The Broomfield post office opened on September 26, 1884. Historians speculate that the town was named for the
sorghum grown in the area, also known as broomcorn, which had stalks that were sold to make brooms and whisk brooms. Several railroads figure in the development of this area. The
Colorado Central Railroad built a
narrow-gauge line from
Golden in 1873; the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad arrived in 1881; and the Denver, Marshall and Boulder Railway built a line through what is now Broomfield in 1886. The Denver, Utah and Pacific was widened to
standard gauge in 1889. One of the early names for the area was Zang's Spur, after the railroad spur serving Adolph Zang's grain fields. The
Denver–Boulder Turnpike was constructed through the Broomfield area to speed automobile travel between the state capital of
Denver and the university city of
Boulder. Construction of the
toll road began in 1950 and the turnpike was opened to traffic on January 19, 1952, with the sole toll plaza at Broomfield with access to
U.S. Route 287 through the town. The toll to travel from
Federal Boulevard in
Adams County to Broomfield was 10 cents and the toll from Broomfield to Boulder was 15 cents, or 25 cents for the whole route. City leaders felt increasing chagrin with the need to deal with four different county governments, four separate county sales tax bases, and four separate court districts. They began pushing to make Broomfield a consolidated city-county similar to
Denver, reasoning that they could provide services more responsively if Broomfield had its own county government. The city sought an amendment to the
state constitution to create a new county. The amendment was passed in 1998, after which a three-year transition period followed. On November 15, 2001, Broomfield County became the 64th and least extensive
county of Colorado. It is the newest county in Colorado (and in the entire United States, if
county equivalents are not included). ==Geography==