Firestone, Colorado
Near Boulder, Colorado
Firestone began in nineteen oh seven when Ohio investors bought out the Denslow Coal and Land Company and established the Firestone Coal Company in southwestern Weld County. They named the town for Jacob Firestone, one of the principals. Coal had already been coming out of this ground since eighteen seventy-two, when the McKissick brothers opened what became Colorado's first production coal mine nearby.
At its peak, five mines operated around Firestone, and the Grant Mine alone produced more than two million tons. Mining ran until nineteen forty-seven. The town incorporated in nineteen oh eight and stayed small and quiet for most of the twentieth century until the natural gas industry arrived.
Today Firestone is a fast-growing Denver suburb, its coal heritage preserved mainly in the names of a few old streets.
