Superior

About Superior, CO

In the early 1900s, Superior was a coal mining town with 400 residents, a school, church, livery stable, three saloons, two pool halls, a general store, a barbershop and two boarding houses. But with the closure of the town's lifeblood Industrial Mine in 1945, Superior suffered, shrinking to about 250 residents.

It wasn't until the 1990s that it recovered. Richmond Homes struck a deal with Superior's residents: In exchange for permission to develop 1,570 acres, builders would fund a water-treatment plant to supplant their drying wells. Construction of the Rock Creek neighborhood began in January 1987.

Today, 98 percent of Superior's population lives in Rock Creek. With its residential base largely in place and with Boulder and Boulder County open space limiting options for further residential growth, the town has turned its attention to retail development.

The Superior Marketplace is the town's major retail attraction. Since it opened in 1998, the SuperTarget- and Costco Wholesale-anchored shopping center has been a boon to Superior's coffers, generating millions in additional sales-tax revenue.

With the addition of Wild Oats Markets' flagship store, a Gart Sports and a Chuck-E-Cheese restaurant, the marketplace now boasts 650,000 square feet of retail space. Town leaders hope this will help reduce property taxes.

Within a decade, town leaders hope to create a pedestrian-friendly downtown area located east of McCaslin, across from town hall.

Name derived from: The quality of coal found in the area

Population: 12,000 (town hall estimate)

Year incorporated: 1904

Elevation: 5,510 feet

Size: 7 square miles

Did you know … ? Superior is a town without its own post office — the town has a Louisville postal code. It once had a post office of its own, but it became another Original Town residence at 211 W. William St.

Since 1990, Superior has grown from 250 residents to an estimated 12,000 in 2003. Superior was the fourth-fastest growing town in America during the 1990s.

Superior was settled in 1861 by farmer William C. Hake, originally of Wisconsin. He arrived with two children in a covered wagon and, discovering coal on his property, declared there was "no superior in the state."

The town has its own skateboard park — at the corner of Huron Peak Avenue and Cobalt Way in the Rock Creek neighborhood.