Central City is a home rule municipality located in Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, Colorado, United States.

[5] The city is a historic mining settlement founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush and came to be known as the "Richest Square Mile on Earth".

The city is now a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.

[8] By 1860, as many as 10,000 prospectors had flocked to the town, then known as Mountain City,[9] and surrounding prospects, but most soon left, many returning east.

Of 125 miners signing a union resolution in Central City, about fifty broke windows and doors at the Bob Tail mine, forcing other workers out.

After a night of shooting and fighting, the union effort among Central City miners failed.

[11] Many Chinese immigrants lived in Central City during the early days working the placer deposits of Gregory Gulch.

The frontier gambler Poker Alice lived for a time in Central City and several other Colorado mining communities.

[12] Gold mining in the Central City district decreased rapidly between 1900 and 1920, as the veins were exhausted.

To compete, Central City has recently eliminated height restrictions for building on undeveloped land.