The City of Florence is a Statutory City located in Fremont County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, United States. The city population was 3,822 at the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

. Florence is a part of the

Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to ...

and the Front Range Urban Corridor.

History

Florence was built as a transportation center, with three railroads including a small railroad depot for the trains that hauled coal from the neighboring towns of Rockvale and Coal Creek. After a small oil was discovered north of Canon City at

Oil Spring An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

, commercial quantity oil was discovered in Florence in 1862, Florence became the first significant oil center west of the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. In the early 1880s the town grew rapidly. The city was named after Florence, the daughter of local settler James McCandless. The town was incorporated in 1887. The Downtown Florence Historic District was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2017.

Geography

Florence is in eastern Fremont County, on the south side of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United ...

. It is bordered to the west by the town of Williamsburg, and the town of Coal Creek is to the southwest. Colorado State Highway 115 runs northwest to Cañon City and northeast to Penrose, intersecting U.S. Route 50 in each direction.

Colorado State Highway 67 State Highway 67 (SH 67) is a state highway encompassing five distinct segments in south-central Colorado. SH 67's southern terminus is at SH 96 in Wetmore, and the northern terminus is at U.S. Route 85 (US 85) in Sedalia. It t ...

leads north to US 50 and south to Wetmore.

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

is to the east via CO 115 and US 50. At the

, the town had a total area of including of water. Florence sits in the semi-arid high desert lands of southern Colorado.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 3,653 people, 1,488 households, and 973 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,622 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.77%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.30%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.23% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 2.63% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 15.66% of the population. There were 1,488 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.03. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $29,628, and the median income for a family was $39,276. Males had a median income of $33,750 versus $22,042 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $14,969. About 12.5% of families and 17.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 23.0% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Federal Correctional Complex, Florence The Federal Correctional Complex, Florence (FCC Florence) is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and consis ...

, including USP Florence ADMAX, the only federal supermax prison in the United States, is located near Florence in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Fremont County.

Education

Fremont RE-2 School District The Fremont RE-2 School District is a school district headquartered in Florence, Colorado. It serves Florence and Penrose. In 2022, the district's 220 teachers, administrators, and support staff taught and supported 1,426 students in preschool ...

operates public schools, including Penrose Elementary School, Florence Elementary School and

Florence Junior/Senior High School Florence Junior/Senior High School, formerly Florence High School, is a public high school in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, near Florence. It is part of the Fremont RE-2 School District The Fremont RE-2 School Distri ...

Notable people

* Thyra Thomson, Wyoming Secretary of State'Former Wyoming Sec. of State Thyra Thomson Dies,' Billings Gazette (Wyoming), Joan Barron, June 12, 2013

References

External links

City of Florence websiteCDOT map of the City of FlorenceFlorence Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Cities in Fremont County, Colorado Cities in Colorado Colorado populated places on the Arkansas River 1887 establishments in Colorado