Best Web Design in Commerce City, CO (2026)

Web Design for Commerce City, Colorado

Commerce City is an industrial and increasingly residential city just north of Denver in Adams County, home to Colorado's only oil refinery and the state's Major League Soccer stadium. Its name is literal: it grew up as a rail-and-highway junction built for commerce and heavy industry. Most surprisingly, the city holds the largest urban wildlife refuge in the United States on land that once manufactured chemical weapons.

AppWT works with Commerce City, CO businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Commerce City

Also known as. C3 (the city's own shorthand and brand, used in its logo and website c3gov.com). Commerce Town (its original 1952 incorporated name before it grew into a city).

History. The area was first settled in 1859 when John D. 'Colonel Jack' Henderson built a ranch, trading post and hotel on Henderson Island in the South Platte River, selling provisions to gold seekers during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. Several small 19th-century towns preceded the city: Derby (a Burlington Railroad station in 1887, platted 1889), Irondale (settled 1889 and named for a foundry, incorporated 1924), and Adams City (platted 1903 in a failed bid to become the county seat, which went to Brighton in 1904). The land was part of the old Arapahoe County until Adams County was created in 1902. In July 1952 residents voted 251 to 24 to incorporate 'Commerce Town,' comprising neighborhoods such as Rose Hill and southern Adams City. Commerce Town annexed part of Derby in 1962, more than quadrupling its population and qualifying it to become 'Commerce City.' In April 2007 residents voted more than 2-to-1 to keep the name 'Commerce City' rather than rebrand. The population grew about 36% between 2010 and 2020, reaching 62,418.

Local economy. The Suncor Energy refinery is the dominant employer and Colorado's only refinery, with roughly 98,000 barrels-per-day capacity; Suncor consolidated two older refineries acquired from ConocoPhillips (2003) and Valero (2005). Suncor's $445 million 'Project Odyssey' upgrade, completed in June 2006, let the plant process Canadian oil-sands crude and meet EPA diesel sulfur limits. The city's identity is rooted in being a rail and highway junction and a hub for commercial and industrial activity, which is where its descriptive name comes from. Dick's Sporting Goods Park and its surrounding sports complex anchor the newer sports-and-entertainment economy.

Culture and community. The Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, which opened in 2007 as the team's third home venue. The Commerce City Memorial Day Parade is one of Colorado's largest Memorial Day events, marking its 60th year in 2026, followed by a community celebration with food trucks, family activities and live music. The city maintains about 840 acres of parks and open space linked by roughly 25 miles of trails.

What makes Commerce City distinct. The wildlife refuge was formerly the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, a WWII and Cold War chemical-weapons plant that produced mustard gas, lewisite, napalm, white phosphorus and sarin nerve agent until 1969, and became a Superfund site in 1984. The land's transformation began in 1986 when a winter roost of bald eagles, then an endangered species, was discovered on the abandoned, contaminated site; cleanup was declared complete in 2010 and the land was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Notable figures from the city include former Colorado Lieutenant Governor Joe Rogers and state legislator Dominick Moreno.

Commerce City Landmarks and Local Life

• Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge - the largest land-based urban wildlife refuge in the United States at about 27 square miles, with its only entrance in Commerce City; it hosts bison, deer, coyotes, bald eagles and more than 330 wildlife species
• Dick's Sporting Goods Park - the soccer-specific stadium and multi-field complex home to the Colorado Rapids