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Littleton, Colorado

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Southwest Arapahoe census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80120. It lies near Lee Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Littleton quadrangle. 45,652 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,351 feet above sea level.

Littleton within Arapahoe County

On record in Littleton

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 6 records

Population over time

3 figures

Littleton grew from 40,340 to 45,652 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
200040,340
201041,737+1,397 (+3%)
202045,652+3,915 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 21 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

753 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 753 fires within 5 miles of Littleton between 1996 and 2020, burning about 124 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 17 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined622
Smoking41
Equipment and vehicle use26
Arson/incendiarism17
Natural15
Recreation and ceremony11
Fireworks8
Debris and open burning5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWest Metro Fire RescueUNKNOWN
8 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
7 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreDenver Fire DepartmentN/A
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWest Metro Fire RescueN/A
5 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreDenver Fire DepartmentN/A
4 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreDenver Fire DepartmentN/A
4 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLittleton Fire RescueUNKNOWN
4 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLittleton Fire RescueUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Arapahoe County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 40 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 40 workings within 5 miles of Littleton: 15 occurrences, 12 unknowns, 12 producers, 1 past producer. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownClayProducer
Big Dry Creek PlacersGoldOccurrence1858
Big Dry Creek PlacersGoldUnknown
Central Construction PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Clarke PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Englewood PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Flanagan,Walt & Co.Inc.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Arapahoe County

Storms near this place

31 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Littleton in 31 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 22 hail, 5 lightning, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2018Flash FloodLittleton1 killed, $500,000Thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall, 1 to 2 inches in less than 30 minutes. At 4600 South Acoma, the floodwaters quickly inundated a basement apartment and trapped a 32-year-old woman inside. She was rescued, but died several hours later. |Floodwaters stalled several vehicles and forced the closure of several intersections including: East Iliff Ave. and South Chambers Road, Santa Fe Drive and West Oxford Ave., South Buckley Road and East Bates Ave., East 6th Ave. and South Picadilly Road, East Hampden Ave and South Uruvan Way. Flooding created a large sinkhole in Sheridan. A small SUV was fell into the hole. The driver was not injured. She escaped her vehicle before it was swallowed by the sinkhole.
August 2010LightningLittleton1 hurtA 14-year-old teenager was struck by lightning while washing her family's car. The bolt struck the street nearby; it then traveled up a stream of water flowing from the vehicle and hit the teenager. She received minor injuries.
July 2001HailLittleton$606,000The city of Littleton suffered $612,000 in damage to vehicles, roofs, buildings, landscaping and computers. Almost every vehicle owned by visitors and employees in the Littleton Center parking lot sustained damage.
June 1996LightningLittleton$1,000no account filed
July 2014Thunderstorm WindLittleton-An intense thunderstorm wind snapped tree branches, up to two inches in diameter.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindLittleton-Large tree branches, greater than two inches in diameter, were broken.
June 2003LightningLittleton-Lightning struck a feeder line, knocking out electricity to approximately 3000 residents.
July 1999LightningLittleton-Lightning struck two residences in Littleton, but caused only minor damage.
June 1997LightningLittleton-Lightning struck a home in Littleton. The house caught fire but a damage estimate was not available.
May 2023HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2023HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2023HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2018HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2005HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2004HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2004HailLittleton-no account filed
September 2004HailLittleton-no account filed
July 2002HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2001HailLittleton-no account filed
June 2001HailLittleton-no account filed
July 2001HailLittleton-no account filed
July 2001HailLittleton-no account filed
May 2000HailLittleton-no account filed
June 1999HailLittleton-no account filed
August 1999FloodLittleton-no account filed
June 1998HailLittleton-no account filed
May 1998HailLittleton-no account filed
June 1997HailLittleton-no account filed
June 1997HailLittleton-no account filed
June 1994HailLittleton-no account filed
May 1994HailLittleton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Arapahoe County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Columbine Valley1.2 miles21
Hillside Manor1.3 miles21
Columbine Lakes1.6 miles21
Ridgewood Park1.6 miles21
Goldenwest Park1.9 miles21
Coventry1.9 miles21
Bow Mar2.0 miles20
Columbine Heights2.1 miles21

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on LittletonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q953583The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 169446. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.