The capital of Colorado ranks first among American cities where life is good. Economic dynamism, unemployment almost non-existent, good universities, prestigious football team... the list of its assets never ends. Denver City, Colorado. The Queen City of the Plains collects 9.9 out of 10 in the US News Desirability Index 2016, the annual survey that rates American cities based on the number of people who say they would like to live there. It's hard to do better than that. The capital and largest city in Colorado, Denver currently has 693,060 residents and was founded on November 17, 1858, on former Kansas territory. At that time, gold prospectors from Lawrence, Kansas, created a small mining town called Montana City along the South Platte River on land that later became Denver. This small town was abandoned in 1859 in favour of Auraria, located in the same area. The administrative and economic capital of the state, Denver takes advantage of the remoteness of other major cities to attract investors and develop. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metropolitan area generated a GDP of $193,200,000,000 in 2016. Denver is the central distribution point for goods and services in the Rocky Mountains, home to Lockheed Martin (aerospace and defence), United Airlines (air transportation), federal governments, energy and telecommunications companies and conference centres. Aided by a small local tax of 0.1% created in 1988 to finance culture and its facilities, artists in and around Denver benefit from several dedicated museums and exhibition halls (Denver Art Museum. Performing Art Center). In addition to these few cultural spaces, Denver is home to an amusement park, the Elitch Gardens Theme Park which occupies 260,000 m² and has 53 attractions. Musically, the city has seen artists such as Miles Davis, Billie Hollyday, and Duke Ellington in its bars, while Queen and Led Zeppelin began their tours in North America in Denver; the city has several concert halls. These include the Filmore Auditorium (5100 seats), the Boettcher Concert Hall (2679 seats), the Ellie Caulkins Opera House (2225 seats), the Ogden theater (1600 seats) and the Bluebird Theater (550 seats).