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Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is a home rule city in and the county seat of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 census, it is the most-populous city in the county and the 12th-most populous city in Colorado. Boulder is the principal city of the Boulder metropolitan statistical area, which had 330,758 residents in 2020, and is part of the Front Range Urban Corridor.

Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of 5430 ft above sea level. The city is 25 mi northwest of the Colorado state capital of Denver. Boulder is a college town, hosting the University of Colorado Boulder, the flagship and largest campus of the University of Colorado system as well as numerous research institutes.

History
Archaeological evidence shows the Boulder valley has been continuously inhabited by Native American tribes for over 13,000 years, beginning in the late Pleistocene era. Throughout the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Late Prehistoric periods, Indigenous peoples moved seasonally between the mountains and plains, taking shelter in winter along the Front Range trough where Boulder now lies. By the 1500s, the area was occupied by Ute tribes, joined by Arapaho tribes in the early 1800s.

The Indigenous Nations who have ties to the Boulder Valley include the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Pawnee, Shoshone, Sioux, and Ute peoples. In the 1800s, Euro-American settlers colonized the area.

Modern Boulder was founded in late 1858 when prospectors led by Thomas Aikins arrived at Boulder Canyon during the Colorado Gold Rush. Arapaho leader Niwot allowed them to stay for the winter, but the settlers abused this peaceful approach, and some later took part in the Sand Creek massacre of Arapaho. In early 1859, gold was discovered along Boulder Creek, drawing more miners and merchants to the area. The Boulder City Town Company was formed in February 1859 to establish a settlement at the canyon mouth. By 1860 it had 70 cabins, mostly occupied by Anglo families. Non-whites like Chinese miners and black residents were part of early Boulder but rarely pictured.

In 1861, Boulder County was created and the Arapaho were forced to relocate per the Treaty of Fort Wise. With declining numbers, Niwot's band soon moved to the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation. By 1862 the creek had yielded $100,000 in gold and Boulder's population exceeded 300.

On November 7, 1861, the Colorado General Assembly passed legislation to locate the University of Colorado in Boulder. On September 20, 1875, the first cornerstone was laid for the first building (Old Main) on the CU campus. The university officially opened on September 5, 1877.

In 1907, Boulder adopted an anti-saloon ordinance. Statewide prohibition started in Colorado in 1916 and ended with the repeal of national prohibition in 1933.

Housing
Median home prices rose 60% over the period 2010 to 2015 to $648,200. In 2024, the City Council of Boulder repealed a long-standing law that prevented Boulder from increasing new residential units by more than 1% in a year.

In 1959, city voters approved the "Blue Line" city-charter amendment which restricted city water service to altitudes below 5750 ft, in an effort to protect the mountain backdrop from development. In 1967, city voters approved a dedicated sales tax for the acquisition of open space in an effort to contain urban sprawl. In 1970, Boulder created a "comprehensive plan" that would dictate future zoning, transportation, and urban planning decisions. Hoping to preserve residents' views of the mountains, in 1972, the city enacted an ordinance limiting the height of newly constructed buildings. A Historic-Preservation Code was passed in 1974, and a residential-growth management ordinance (the Danish Plan) in 1976.

Geography

The city of Boulder is located in the Boulder Valley, where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains. The Flatirons, slabs of sedimentary stone tilted up on the foothills, are located west of the city, and are a widely recognized symbol of Boulder.

Boulder Creek is the primary flow of water through Boulder. The creek was named prior to the city's founding, for all of the large granite boulders that have cascaded into the creek over the eons. It is from Boulder Creek that the city is believed to have taken its name. Boulder Creek has significant water flow, derived primarily from snow melt and minor springs west of the city. The creek flows into St. Vrain Creek east of Longmont, which is a tributary of the South Platte River.

At the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total area of 70.877 km2, including 2.689 km2 of water.

The 40th parallel (40 degrees north latitude) runs through Boulder and can be easily recognized as Baseline Road today.

Boulder lies in a wide basin beneath Flagstaff Mountain just a few miles east of the continental divide and about 25 mi northwest of Denver. Arapahoe Glacier provides water for the city, along with Boulder Creek, which flows through the center of the city.

Denver International Airport is located 45 mi southeast of Boulder.

Environment
Government preservation of open space around Boulder began with the Congress of the United States approving the allocation of 1800 acre of mountain backdrop/watershed extending from South Boulder Creek to Sunshine Canyon in 1899.

Wildlife protection
Boulder has created an Urban Wildlife Management Plan which sets policies for managing and protecting urban wildlife. Also, the city's Parks and Recreation and Open Space and Mountain Parks departments have volunteers who monitor parks (including wetlands, lakes, etc.) to protect ecosystems. From time to time, parks and hiking trails are closed to conserve or restore ecosystems. Traditionally, Boulder has avoided the use of chemical pesticides for controlling the insect population. However, with the threat of West Nile virus, the city began an integrative plan to control the mosquito population in 2003 that includes chemical pesticides. Residents can opt out of the program by contacting the city and asking that their areas not be sprayed.

Under Boulder law, extermination of prairie dogs requires a permit.

Also in 2005, the city experimented with using goats for weed control in environmentally sensitive areas. Goats naturally consume diffuse knapweed and Canada thistle, and although the program was not as effective as it was hoped, goats will still be considered in the future weed control projects. In 2010, goats were used to keep weeds under control at the Boulder Reservoir.

The city's Open Space and Mountain Parks department manages approximately 8,000 acre of protected forest land west of the city in accordance with a 1999 Forest Ecosystem Management Plan. The plan aims to maintain or enhance native plant and animal species, their communities, and the ecological processes that sustain them and to reduce the wildfire risk to forest and human communities.

Climate
Boulder has a temperate climate typical for much of the state and receives many sunny or mostly sunny days each year. Under the Köppen climate classification, the city is considered semi-arid (Köppen: BSk) or humid subtropical (Köppen: Cfa) as it falls near that precipitation boundary, due to its relatively high yearly precipitation and average temperatures remaining above 32 F year-round. Winter conditions range from generally mild to the occasional bitterly cold, with highs averaging in the mid to upper 40s °F (7–9 °C). There are 4.6 nights annually during which the temperature reaches 0 °F. Because of orographic lift, the mountains to the west often dry out the air passing over the Front Range, often shielding the city from precipitation in winter, though heavy snowfalls may occur. Snowfall averages 88 in per season, but snow depth is usually shallow; a strong warming sun due to the high elevation can quickly melt snow cover during the day, and Chinook winds bring rapid warm-ups throughout the winter months. Summers are warm, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Roughly 30 days reach 90 °F or above each year. Diurnal temperature variation is typically large due to the high elevation and semi-arid climate. Daytime highs are generally cooler than those of most Colorado cities with similar elevations. However, Boulder's nighttime lows are mild, particularly during winter. The average January temperature of 34.5 °F is the warmest of any city in the state. The highest recorded temperature of 104 °F occurred most recently on June 25, 2012. The record low was -33 °F on January 17, 1930. The coldest high temperature, -12 °F, was recorded on February 4, 1989, while the warmest overnight low was recorded on July 20, 1998, with a temperature of 82 °F

Demographics

Boulder is the principal city of the Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area.

2020 census
As of the 2010 census, there were 97,385 people, 41,302 households, and 16,694 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,942.7 PD/sqmi. There were 43,479 housing units at an average density of 1,760.3 /mi2. The racial makeup of the city was 88.0% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 4.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.2% some other race, and 2.6% from two or more races. 8.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 41,302 households, out of which 19.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.2% were headed by married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 59.6% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.1% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16, and the average family size was 2.84.

Boulder's population is younger than the national average, largely due to the presence of university students. The median age at the 2010 census was 28.7 years compared to the U.S. median of 37.2 years. In Boulder, 13.9% of the residents were younger than the age of 18, 29.1% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.9% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and older, there were 106.2 males.

In 2011 the estimated median household income in Boulder was $57,112, and the median family income was $113,681. Male full-time workers had a median income of $71,993 versus $47,574 for females. The per capita income for the city was $37,600. 24.8% of the population and 7.6% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 17.4% of those under the age of 18 and 6.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Economy
The Boulder MSA had a gross metropolitan product of $18.3 billion in 2010, the 110th largest metropolitan economy in the United States.

In 2007, Boulder became the first city in the United States to levy a carbon tax.

In 2013, Boulder appeared on Forbes magazine's list of Best Places for Business and Careers.

Top employers
According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers are:

Bolder Boulder
Boulder has hosted a 10 km road run, the Bolder Boulder, on Memorial Day, every year since 1979. The race involves over 50,000 runners, joggers, walkers, and wheelchair racers, making it one of the largest road races in the world. It has the largest non-marathon prize purse in road racing. The race culminates at Folsom Field with a Memorial Day Tribute. The 2007 race featured over 54,000 runners, walkers, and wheelchair racers, making it the largest race in the US in which all participants are timed and the fifth largest road race in the world.

Music
Founded in 1958, the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra is a professional orchestra under the leadership of its Music Director Michael Butterman.

Founded in 1976 by Giora Bernstein, the Colorado Music Festival presents a summer series of concerts in Chautauqua Auditorium.

Founded in 1981, the Boulder Bach Festival is an annual festival celebrating the life, legacy, and music of J.S. Bach. The festival is led by Executive Director Zachary Carrettin and Artistic Director Mina Gajic.

Dance
Boulder is home to multiple dance companies and establishments. Boulder Ballet was founded by former American Ballet Theatre dancer Larry Boyette in the 1970s as part of the Ballet Arts Studios. Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet was founded in 2004 by Robert Sher-Machherndl, former principal dancer of the Dutch National Ballet and Bavarian State Ballet.

Conference on World Affairs
The Conference on World Affairs, started in 1948, is an annual one-week conference featuring dozens of discussion panels on a variety of contemporary issues.

eTown
The internationally syndicated radio program eTown has its headquarters at eTown Hall, at the intersection of 16th and Spruce Streets, in downtown Boulder. Most tapings of this weekly show are done at eTown Hall.

Polar Bear Plunge
Beginning in 1983, hundreds of people head to the Boulder Reservoir on New Year's Day to take part in the annual polar bear plunge. With rescue teams standing by, participants use a variety of techniques to plunge themselves into the freezing reservoir. Once the plunge is complete, swimmers retreat to hot tubs on the reservoir beach to revive themselves from the cold.

Naked Pumpkin Run
Starting in 1998, dozens of people have taken part in a Halloween run down the city's streets wearing only shoes and a hollowed-out pumpkin on their heads. In 2009, local police threatened participants with charges of indecent exposure and no naked runners were reported in official newscasts, although a few naked runners were observed by locals. Several illegal attempts, resulting in arrests, have been made to restart the run, but no serious effort has been mounted.

420
For several years on April 20, thousands of people gathered on the CU Boulder campus to celebrate 420 and smoke marijuana at and before 4:20 pm. The 2010 head count was officially between 8,000 and 15,000 with some discrepancy between the local papers and the university administrators (who have been thought to have been attempting to downplay the event). Eleven citations were given out whereas the year before there were only two. 2011 was the last year of mass 420 partying at CU as the university, in 2012, took a hard stance against 420 activities, closing the campus to visitors for the day, using smelly fish fertilizer to discourage gathering at the Norlin Quad, and having out-of-town law enforcement agencies help secure the campus. In 2013, April 20 fell on a Saturday; the university continued the 420 party ban and, again, closed the campus to visitors. In 2015 the government conceded and once again opened the park to visitors on April 20.

Boulder Cruiser Ride
The Happy Thursday Cruiser Ride is a weekly bicycle ride in Boulder Colorado. The Boulder Cruiser Ride grew from a group of friends and friends of friends in the early 90's riding bicycles around Boulder into the social cycling event it is today. Some enthusiasts gather wearing costumes and decorating their bikes; themes are an integral part of the cruiser tradition. Boulder Police began following the cruiser ride as it gained in popularity in the early 2000s. Issues with underage drinking, reckless bicycle riding, and other nuisance complaints led organizers to drop the cruiser ride as a public event. Returning to an underground format, where enthusiasts must become part of the social network before gaining access to event sites, the Boulder Cruiser Ride has continued as a local tradition. On May 30, 2013, over 400 riders attended the Thursday-night Cruiser Ride in honor of "Big Boy", an elk that was shot and killed on New Year's Day by an on-duty Boulder Police officer.

Parks and recreation
Boulder is surrounded by thousands of acres of recreational open space, conservation easements, and nature preserves. Almost 60%, 35584 acre, of open space totaling 61529 acre is open to the public.

The unincorporated community of Eldorado Springs, south of Boulder, is home to rock climbing routes. There are also climbing routes available in the city open space, including climbing routes of varying difficulty on the Flatirons themselves (traditional protection). Boulder Canyon (sport), directly west of downtown Boulder, also has many routes. All three of these areas are affected by seasonal closures for wildlife.

Government
Boulder is a home rule municipality, being self-governing under Article XX of the Constitution of the State of Colorado; Title 31, Article 1, Section 202 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.

Politically, Boulder is one of the most liberal and Democratic cities in Colorado when viewed from a Federal and State elections lens. , registered voters in Boulder County were 43.4% Democratic, 14.7% Republican, 1.6% in other parties, and 40.3% unaffiliated. By residents and detractors alike, Boulder is often referred to as the "People's Republic of Boulder".

In 1974, the Boulder City Council passed Colorado's first ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Boulder voters, however, repealed the measure by referendum within a year. In 1975, Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex was the second in the United States ever to grant same-sex marriage licenses, prior to state laws being passed to prevent such issuance.

In July 2019, Boulder declared a "climate emergency" and established target dates for achieving 100% renewable electricity, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from city organizations and facilities, an increase in local generation of electricity through renewable sources, and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the community. The city also created a community-centered process to focus on energy systems, regenerative ecosystems, circular materials economy, land use, and financial systems.

Public schools
The Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) administers the public school system in Boulder, aside from a few areas in northeast Boulder, where students attend the St. Vrain Valley School District.

Charter schools
Charter schools within the city of Boulder include Preparatory High School (9–12), Summit Middle School (6–8), and Horizons Alternative School (K–8).

Private schools
A variety of private high schools, middle schools and elementary schools operate in Boulder.

Colleges and universities

 * University of Colorado Boulder, public university which contributes roughly 46,000 residents (30,000 undergraduate students, 7,000 graduate students and 10,000 staff/faculty) to the population.
 * Naropa University is a private university based on Buddhist principles. It has approximately 400 undergraduate and over 600 graduate students.
 * Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, a culinary school group with campuses in Boulder and Austin, Texas.

Science institutes

 * Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
 * Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
 * Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA)
 * Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR)
 * Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)
 * JILA (Formerly Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics)
 * Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
 * Geological Society of America, headquartered at 3300 Penrose Place
 * National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
 * National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) / University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
 * High Altitude Observatory (HAO)
 * National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
 * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
 * Earth System Research Laboratories (ESRL)
 * Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)
 * National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
 * National Solar Observatory (NSO)
 * National Telecommunications and Information Administration(NTIA) – Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Boulder
 * Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI)
 * Rocky Mountain Institute
 * Southwest Research Institute Department of Space Studies
 * Space Science Institute
 * UNAVCO National Science Foundation's Geodetic Facility
 * United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Media
Boulder's main daily newspaper, the Daily Camera, was founded in 1890 as the weekly Boulder Camera, and became a daily newspaper the following year. The Colorado Daily was started in 1892 as a university newspaper for CU Boulder. Following many heated controversies over Colorado Daily political coverage, it severed its ties to the university in 1971. In summer 1996, the Boulder Planet, a free weekly competing with the Boulder Weekly, published its first issue; it ceased publication in February 2000. Newspaper conglomerate Scripps acquired the Colorado Daily in 2005 after its acquisition of the Camera in 1997, leaving the Boulder Weekly as the only locally owned newspaper in Boulder. Scripps relinquished its 50 percent ownership in both daily papers in early 2009 to Media News Group. Boulder Magazine, a lifestyle magazine, was founded in 1978. Boulder Magazine is published three times per year.

Boulder is part of the Denver market for television stations, and it also receives many radio stations based in Denver or Ft. Collins. For cable television, Boulder is served by Comcast Cable. The city operates public service Boulder 8 TV on cable (high- and standard-definition), which airs, live-streams and archives council meetings; with its in-house video production facilities, it also produces news, talk and informational programming. Over-the-air television reception is poor in the western part of the city because of interference from mountains.

Non-commercial community radio station KGNU was founded in 1978 and commercial music station KBCO in 1977. KBCO programs an adult album alternative format and is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. KBCO moved its studios from Boulder to the Denver Tech Center in 2010 but still maintains the Boulder license and transmits from atop Eldorado Mountain south of Boulder.

KVCU, also known as Radio 1190, is another non-commercial radio station run with the help of university-student volunteers. KVCU started broadcasting in 1998.

NPR programming is heard over KCFC 1490 AM, operated by Colorado Public Radio, and simulcasting Denver station KCFR 90.1.

KRKS-FM 94.7, owned and operated by Salem Media Group and affiliated with SRN News, offers a Christian talk and teaching format, and has its transmitter located on Lee Hill, northwest of Boulder.

The University of Colorado Press, a non-profit co-op of various western universities, publishes academic books, as do Lynne Rienner Publishers, Paradigm Publishers, and Westview Press. Paladin Press book/video publishers and Soldier of Fortune magazine both have their headquarters in Boulder. Paladin Press was founded in September 1970 by Peder Lund and Robert K. Brown. In 1974, Lund bought out Brown's share of the press, and Brown moved on to found Soldier of Fortune magazine the following year.

Transportation
Since Boulder has operated under residential growth control ordinances since 1976, the growth of employment in the city has far outstripped population growth. Considerable road traffic enters the city each morning and leaves each afternoon, since many employees live in Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, Broomfield, Westminster, and Denver. Boulder is served by US 36 and a variety of state highways. Parking regulations in Boulder have been explicitly designed to discourage parking by commuters and to encourage the use of mass transit, with mixed results.

Over the years, Boulder has made significant investments in the multi-modal network. The city is now well known for its grade-separated bicycle and pedestrian paths, which are integrated into a network of bicycle lanes, cycle tracks, and on-street bicycle routes. Boulder also provides a community transit network that connects downtown, the University of Colorado campuses, and local shopping amenities. While the city has no rail transit, local and regional shuttle busses are funded by a variety of sources. Due in part to these investments in pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure, Boulder has been recognized both nationally and internationally for its transportation system.

In 2009, the Boulder metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked as the fourth highest in the United States for percentage of commuters who biked to work (5.4 percent). In 2013, the Boulder MSA ranked as the fourth lowest in the United States for percentage of workers who commuted by private automobile (71.9 percent). During the same time period, 11.1 percent of Boulder area workers had no commute whatsoever: they worked out of the home.

Bus service
Boulder has an extensive bus system operated by the Regional Transportation District (RTD). The HOP, SKIP, JUMP, Bound, DASH and Stampede routes run throughout the city and connect to nearby communities with departures every ten minutes during peak hours, Monday-Friday. Other routes, such as the 204, 205, 206, 208 and 209 depart every 15 to 30 minutes. Regional routes, traveling between nearby cities such as Longmont (BOLT, J), Golden (GS), and Denver (Flatiron Flyer, a bus rapid transit route), as well as Denver International Airport (AB), are also available. There are over 100 scheduled daily bus trips on seven routes that run between Boulder and Denver on weekdays.

Railroads
Freight service is provided by Union Pacific and BNSF.

Currently there is no intercity passenger service. The last remaining services connecting the Front Range cities ceased with the formation of Amtrak in 1971.

Future transit plans
Front Range Passenger Rail is a current proposal (as of 2023) to link the cities from Pueblo in the south, north to Fort Collins and possibly to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

A 41 mi RTD commuter rail route called the Northwest Rail Line is proposed to run from Denver through Boulder to Longmont, with stops in major communities along the way. The Boulder station is to be north of Pearl Street and east of 30th Street. At one time this commuter rail service was scheduled to commence in 2014, but major delays have ensued. In 2016, an initial 6 mi segment opened, reaching from downtown Denver to southern Westminster at West 71st Avenue and Federal Boulevard. The remaining 35 mi of the Northwest Rail Line is planned to be completed by 2044, depending upon funding.

These future transit plans, as well as the current Flatiron Flyer Bus Rapid Transit route, are part of FasTracks, an RTD transit improvement plan funded by a 0.4% increase in the sales tax throughout the Denver metro area. RTD, the developer of FasTracks, is partnering with the city of Boulder to plan a transit-oriented development near Pearl and 33rd Streets in association with the proposed Boulder commuter rail station. The development is to feature the Boulder Railroad Depot, already relocated to that site, which may be returned to a transit-related use.

Cycling
Boulder, well known for its bicycle culture, has hundreds of miles of bicycle-pedestrian paths, lanes, and routes that interconnect to create a renowned network of bikeways usable year-round. Boulder has 74 bike and pedestrian underpasses that facilitate safer and uninterrupted travel throughout much of the city. The city offers a route-finding website that allows users to map personalized bike routes around the city, and is one of five communities to have received a "Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community" rating from the League of American Bicyclists.

The headquarters of the free and non-obligatory hospitality exchange network for cyclists, Warm Showers, is based in Boulder.

In May 2011, B-cycle bike-sharing opened in Boulder with 100 red bikes and 12 stations.

Airport
Boulder Municipal Airport is located 3 mi northeast of central Boulder, is owned by the City of Boulder and is used exclusively for general aviation, with most traffic consisting of single-engine airplanes and glider aircraft.

Notable people

 * Albert Allen Bartlett, emeritus professor of physics
 * Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys frontman
 * Tony Boselli, five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle
 * Bill Bower, the last surviving pilot who took part in the Doolittle Raid
 * Arleigh Burke, United States Navy Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations
 * Scott Carpenter, Project Mercury astronaut
 * Alonzo Clemons, sculptor and autistic savant
 * Jack Collom, poet and essayist
 * Kristin Davis, Sex and the City actress
 * Joey "CoCo" Diaz, resident during the 1980s and 1990s
 * John Fante, writer
 * Justine Frischmann, British artist and former lead singer of Elastica
 * Andrea Gibson, spoken word artist, poet, activist
 * Allen Ginsberg, poet, taught at Naropa University and lived much of his life in Boulder
 * Michael Grab, Canadian-born artist specializing in rock balancing and photography
 * Matt Hasselbeck, three-time Pro Bowl quarterback
 * Carrie Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie), lived in Boulder 1905–1906
 * Scott Jurek, ultramarathoner, writer and public speaker
 * Hanna Kroeger, vendor of health food and alternative medicine products
 * Eagle Wynne McMahon, professional disc golf player
 * Kimbal Musk, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and restaurateur
 * Chief Niwot, or Left Hand, a tribal leader of the Arapaho, lived at the site of Boulder
 * Shane O'Neil, soccer player for Toronto FC
 * Chuck Pagano, former Indianapolis Colts head coach
 * Phil Plait, "The Bad Astronomer", astronomer, skeptic, writer and science blogger
 * Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado
 * JonBenét Ramsey, when she was murdered in December 1996
 * Bobby Regester, racing driver
 * Larry Sellers, actor, lived in the town
 * Lidia Șimon (born 1973), retired Romanian Olympic long-distance runner
 * Ariel Solomon (born 1968), American football offensive lineman
 * Maor Tiyouri (born 1990), Israeli Olympic marathon runner
 * Evans Woollen III, architect
 * Joanna Zeiger (born 1970), Olympic triathlete, 2008 Ironman 70.3 world champion

In popular culture

Woody Allen's film Sleeper (1973) was filmed on location in Boulder. Some houses and the Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, designed by I. M. Pei, were used in the film.

Boulder was a setting for Stephen King's book The Stand (1978), as the gathering point for some of the survivors of the superflu. King lived in Boulder for a little less than a year, beginning in the autumn of 1974, and wrote The Shining (1977) during this period.

The television sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) was set in Boulder, with 1619 Pine St. serving as the exterior shot of Mindy's home. The New York Deli, a now closed restaurant in the Pearl Street Mall, was also featured prominently in the series.

In the American version of the television sitcom The Office, the character Michael Scott leaves the show in season 7 and moves with his fiancée to Boulder.

"Boulder to Birmingham" is a song written by Emmylou Harris and Bill Danoff which first appeared on Harris's 1975 album Pieces of the Sky. It has served as something of a signature tune for the artist and recounts her feelings of grief in the years following the death of country rock star and mentor Gram Parsons.

The Comedy Central television show Broad City ends with the protagonist, Abby, moving to Boulder for an art fellowship.

Sister cities
Boulder's sister cities are:

 * 🇹🇯 Dushanbe, Tajikistan (1987)
 * 🇳🇮 Jalapa, Nueva Segovia Department, Nicaragua (1983)
 * 🇳🇵 Kathmandu, Nepal (2018)
 * 🇰🇪 Kisumu, Kenya (2008)
 * 🇨🇳 Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China (1986)
 * 🇲🇽 El Mante, Tamaulipas, Mexico (2000)
 * 🇵🇸 Nablus, West Bank, Palestine (2016)
 * 🇮🇱 Ramat HaNegev, Southern District, Israel (2018)
 * 🇯🇵 Yamagata, Yamagata, Japan (1994)
 * 🇨🇺 Yateras, Guantánamo Province, Cuba (2002)

Landmarks representing Boulder's connection with its various sister cities can be found throughout the city. Boulder's Sister City Plaza – dedicated on May 17, 2007 – is located on the east lawn of Boulder's Municipal Building. The plaza was built to honor all of Boulder's sister city relationships.

The Dushanbe Tea House is located on 13th Street just south of the Pearl Street Mall. Dushanbe presented its distinctive tea house as a gift to Boulder in 1987. It was completed in Tajikistan in 1990 and then shipped to Boulder, where it was reassembled and opened to the public in 1998.

A mural representing the relationship between Boulder and Mante, Mexico, was dedicated in August 2001. The mural, which was painted by Mante muralist Florian Lopez, is located on the north-facing wall of the Dairy Center for the Performing Arts.

title: Boulder, Colorado


text:
Uxbridge

Uxbridge is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated 15.4 miles west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex, and was a significant local commercial centre from an early time. As part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century it expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1955, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

A few major events have taken place in and around the town, including attempted negotiations between King Charles I and the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War. The public house at the centre of those events, since renamed the Crown & Treaty, still stands. RAF Uxbridge houses the Battle of Britain Bunker, from where the air defence of the south-east of England was coordinated during the Battle of Britain especially from its No. 11 Group Operations Room, also used during the D-Day landings.

Today the town serves as a significant retail and commercial centre; it is also considered as a university town as it houses Brunel University London as well as the Uxbridge campus of Buckinghamshire New University. A part of the town which has large converted flour mills adjoins Buckinghamshire, the boundary being the River Colne.

Government data analysts have confirmed within its Borough are suburbs Harefield, Ickenham, Hillingdon, Newyears Green and Cowley; with Uxbridge these are represented by six electoral wards (units for the election of councillors to Hillingdon Council and commonly for statistical purposes). The 2011 Census recorded a population figure of 70,560 for these wards combined.

Toponymy/ etymology
The name of the town is derived from "Wixan's Bridge", which was sited near the bottom of Oxford Road where a modern road bridge now stands, beside the Swan and Bottle public house. The Wixan were a 7th-century Saxon tribe from Lincolnshire who also began to settle in what became Middlesex. Anglo-Saxons began to settle and farm in the area of Uxbridge in the 5th century, clearing dense woodland. Two other places in Middlesex bore the name of the Wixan: Uxendon ("Wixan's Hill"), a name now preserved only in the street names of Uxendon Hill and Crescent in Harrow, and Waxlow ("Wixan's Wood") near Southall.

Archaeologists found Bronze Age remains (before 700 BC) and medieval remains during the construction of The Chimes shopping centre; two miles (3.2 km) away at Denham, Upper Paleolithic remains have been found. Uxbridge is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of the 11th century, but a hundred years later St Margaret's Church, was built. The town appears in records from 1107 as "Woxbrigge", and became part of the Elthorne Hundred with other settlements in the area.

Early developments

The Parliamentary Army garrisoned the town upon the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 and established their headquarters there in June 1647 on a line from Staines to Watford, although the king passed through Uxbridge in April 1646, resting at the Red Lion public house for several hours. Charles I met with representatives of Parliament at the Crown Inn in Uxbridge in 1645, but negotiations for the end of hostilities were unsuccessful due in part to the king's stubborn attitude. The town had been chosen as it was located between the Royal headquarters at Oxford and the Parliamentary stronghold of London.

The covered market was built in 1788, replacing a building constructed in 1561. In the early 19th century, Uxbridge had an unsavoury reputation; the jurist William Arabin said of its residents "They will steal the very teeth out of your mouth as you walk through the streets. I know it from experience." For about 200 years most of London's flour was produced in the Uxbridge area.

The Grand Junction Canal opened in 1794, linking Uxbridge with Birmingham and the River Thames at Brentford. By 1800 Uxbridge had become one of the most important market towns in Middlesex, helped by its status as the first stopping point for stagecoaches travelling from London to Oxford. The development of Uxbridge declined after the opening of the Great Western Railway in 1838, which passed through West Drayton. A branch line to Uxbridge was opened in 1856, but it was the opening of the Metropolitan Line in 1904 which restarted Uxbridge's growth by giving the town its first direct link to London.

Harman's Brewery was established in Uxbridge by George Harman in 1763, and moved into its new headquarters in Uxbridge High Street in 1875. The eventual owners of the brewery, Courage, closed the headquarters in 1964. It was demolished and replaced by a Budgen's supermarket, which in turn was demolished with the construction of The Chimes shopping centre. The brewery building in George Street remained in place until it was demolished in 1967. The office building Harman House was built on the site in 1985, named after the brewery.

Urban development
The main enclosures effected in the parish of Hillingdon, by statute in 1819, saw the reduction of Uxbridge Common, which at its largest had been 4 mi in circumference. It originally straddled Park Road, north of the town centre, but now covers 15 acre.

In 1871 the town's first purpose-built police station was built in Windsor Street. The building included three cells and stables. The Metropolitan Police continued to use the building until 1988, when operations moved to a new site in Harefield Road. The building subsequently became the Old Bill public house in 1996, renamed the Fig Tree in 2006.

In the early 1900s the Uxbridge and District Electricity Supply Company had been established a power station in Waterloo Road, and much of the town was connected by 1902, although some houses still had gas lighting in 1912. A water tower on Uxbridge Common was built in 1906, resembling a church tower, to improve the supply to the town.

Wood panelling from a room in the Crown & Treaty public house was sold in 1924 to an American businessman, who installed it in his office in the Empire State Building in New York. It was returned in 1953 as a gift to the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II and returned to the house, although the monarch retained ownership.

On 31 August 1935 Uxbridge Lido, an outdoor swimming pool built in the "Moderne" or Art Deco style, was officially opened. Before the opening, many residents swam in a section of the Frays River near Harefield Road, and the Colne. The pool, pavilion building, entrance building and both fountains were designated Grade II listed buildings in 1998. Despite the listing, the pool was closed to the public and the buildings became subject to heavy vandalism. Uxbridge open-air pool was fully refurbished during 2009 and re-opened in May 2010. Added to the site, now named Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex, is a 50 m indoor competition pool, a leisure pool, a 100-station gym, a wide range of exercise classes, an athletics stadium and track, 3G floodlit pitches, a sports hall, a café and a crèche. The Grade II listed buildings are still standing.

During the Second World War Uxbridge adopted the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Intrepid (D10) in 1942, to help towards the ship's costs; Intrepid was lost to enemy action the following year. The town and surrounding areas suffered bombing by the Luftwaffe. V1 flying bombs fell on the town between June 1944 and March 1945. The first recorded bombing using a V1 was on 22 June 1944 at 07:00, when the bomb passed over the top of a bus and hit four houses nearby. Seven people were killed and 25 injured, leaving 46 houses in the area uninhabitable. In all the Uxbridge Urban District suffered 79 civilian deaths through enemy action in the war.

In 1958 the 199 acre Lowe & Shawyer plant nursery to the west of RAF Uxbridge entered voluntary liquidation. The nursery had stood in Kingston Lane since 1868, and was the largest producer of cut flowers in the country. Demolition work began in 1962, and the construction of Brunel University commenced. Chrysanthemums are included the coat of arms of the Borough of Uxbridge in memory of the nursery. The Uxbridge (Vine Street) railway branch line, which partly ran alongside the site, was closed in 1964 and in 1966 the university opened, purchasing the land where the railway had run from the local council for £65,000.

The Uxbridge Cricket Club moved from Cricketfield Road in 1971 to make way for the new Civic Centre. The club had been at Cricketfield Road since 1858, but moved to a new site on part of Uxbridge Common on Park Road. The Market Square shopping precinct in the town centre was built in the late 1970s, but its lack of shelter made it unpopular and it did not attract the expected levels of custom. Many buildings along the High Street and Windsor Street had been demolished to make way for the new precinct, which was eventually sold to the Prudential Assurance Company and redeveloped with a roof in the early 1980s to become the Pavilions Shopping Centre. The Peacock public house (later renamed The Chequers) in one of the two main squares was built partially underground having two flights of steps down into the pub at either end. It was demolished and replaced with a café named also named The Chequers, which remains. Rayner's pharmacy shop was also demolished during the Market Square development, although the shopfront was saved by the Museum of London and is held in storage.

The Chimes shopping centre was built beside Uxbridge station in 2001, incorporating many of the existing buildings into the new structure. The centre was originally to be named St George's Centre in plans dating back to the early 1990s, though this name was eventually taken by another shopping centre in Harrow. Instead, The Chimes was said to refer to the sound of the bells from the nearby market house on the High Street. An Odeon cinema opened as a major part of the centre, with the smaller cinema at the opposite end of the High Street closing. Some houses on Chippendale Way and the St George's car park were demolished to allow for the construction of the new shopping centre car park. The offices of the local building company Fassnidge were also included in the new development; built in the 19th century, they now house a Pizza Express restaurant. Preserved timber from earlier demolished buildings in Uxbridge was used in the construction of a new building beside the former offices of Fassnidge, designed to resemble a much older structure.

In 2002 the dry ski slope near Park Road and the Uxbridge Lido was closed and the remaining buildings and structures removed. The Hillingdon Ski Centre had been subject to several arson attacks during 2001 and the company operating it became insolvent. The slope, which had been built in 1977, was left to return to nature.

Work began in 2008 to extensively refurbish and extend Uxbridge Lido, and it reopened to the public in February 2010 as the Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex. On 8 September 2010 the 75th anniversary of the first opening of the Lido was celebrated at the pool.

Governance
Uxbridge is known from tithe assignments to the vicar of Hillingdon in 1281 and hundreds of later documents as a chapelry in the large parish of Hillingdon; the town core was upgraded to a full parish (and thus its large chapel to a church) in 1827. Eleven years later a parish of Saint John was added in Uxbridge Moor, Hillingdon. A parish of Saint Andrew, Uxbridge, was added in 1865. From Tudor times, parishes had a select or elect vestry which determined much local maintenance, including poor relief, but under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, broader local poor law unions took on the relief role and shifted funds towards workhouses and associated hospitals.

Uxbridge was in the first main wave of the new, secular system of civil parishes, gaining a council and territory in 1866, and an Urban District under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1955 the council successfully petitioned for a charter of incorporation and became a municipal borough. This stood for ten years, followed by incorporation into the new system of London Boroughs, as the London Borough of Hillingdon.

Uxbridge gave its name to a parliamentary constituency from 1885 until 2010, when boundary changes led to the creation of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. The seat is currently held by Danny Beales of the Labour Party.

Geography
Uxbridge lies at a mean elevation of 40 m above mean sea level. Like much of the rest of the UK its climate is generally temperate, with few extremes of temperature or weather.

The landscape upon which the settlement of Uxbridge was established is largely unchanged from the Mesolithic era. Much of it was covered by oak and elm trees, which were gradually cleared by early settlers. An archaeological excavation by the Museum of London in the 1990s found evidence of flint items shaped by Mesolithic hunters, as well as various animal bones and traces of charcoal from the remains of campfires.

The River Pinn runs through Uxbridge, passing through the former site of RAF Uxbridge and the grounds of Brunel University. It joins the Frays River, which branches off from the River Colne and acts as the boundary between Uxbridge and the neighbouring county of Buckinghamshire.

Uxbridge is centred 15.4 mi from Charing Cross in Central London; 3 mi from Hayes; 3.1 mi from Ruislip; 4.7 mi from Northolt; 5.4 mi from Slough; and 12.8 mi from High Wycombe.

Demography
The table below shows housing data for Uxbridge, broadly defined, and its neighbourhoods.

The population of Uxbridge North was estimated in 2009 by the Office for National Statistics as 11,812, and 11,887 for Uxbridge South. Around 85% of residents of Uxbridge North are White, 6% more than both the borough average and Uxbridge South. Other residents are mixed-race, Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, and Chinese or other ethnic groups. Uxbridge South has more Black and Chinese residents than any other Hillingdon ward.

By the time of the 2011 UK Census, the population of Uxbridge had reached 12,048 in Uxbridge North and 13,979 in Uxbridge South. The most common ethnic group in Uxbridge North was White British (69.8%), followed by Asian or Asian British (19.5%) and Black or Black British (4.1%). The remaining percentage was made up of mixed-race and other unspecified ethnic groups. White British was also the largest ethnic group in Uxbridge South, at 62.1%, followed by Asian or Asian British (22.6%), Black or Black British (7.3%) and mixed-race (4.3%). The remaining percentage was made up of other unspecified ethnic groups.

Uxbridge North's largest sector of employment, according to the 2001 and 2011 censuses, was management.

The life expectancy for men was estimated at 77 years in Uxbridge North, compared with 74 years in Uxbridge South. The figures for women are 83 years in Uxbridge North and 81 years in Uxbridge South.

Religion
In the 2011 census, 72.8% of residents in the Uxbridge North ward answered that they had a religion, compared with 19.3% who did not and 7.9% who did not answer. Of those who answered, 53% identified as Christian, followed by 6.7% who identified as Muslim and 6.2% as Sikh. The percentage identifying as Hindu was 5.4%. Figures for residents identifying as either Jewish, Buddhist or other unspecified religions were each below 1%.

Within the Uxbridge South ward, 69.2% of residents answered that they had a religion, compared with 23.8% who did not and 7% who did not answer. As with Uxbridge North, the majority (46.4%) identified as Christian, followed by 13.4% who identified as Muslim and 5% as Hindu. The percentage identifying as Sikh was 2.3% and those identifying as Buddhist were 1.2%. Figures for residents identifying as either Jewish or other unspecified religions were each below 1%.

St Margaret's Church
This is the original parish church of Uxbridge, and one of the oldest buildings in the town. Located in Windsor Street, it is known to have existed since at least 1245, when a series of hearings took place there in which the Abbot of Bec in Normandy brought an action against the rector of Great Wratting in Suffolk for non-payment of tithes. On parchments kept at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in connection with this event, St. Margaret's is mentioned by name, and there are several other references between 1245 and 1247 to the "chapel at Uxbridge".

The oldest portion of the existing building is part of the north tower, which was built in the late 14th century. The north aisle, together with the nave and its arcades, dates from the early 15th century, while the south aisle, with its fine hammer-beam roof, was added about 1450. The carved stone font was placed in the church soon afterwards, dating from about 1480.

For most of its history, St Margaret's served as a chapel-of-ease to St John the Baptist's Church in Hillingdon; it was not until 1827 that it was given its own parish.

St Andrew's Church

By the 1850s the population of both Hillingdon and Uxbridge was beginning to rise. With new housing being built between the two centres the then Vicar of Hillingdon, Richard Croft (served 1856–69) gained permission to build a new local church for a newer part of the town traditionally called Hillingdon West. He asked architect Sir George Gilbert Scott "to draw up plans to build a church without unnecessary ornament but in handsome proportions suitable to its position at the entrance to Uxbridge Town..."

Scott produced his plans and local Uxbridge builder William Fassnidge was employed to construct the church. On St Peter's Day, 29 June 1864, the foundation stone was laid at the south end of the chancel arch by the Lord Bishop of London, Archibald Campbell Tait. He returned to consecrate and open the church on the feast day of saints Philip and James, 1 May 1865.

The spire was completed the following year. Together with the bells, vestry and organ and other embellishments, the building cost £12,000.

Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and St Michael

After the Reformation in the 16th century, there was no official Roman Catholic place of worship in Uxbridge until after the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act in the late 19th century. In 1892 Father Michael Aloysius Wren bought a presbytery at 37 Lawn Road, next to which a temporary church of corrugated iron was built, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes and St Michael. St Mary's School was also founded on Rockingham Road at this time. Fr Wren was helped by his nephew John, who acted as his assistant priest. They covered an extensive area, including the modern Catholic parishes of Ruislip and Hillingdon.

The mission grew and by 1907 the congregation numbered 150, with school attendance at 60. In time plans were made for a larger, more permanent church. This was led by Father Thomas Moloney, who bought the current presbytery and acquired the land that stood at the back so that a church could be built. The foundation stone was eventually laid on Low Sunday 1931 by Archbishop Alban Goodier, an English Jesuit who had been Archbishop of Bombay between 1919 and 1926. The new church, in Oxford Road, was designed by the diocesan architect, T. H. B. Scott. It was built of brick in the Romanesque style, seating 350. The church was opened by Cardinal Bourne on 29 September 1931 and was officially consecrated on 14 May 1936, after its debts were cleared.

Faith Assembly, Uxbridge
The Redeemed Christian Church of God is based at 2 Harefield Road, worship is in the Kate Fasnidge Hall, it is contemporary and Pentecostal.

Economy
As of 2012, Uxbridge had 112175 sqm of town centre floorspace. Uxbridge has two shopping centres, The Pavilions and The Chimes (formerly Intu Uxbridge). Much of the town centre is pedestrianised. Just off the High Street is Windsor Street, a short street with older shops.

The town centre consists of retail outlets and office buildings, including the main UK and European offices of international companies such as Coca-Cola European Partners, Cadbury, Xerox, General Mills, F. Hinds, PAREXEL, Arri, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Monster Energy, APL, Herbalife Europe. Other employers include NetApp, Anixter International, PricewaterhouseCoopers, WMS Gaming, IBB Solicitors and Nexen.

Within the London Borough, 55.1% of residents travel to the Uxbridge North and Uxbridge South wards to work, and only 8% of residents working there who also live within the wards. The 2001 census measured a total of 6,007 (35.9%) of residents leaving the North ward to go to work. Uxbridge South had a figure of 5,666 (26.5%) of residents leaving the ward to work elsewhere.

In 2005 retail footprint research, Uxbridge ranked 9th in terms of retail expenditure in Greater London at £311 million.

A terraced landmark with tower on Vine Street is what was Randalls, the Art Deco-architecture department store owned by relations of John Randall MP. It is a 1939, remodelled rebuilding of a 1900 building. The building has the initial, mainstream category of listed building since October 2008. The store closed in January 2015.

Education
Primary schools in Uxbridge include Hermitage Primary School, St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Whitehall Infant School, and Whitehall Junior School. Uxbridge High School is a comprehensive secondary school in the town.

Uxbridge is also home to Brunel University and the Buckinghamshire New University's nursing campus. The main campus of Uxbridge College is also in the town.

Transport
Uxbridge tube station is the western terminus of branches of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines of the London Underground. The station, built in 1933, is fronted by a pedestrian high street and is connected to a bus terminus with connections to Hillingdon, Hayes, Ealing, Ruislip, and Slough. Uxbridge Belmont Road was the first underground station, built slightly outside the town centre to allow for a possible extension to High Wycombe. This was subsequently replaced by the current station.

There were two Great Western Railway branch lines to Uxbridge with terminus stations at Uxbridge Vine Street (originally just Uxbridge Station) and Uxbridge High Street. The two railway lines were planned to be joined, with a new Uxbridge station to be built on the west side of the town replacing the existing station at Vine Street which had been opened in 1856. Work on the new branch line from the north at Denham started in 1900. However with the Metropolitan Railway being extended into Uxbridge Belmont Road station in 1904 it was decided to temporarily terminate the line at a bridge over Uxbridge High Street. The extension through Uxbridge to join the lines was never completed. Uxbridge High Street station opened on 1 May 1907 but had low passenger numbers and closed on 1 September 1939 as a war economy and never reopened. By the 1960s the Uxbridge Vine Street branch line to West Drayton station was being affected by competition on London services from the town's faster Underground lines. Passenger services were stopped on 10 September 1962. Goods traffic ceased two years later. Uxbridge Vine Street station was demolished in 1969.

The B483 road connects the centre of Uxbridge with the Swakeleys Roundabout junction of the A40. Uxbridge is also connected by major roads to Slough, Denham, Ickenham, Cowley, Iver Heath, Hillingdon Heath and Hayes. The Grand Union Canal, formerly the Grand Junction Canal, connects London with Birmingham and passes immediately to the west of Uxbridge, forming part of the borough boundary. The first stretch was built in the late 18th century from Brentford to Uxbridge. Further upstream is Uxbridge Lock, and nearby is a derelict flour mill formerly owned by Allied Mills. The mill was bought in the 19th century by William King, who named it "Kingsmill". Kingsmill continues to be used as a brand of bread by Associated British Foods.

London Buses routes 222, 331, 427, 607, A10, U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, U7, U9, U10 and N207 serve the area, alongside 8 non-Transport for London (TfL) routes: First Berkshire & The Thames Valley route 3, Green Line route 724 and Carousel Buses routes 101, 102, 104, 105, 581 & 583.

The proposed West London Tram was postponed indefinitely by TfL in August 2007 after it was announced that the Crossrail project would be going ahead. TfL cited "an effective bus-based solution" as an alternative, delivered in conjunction with local councils. Since 2013 the route has been served by the 427, 207, and 607 bus services.

Civic Centre

The London Borough of Hillingdon's Hillingdon Civic Centre was built in Uxbridge High Street in 1973, as part of an effort to unite the services of the council, which had formed in 1965 with the merger of the Municipal Borough of Uxbridge, Ruislip-Northwood Urban District, Hayes and Harlington Urban District and Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District. Before the new building was completed, council services had been spread throughout Uxbridge and the rest of the borough and various buildings, as a result of the merging of the former district councils.

Part of the original Middlesex County Council office building that stood on site was incorporated into the new Civic Centre. The centre's clock tower is the only visible section from the old building. The Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground and Uxbridge fire station were relocated as part of the new development, which became controversial owing to its size and cost. Areas of the building, particularly the council chambers, continue to suffer from poor acoustics.

Uxbridge Magistrates' Court
The original Magistrates' Court opened in 1907 in an Edwardian style. A new building with little exterior styling opened nearby in the 1990s and legal proceedings were transferred. The Magistrates' Court is often referred to in John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey short stories.

RAF Uxbridge, Battle of Britain Bunker and Hillingdon House

Uxbridge had a Royal Air Force station, known as RAF Uxbridge, until its closure on 31 March 2010. The station was built within the grounds of Hillingdon House, a 19th-century mansion bought by the British government in 1915, and became the home of RAF Fighter Command's No. 11 Group Operations Room during the Battle of Britain. Fighter squadrons at airfields in the south-east of England were directed from the station, which was visited by Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the battle, and other foreign leaders throughout the rest of the war.

Following the station's closure, the replica No. 33 Squadron Supermarine Spitfire gate guardian was removed from the main entrance for restoration work and moved to the entrance of the Operations Room (now known as the Battle of Britain Bunker). The area around the bunker was retained as an enclave under the RAF Uxbridge name, under the care of RAF Northolt. An additional guardian, a Hawker Hurricane in the colours of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, was added to the area in November 2010.

Sport and leisure
Uxbridge has a Non-League football team, Uxbridge F.C., which plays at Honeycroft, Yiewsley. Uxbridge Cricket Club is also based in Uxbridge and is a member of the Middlesex County Cricket League, a designated ECB Premier League. Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex has recently been refurbished and contains an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, an athletic track and large sports complex. The South Korean Olympic Team used the centre for training during the 2012 Olympic Games.

1850 to 1906

 * Charles Brown (1827–1905), engineer and inventor of the Brown valve gear, born in Uxbridge.
 * Annie Isherwood (1862–1906), Anglican nun and founder of the Community of the Resurrection in Grahamstown, Southern Africa, was born in Uxbridge.

20th century

 * Bernard Miles (1907–1991), actor, writer and director, attended Bishopshalt Grammar School and given a peerage.
 * Peggy Eileen Whistler (1909–1958), poet, novelist and illustrator who used the pseudonym Margiad Evans, born in Uxbridge,
 * Joan Dowling (1928–1954), actress, best known for her role in the first "Ealing Comedy" Hue and Cry, grew up in Uxbridge.
 * John Stears (1934–1999), Academy Award-winning creator of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 and Star Wars robots, born in Uxbridge.
 * Daniel Ivanov Bulgarian Long Jumper was born in Uxbridge
 * Christine Keeler (1942–2017), 1960s model, party to the 1963 Profumo affair, born in Uxbridge.
 * Rianna Dean (born 1998), footballer for Southampton

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Uxbridge


text:
Vauxhall

Vauxhall is an area in London and is located in the London Borough of Lambeth and is in Central London. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Vauxhall was a mixed industrial and residential area, of predominantly manual workers' homes, many demolished and replaced by Lambeth Council with social housing after the Second World War, and business premises, including large railway, gas, and water works. These industries contrasted with the mostly residential neighbouring districts of Kennington and Pimlico. As in neighbouring Battersea and Nine Elms, riverside redevelopment has converted most former industrial sites into residential properties and new office space.

Vauxhall has given its name to the Vauxhall Bridge, Vauxhall parliamentary constituency and Vauxhall Motors.

Geography
Vauxhall is 2.1 km south of Charing Cross and 1.5 km southwest of the actual centre of London at Frazier Street near Lambeth North tube station. Vauxhall is adjacent to the River Thames, on the opposite side of the river to Pimlico. To the north is the district of Lambeth and to the northeast is the district of Kennington, Lambeth, Stockwell, and the Patmore Estate are to the south of Vauxhall. Many of the roads of Vauxhall converge at an area known as Vauxhall Cross, where both Vauxhall station on the South West Main Line and the bus station are located. To the northeast of Vauxhall Cross is the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and to the southeast is the large Vauxhall Park.

Local politics
Vauxhall is located within the London Borough of Lambeth. It is within and also has given its name to the Vauxhall parliamentary constituency, represented by Florence Eshalomi since the General Election in 2019.

The subdistrict of Oval is located within the eastern part of Vauxhall Parliamentary constituency, but the Lambeth Council electoral ward for Vauxhall is named Oval. The ward has historically been a marginal ward, meaning candidates from either the Liberal Democrats or Labour are elected. As of the 2018 local elections, the ward is represented by three Labour Party councillors.

Since the 2014 Council Elections, Labour has held and won all 24 council seats in the Vauxhall constituency, doing the same in 2018. However, in the 2019 EU Elections, the Liberal Democrats won every ward in the constituency.

For the 2022 Lambeth London Borough Council election, the area became part of the Vauxhall ward.

Toponymy
For a list of street name toponymies in the district see Street names of Vauxhall.

The toponymy of Vauxhall is generally accepted to have originated in the late 13th century, from the name of Falkes de Breauté, the head of King John's mercenaries, who owned a large house in the area, which was referred to as Faulke's Hall, later Foxhall, and eventually Vauxhall. Samuel Pepys mentions "Fox Hall" in his diary on 23 June 1665: "....I took boat and to Fox Hall, where we spent two or three hours talking of several matters very soberly and contentfully to me, which, with the ayre and pleasure of the garden, was a great refreshment to me, and, ‘methinks, that which we ought to joy ourselves in." The area only became generally known by the name Vauxhall when the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened as a public attraction and movement across the Thames was facilitated by the opening of Westminster Bridge in the 1740s.

In the Russian language
Competing theories are given as to why the Russian word for a central railway station is вокзал (vokzal), which coincides with the canonical 19th-century transliteration of "Vauxhall". It has long been suggested that a Russian delegation visited the area to inspect the construction of the London & South Western Railway (L&SWR) in 1840, and mistook the name of the station for the generic name of the building type—a "vaux hall", as it were. This was further embellished into a story that Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, visiting London in 1844, was taken to see the trains at Vauxhall and made the same mistake. Alternatively, the locality of the L&SWR's original railway terminus, Nine Elms Station, was shown boldly and simply as "Vauxhall" in the 1841 Bradshaw timetable.

Both these explanations can probably be dismissed, since the first public railway in Russia had already been built by 1837. This line ran from Saint Petersburg via Tsarskoye Selo to Pavlovsk Palace, where extensive pleasure gardens had earlier been established. In 1838, a music and entertainment pavilion was constructed at the railway terminus. This pavilion was called the Vokzal in homage to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in London. The name soon came to be applied to the station itself, which was the gateway that most visitors used to enter the gardens. It later came to mean any substantial railway station building (a different Russian word, станция (stantsiya), is used for minor stations).

The word voksal (воксал) had been known in the Russian language with the meaning of "amusement park" long before the 1840s and may be found, e.g. in the poetry of Aleksandr Pushkin: На гуляньях иль в воксалах / Легким зефиром летал ("To Natalie" (1813): "At fêtes or in voksals, /I've been flitting like a gentle Zephyrus" [ here "Zephyrus" is an allegory of a gentle, warm and pleasant wind ]) According to Vasmer, the word is first attested in the Saint Petersburg Vedomosti for 1777 in the form фоксал, which may reflect the earlier English spelling of Fox Hall/Faukeshall. Englishman Michael Maddox established a Vauxhall Gardens in the Saint Petersburg suburbs (Pavlovsk) in 1783, with pleasure gardens, a small theatre/concert hall, and places for refreshment. Archdeacon William Coxe describes the place as a "sort of Vauxhall" in that year, in his Travels into Russia.

Early history
No mention of Vauxhall is made in the 1086 Domesday Book. The area originally formed part of the extensive manor of South Lambeth, which was held by the family of de Redvers, feudal barons of Plympton in Devon and Lords of the Isle of Wight. Falkes de Breauté acquired South Lambeth in 1216 when he married Margaret FitzGerold, widow of Baldwin de Redvers (son and heir apparent of William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon (d.1217)) and mother of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (1217-1245). Falkes de Breauté's lands reverted to the de Redvers family after his death in 1226. In 1293, South Lambeth and the manor of "la Sale Faukes" passed, probably by trickery, to King Edward I, who purchased several de Redvers lands (including the Lordship of the Isle of Wight) from Isabel de Forz, 8th Countess of Devon (1237-1293), sister and heiress of Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon (1236-1262), shortly before her death. In 1317 King Edward II granted the manor of Vauxhall, Surrey, to Sir Roger d'Amory for his "good services" at the Battle of Bannockburn.

From various accounts, three local roads – the South Lambeth Road, Clapham Road (previously Merton Road), and Wandsworth Road (previously Kingston Road) – were ancient and well-known routes to and from London.

Vauxhall was the south western terminus of the Civil War defences of London, thrown up by Londoners in 1642 to defend against Royalist incursions. A landmark fort was located at the present site of the Elephant and Castle public house (currently a Starbucks)

Development
The land was flat and parts were marshy and poorly drained by ditches, and only started to be developed with the draining of Lambeth Marsh in the mid-18th century, but remained a village. Prior to this, it provided market garden produce for the nearby City of London. Vauxhall Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge Road were opened in 1816. By 1860, the village had been subsumed by the town of Lambeth. Many of Vauxhall's streets were destroyed during the construction of the railway to London Waterloo via the Nine Elms to Waterloo Viaduct, by German bombing in World War II or ravaged through poor city planning.

Demography
The explosion in London property prices during the late 1990s and early 2000s has led to a boom in riverside construction, such as the large St George Wharf development by Vauxhall Bridge. This area is continuing to be redeveloped with several newbuilds under construction.

Several gentrified areas have developed, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market; however, 97% of housing stock in Vauxhall is flats, both conversions and purpose-built blocks. Vauxhall is also a popular residential area for members of parliament and civil servants due to its proximity to the Houses of Parliament and Whitehall; Kennington is within the area wired for the Commons' Division bell. Some 18th- and 19th-century properties also survive – most famously Bonnington Square, a community that emerged from the 1970s–1980s squat scene in London and remains as mostly housing co-operatives today.

Vauxhall is a very ethnically diverse area; 50% are white and 50% of residents originate from a non-white ethnic group. There is a significant Portuguese community, some with a connection to Madeira; many Portuguese restaurants and bars are located in South Lambeth Road and the surrounding area.

The 2021 census states the plurality of residents, 39.5% are Christians and 37.3% state that they do have a religion. The Muslim community consists of 9.3% of residents.

Economy
Much of the area in Vauxhall contains light industry, offices, and government buildings. Many companies and organisations were attracted in the past by Vauxhall's central location and comparatively cheap rent compared to Westminster on the other side of the river. In recent years, Vauxhall's riverside has undergone major redevelopment with the construction of a number of modern residential and office blocks, most notably the distinctive SIS Building at Vauxhall Cross. Also, a number of new commercial businesses have moved into the area.

Nightlife
Vauxhall is home to a number of gay bars and nightclubs, such as Fire, The Eagle, and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. The aforementioned Royal Vauxhall Tavern dates back to at least the late 19th century, and was for many years a traditional English music hall and cabaret venue. In recent years, the building has come under constant threat of buyout and demolition from property developers, as it stands alone on a prime piece of grassland adjacent to Vauxhall railway station. However, the pub was bought in 2004 by sympathetic owners who have announced, "business as usual".

Vauxhall was originally the home of the more underground gay clubs with the arrival of Crash in the 1990s. Over the years, more clubs and gay businesses have followed Crash's lead by opening up in the railway arches underneath the main line out of Waterloo station. One of the most notable venues to open in the area is Fire night club, which is located on Parry Street and currently occupies ten of the arches aforementioned. Fire was the scene of a drugs raid by the Metropolitan Police Service on 28 April 2007 where nine people were arrested. The tactics used in the raid (namely photographing all the persons leaving the venue) were strongly criticised by the gay press at the time.

Before Vauxhall earned its reputation as a gay village, it was regarded among the underground gay club scene as the place to go to avoid the more commercial nights elsewhere in central London. However, the market has become more and more lucrative with the arrival of more venues and more nights, and Vauxhall has been criticised as becoming increasingly commercial, diluting its once underground appeal. The demise of other club venues in London, such as Turnmills, the Astoria and The Fridge, have led to the gay club scene to become more centralised in Vauxhall, turning it into an alternative destination from Soho for gay people to socialise. Vauxhall has also become colloquially known as "Voho" (a portmanteau of the names Vauxhall and Soho) within the gay community, due to the emergence of Vauxhall as a gay village after Soho.

Entertainment in the Vauxhall area is not exclusively aimed at gay clientele; the oldest strip pub in London (the Queen Anne) sitting at Vauxhall Walk has now closed to be replaced with The Tea House Theatre, a 1940s-themed tea room.

Features
By Vauxhall Bridge stands the central headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (more commonly referred to as MI6), which occupies offices built between 1989 and 1992 and commonly referred to as Vauxhall Cross. Since 1992, a large complex of apartments and offices has been built to the south of Vauxhall Bridge at St George Wharf. Part of this development includes the St George Wharf Tower, completed in 2014.

The MI6 building has featured in several James Bond films, initially filmed without permission, but then condoned by then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook with his memorable "After all James Bond has done for Britain..." quip. It appears in GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough (wherein it suffers a fictional terrorist attack that prefigured a genuine incident), Die Another Day, Skyfall (where it also comes under a fictional terrorist attack), and Spectre (2015) (wherein it is demolished). Die Another Day featured a fictional London Underground station, Vauxhall Cross, a fictional closed stop on the Piccadilly line now employed by MI6 as an extension to its HQ. (In fact, the Piccadilly line does not come south of the river at all; only the Victoria line passes anywhere nearby, and the secret entrance to the station shown in the film is on the east side of Westminster Bridge, some considerable distance downriver.)

Vauxhall is also home to Brunswick House, a listed Georgian mansion and former home to the Dukes of Brunswick. Built in 1758, it once stood in three acres of riverside parkland; now it sits overshadowed by the St George Wharf complex. The building was in a state of disrepair and was on the English Heritage 'Buildings at Risk' list until the London Architectural Salvage and Supply Company acquired it in 2004 and restored it as a premises from which to sell architectural salvage. It also has a restaurant and is an events venue.

St Peter's Church, Vauxhall in Kennington Lane was designed by the 19th-century architect John Loughborough Pearson, who also designed Truro Cathedral and St John's Cathedral, Brisbane in Australia, as well as being responsible for restoration work at Rochester, Bristol, Peterborough, and Lincoln cathedrals. , the church building serves as a community centre and arts venue, as well as a church. Next to St Peter's is Vauxhall City Farm.

Transport
Vauxhall is well connected even by central London standards. London Underground, National Rail trains, and London buses are all available at Vauxhall station. The tube stop is on the boundary of zones 1 and 2 of the London Travelcard area on the Victoria line, and Northern line stations are within walking distance of many parts of Vauxhall, though the nearest is Nine Elms. The railway station is served by South Western Railway to and from London Waterloo, which is one stop away. Vauxhall bus station has 14 routes serving various parts of London. There is also a river bus service operated by Thames Clippers at Vauxhall (St George Wharf) Pier, enabling passengers to travel east to Greenwich and Barking, or west to Putney.

Vauxhall is one of London's most well-connected transport hubs, as the availability of underground, trains, and buses has given Vauxhall the highest possible PTAL rating of 6b at its centre.

In addition to public transport, Vauxhall is accessible by major roads and the Thames Path pedestrian and bicycle trail. Vauxhall also has two 17-space Santander Cycles docking stations and Cycle Superhighway 7 runs through the area.

Vauxhall Cross
Vauxhall Cross is immediately to the southeast of Vauxhall Bridge, where six major roads converge, including the Albert Embankment, which exits the Cross to the north and is the southernmost point of entry into the London congestion charge area. Vauxhall Cross was once described as "one of the most unpleasant road junctions in South London" in Nikolaus Pevsner's 1983 architectural guide to South London. Vauxhall Cross has since improved after a gradual redesign between 2002 to 2004, to accommodate a bus interchange linked to the Vauxhall mainline railway and tube stations, both of which are located to the southeastern end of the Cross.

Work has involved design changes to traffic lanes, improved pedestrian and cycle crossings, refurbishment of walkways beneath the mainline railway viaduct, and the construction of a bus station, completed in December 2004 featuring an undulating steel-frame canopy and ribbed steel walls. An interesting feature of the canopy is a series of photoelectric cells generating electricity to offset the energy used by the bus station.

Vauxhall Cross bus station will be redeveloped to create a new mixed-use development consisting of offices, hotels, and shopping areas. The project will be managed by Great Marlborough Estates and has an apparent budget of £600 million, and is estimated to make the developers over £45 million. Public consultation took place in 2016 but the project has been delayed.

Nearest tube stations

 * Vauxhall
 * Nine Elms
 * Kennington
 * Oval
 * Pimlico
 * Stockwell

Community facilities
Vauxhall Park contains an area of miniature model houses (also in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne) as well as tennis courts, day care in the "one o'clock club", and children's playground. It is open daily for recreation and has an "open day" once a year.

Vauxhall City Farm, located within Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens is open daily and contains a range of animals including alpacas, sheep, goats and pigs.

Vauxhall is the home of Vauxhall Gardens Estate Residents and Tenants Association (VGERTA) that represents 2,500 residents in Vauxhall Gardens Estate which is the biggest Presidents and Tenants Association in Lambeth. VGERTA and their committee has received a number of awards for their contributions to the local community. VGERTA's biggest success to date is the fundraising of £165,000 for the full regeneration of the Glasshouse Walk Playground that was successfully completed in July 2013.

title: Vauxhall


text:
Waddon

Waddon is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Croydon, at the western end of the town of Croydon. The area borders the London Borough of Sutton.

History
It is not known when the manor of Croydon was granted to the See of Canterbury, but it is thought of be before then end of the 9th century. The archbishop had lands in Croydon about 871. The Domesday Book shows it as part of the archbishop's lands held in demesne (for his own use). After a royal grant in the 13th century, Croydon became a market town. In 1276 Archbishop Robert Kilwardby obtained a grant of market in 1276. It was to be held every Friday and a nine-day fair was to be held on the vigil of St. Botolph the abbot (17 June). Waddon's name was first recorded in the twelfth century and derives from Old English meaning 'the hill where woad grows, or is grown'. Evidence of Bronze Age and Iron Age habitation have been found locally. Waddon has an older area with 19th-century properties, some even older, close to central Croydon. Further south is a large estate of Council-owned and former Council-owned homes and a small number of tower blocks. In the inter-war years Waddon had the most Croydon Corporation owned homes in Croydon with 1,125 council houses and 80 council flats.

The geographical area of Waddon extends further north than the political boundary of Waddon ward. Located in the Wandle river valley, one of the river's sources, Waddon Ponds, is a public open space. The Wandle has been deculverted in Wandle Park and in the New South Quarter development. Wandle Park, opened in 1890, has benefited from the Town and Country Planning Act 1990's Section 106 monies paid by property developers of the New South Quarter which have been used to refurbish the park. The River Bourne once flowed above ground through the South Mead, now Southbridge Road, and along Old Town where it joined the River Wandle. From the Middle Ages the Waddon Court Estate covered much of the area. Mills operated on the River Wandle which was used later to irrigate watercress beds as well as feed the lakes of Waddon Court.

The first incarnation of the Hare and Hounds public house opened in 1773, on what was then Waddon Marsh Lane. In the latter years of the 18th century Waddon Court's owner, John Dewye Parker, raised a volunteer corps of yeomen here, at his own expense, and "military evolutions were performed with the utmost precision, upon the lawn surrounding his mansion."

The Old Tithe Barn tithe barn was part of Waddon Court with the building opposite the Waddon Leisure Centre dating back to 1799. The building was later used as a barn within Coldharbour Farm. It was listed in 1990 and until 2007 was used by the now closed Grants Solicitors, the practice of the former Justice minister and MP for Maidstone & The Weald, Helen Grant. In August 2017 the local authority gave planning permission for the barn to be used for religious worship with the successful applicant being the O Farinloye Kingdom Heritage Christian Fellowship.

Waddon has a long history of industrial trades. The Croydon gasworks were built on Waddon Marsh in 1867. An electricity generating station opened in 1896. The opening of the Purley Way in 1925 prompted the building of a number of factories including for Redwing Aircraft Ltd., Trojan Ltd. (car manufacturers), Tizer Ltd, Standard Steel Co., Croydon Foundry Ltd. (1920), Metal Propellers Ltd., (1925) and Southern Foundries Ltd. (1926). Croydon Corporation built the Waddon pumping station in 1910–11 on the road now called Waddon Way.

A second power station – Croydon B – opened in 1950 eliminating the first of the watercress beds. First commissioned in 1947 and built by Croydon Corporation the power station was nationalised by the then Labour government.

Duppas Hill Terrace hosts the Elis David Almshouses, built in 1974 and officially opened on 25 March 1975 by Princess Alexandra. These almshouses replaced the original almshouses in Church Street and the Henry Smith 1896 almshouse in Scarbrook Road. The Elis David charity was founded in perpetuity by Elias Davy on 27 April 1447. The current site of the almshouses was previously that of Croydon's workhouse.

Duppas Hill was Croydon's first recreation ground. Croydon Board of Health bought land from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for £2,000 in 1865. The Whitgift Foundation state that the clay and bricks for the Whitgift almshouses came from Duppas Hill after Park Hill, Croydon bricks proved to be inferior. The timber for the Whitfgift almshouses came from Waddon ward's Haling Manor.

In 1931, Whitgift School moved to its current site in Haling Park, which was once home to Lord Howard of Effingham, the Lord High Admiral of the Fleet sent against the Spanish Armada.

St George's Church was built in the heart of the Waddon housing estate, being erected in 1932. The architects were W. Curtis Green, R.A. and Partners. With a capacity for 339 parishioners the structure cost £5,580 and the fittings, fees and other outgoings cost £1,307. Dressed in Portland stone and with a timber roof covered with tiles.

The former Croydon Airport is in south-west Waddon. The aerodrome was established in December 1915 for the defence of London. Land to the east of Plough Lane was requisitioned for testing by the National Aircraft Factory No.1 and was known as Waddon Aerodrome. In 1920 the Beddington and Waddon aerodromes became the main customs airport for London.

The international distress term "Mayday" was invented at Waddon's Croydon Airport. It was Croydon Airport senior radio officer Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897 – 1 March 1962) who was the originator of the uniform international distress signal.

The local community consequently suffered badly in traffic from a different European location in the Blitz bombing raids in World War II. An attack on 15 August 1940 marked the first civilian bombing with 62 civilian fatalities and 185 injured outside the airport. In addition two civilian telephone operators were injured.

Land and existing buildings in this area may be found to be subject to 20th century restrictive covenants preventing new construction above a certain height due to the proximity of the former airport, but those restrictions ought to be redundant by now, given that the airport has long since gone. The last commercial flight from the airport was in 1959. The imposing hotel which used to serve the airport remains to this day.

The South London Pirates are one of the most successful teams in the British Baseball Federation, playing at Roundshaw, on part of the old airport.

Running through Waddon, from Purley to the western reaches of Thornton Heath, is the Purley Way, the A23, home to many superstores and light industrial units. A bypass road was first muted in 1908 with the corporation's Roads Committee putting forward a full Thornton Heath to Purley relief road proposal in June 1911. Work commenced after the Great War in 1919 with the official opening in 1925. In 1932 the southern section of Purley Way was the first highway to benefit from sodium street lighting. The whole stretch benefitted from such lighting by 1936 with lights often strung over the centre of the highway.

Transport for London (TfL) consulted on altering junctions at Fiveways and at Croydon Road to improve traffic flows but COVID impacts on budgets have delayed any improvement.

Croydon council have undertaken consultations on allowing over 7,000 homes to be built along the Purley Way from Waddon Way to Broad Green, subject to investment at Fiveways and other local infrastructure.

The Purley Way saw an Art Deco building in the late 1930s at 606, Purley Way for cardboard packager Acme Corrugated Paper & Box. Co. Ltd.

Waddon's Purley Way also hosts the Waddon Leisure Centre at Fiveways junction with recently built facilities that include a 65 station gym, a 25-metre swimming pool, a learner pool, a sports hall, a cafe and 30 parking spaces. The new development was built on the site of the 1936-constructed public house "The Propeller Inn", a Barclay Perkins brewery interest. Demolished in 2006 the place had been a favourite with wartime RAF personnel at the airfield up the road.

Waddon has had two other swimming facilities on the Purley Way in the past. The open-air Purley Way Swimming Pool opened on 27 July 1935 and except for the war period was open until 1975. The diving platforms are retained within the site. In part replacement for these closed pools and those at Scarbrook Road in Old Town a "Water Palace" facility was built on Metropolitan Open Land opposite the old airport for the Conservative council and opened in 1990. Including wave machines the facility was closed by the first Labour-led council in 1996, citing dangerous and uneconomic conditions (a £500,000 a year loss) and dismissing Conservative accusations of an anti-south of the borough outlook. The district auditor criticised the closure decision as "poor value for money." The Highways Agency opposition slowed the sale of the site to the private sector.

The Water Palace site was replaced by the Colonnades shopping, food, sports club and bus terminal centre.

Waddon railway station is on the line between West Croydon railway station and Epsom Downs and Sutton. Waddon railway station opened on the Epsom branch of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1863. and was originally placed to the east of its current location. There are Tramlink stops at Waddon Marsh and Wandle Park. Opened in 2000 the tram greatly improved ease of access to Croydon compared to the poorly patronised Southern Railway line to Wimbledon.

The Waddon Hotel was built next to the original Waddon rail station with both buildings at that time situated in a rural environment. In 1928 opposite the hotel the Stafford Parade was completed and boasted a dairy, a grocery, a chemist's, a butcher's, a café and two banks.

Richardson's Joinery used to be by the pillars at the entry into The Waldrons. Victoria Place off Southbridge Place was replaced by Victoria House where Croydon's Educational Psychological Service and a Pupil Referral Unit was based. The site that became unused now has an Avanti primary school based on a Hindu faith ethos.

Politics
Politically, Waddon ward is a marginal ward on Croydon Council and has seen its representation swap between the Labour, Conservative and Ratepayers Parties since the late 1920s. With elections every year Labour took Waddon in 1929 and in 1937 and 1938 with RA candidates winning in the intervening years and also continuously from 1919 to 1928.

The first elections to the new London Borough of Croydon council in 1964 saw all three seats go to Labour. The Conservatives secured all three Waddon seats in the 1968 landslide for the Conservatives in London. 1971 saw Labour take all three seats back. 1974 saw Labour hold two of the three seats but there were Waddon by-election wins for the Conservatives both in 1976 and 1977 electing Councillors Jim Nea and Michael Wunn respectively.

In 1986, the ward representation was shared between the Conservatives with two councillors and Labour one councillor after the Conservatives had held all the seats both in 1978 and in the 1982 Conservative landslide when the only five seats held by Labour were in New Addington.

In 1990 and 1994, Labour won all three seats with the Conservatives falling to third place in an August 1993 by-election. In 1998, the ward returned one Labour and two Conservative councillors, one of whom defected to the Liberal Democrats.

In 2002, Labour recovered all three seats, albeit with one of the Labour candidates crossing the winning line with a majority of just eight votes. In the 2006 elections, Waddon returned three Conservative councillors. In 2010 the three Waddon council seats were retained by the Conservatives with Labour scoring its lowest vote share - 31.8% - during the existence of the post 1964 London Borough to Croydon. In 2014 the ward returned three Labour councillors, Robert Canning, Andrew Pelling & Joy Prince on a swing from the Conservatives to Labour of 7.1%. 2018 saw Labour retaining the three seats with an increased majority on the altered boundaries as detailed below.

In 2022 Labour held two of the three seats as it shed 2,035 votes. The other seat was taken by the Conservatives. The setback for Labour came after the financial collapse of the Labour council, none of the incumbent Labour councillors running again except that Andrew Pelling ran as an Independent. Pelling had been terminated as a Labour member for being pro having a Croydon Mayor, for speaking to the local press and for voting against a cut to council tax benefit. His 705 votes made it hard for either party to get all three party candidates elected. In July 2017, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England altered, subject to the formality of Parliamentary approval, the boundaries of the ward as from May 2018 so as to exclude roads including and surrounding Pampisford Road and Haling Park Road to the south of Whitgift School and to include some additional parts of what is geographically Waddon including retail and industrial areas to the south of Beddington Park Road, Wandle Park tramstop, the gasometers at Factory Lane, New South Quarter, Waddon Marsh tramstop, Wandle Park and properties between Wandle Park and the Roman Way.

Nearest places

 * Wallington, London
 * Beddington
 * Carshalton
 * Croydon
 * Purley

Nearest stations

 * Waddon railway station
 * South Croydon railway station
 * West Croydon station
 * Waddon Marsh tram stop
 * Wandle Park tram stop

title: Waddon