Thornton, Colorado

Thornton is a city in Adams County, Colorado (population over 105,000) located on the South Platte River (in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area). Latest estimates show the median income for a household in the city is $54,445, and the median income for a family is $58,742. The 27.2 square mile city was named after the governor of Colorado, Dan Thornton.

Modern day Thornton was comprised solely of farmland until 1953, when Sam Hoffman purchased a lot off Washington Street about seven miles north of Denver. The town he laid out became the first fully planned community in Adams County and the first to offer full municipal services from a single tax levy, including recreation services and free trash pickup. Some of the popular festivals in Thornton include the Salsa Tasting Contest at Harvest Fest, Thorntonfest, WinterFest, and the TASHCO Young Artists Festival.

A popular attraction, the Margaret W. Carpenter Recreation Center, contains one of the few indoor wave pools in the State and the Larkridge was recently built, which is one of the largest northern area retail centers in the state.