected, including a tavern, rest house, and general store. Bradford Junction deteriorated by the 1890s when the stagecoach road was replaced by the Denver and South Park railroad.

By the 1920s the area was simply known as Conifer, a destination known for its beautiful mountain scenery and abundance of wildlife. For decades, the area was primarily a cattle ranching area, and there is still some ranching in southern parts of the community.

Today

In 2006, Conifer was experiencing explosive retail growth. Conifer has several new areas of commercial development including retail, restaurants,and entertainment. While there has been major development of retail and commercial development the recession has impacted some businesses. Property values for Conifer remain high and most have not been negatively affected by the recession. Conifer remains one of the top places to live in Colorado.

Conifer residents are served by the Elk Creek Fire Protection District, a mixed career/volunteer fire department with approximately 60 active duty firefighters.

Education

Students living within Jefferson County attend Jefferson County schools. Those neighborhood schools are Elk Creek Elementary School, West Jefferson Elementary School, West Jefferson Middle School and Conifer High School.

Landmarks

• The Clifton House Inn, Jefferson County Register of Historic Places
• The Conley Coffee Shop, Jefferson County Register of Historic Places
• The Lubin-Blakeslee Place at Meyers Ranch, Conifer, Jefferson County Register of Historic Places
• Midway House at Meyers Ranch, built 1889, National Register of Historic Places 5JF.303
• Original Elk Creek Fire House, Jefferson County Register of Historic Places
• Pleasant Park School, built 1894, Colorado Register of Historic Places 5JF.972
• Yellow Barn at Bradford Junction, built 1918, Jefferson County Register of Historic Places
• Long Bros. Garage at the intersection of Kings Valley Drive and Hwy 285
• Coney Island Hot Dog Stand for many years it was in Aspen Park area of Conifer, but was moved to the nearby community of Bailey.
• Conifer is home to one of two Safeway flagship stores (the other being in Boulder, Colorado). The Safeway was moved to a new building in late 2006 above highway 285.

Notable people

• South Park co-creator Trey Parker grew up in the area and depicted the town in two show episodes
• Amy Bruckner American actress, who played Pim Diffy on Phil of the Future.

Geography

Conifer is located at 39°31′14″N 105°18′21″W / 39.52056°N 105.30583°W / 39.52056; -105.30583 (39.520463,-105.305843). A magnitude 3.1 tremor centered on Berrian Mountain about 1 mile north of Conifer occurred on November 1, 1981, at 8:03 p.m. MST.

See also

• Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area
• Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area
• Front Range Urban Corridor
• List of cities and towns in Colorado

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "ZIP Code Lookup" (JavaScript/HTML). United States Postal Service. December 22, 2006. http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/citytown.jsp. Retrieved December 22, 2006.