Cañon City is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 17,141 at the 2020 United States Census. Cañon City is the principal city of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and is a part of the Front Range Urban Corridor. Cañon City straddles the easterly flowing Arkansas River and is a popular tourist destination for sightseeing, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing. The city is known for its many public parks, fossil discoveries, Skyline Drive, The Royal Gorge railroad, the Royal Gorge, and extensive natural hiking paths. In 1994, the United States Board on Geographic Names approved adding the tilde to the official name of Cañon City, a change from Canon City as the official name in its decisions of 1906 and 1975. It is one of the few U.S. cities to have the Spanish Ñ in its name, others being La Cañada Flintridge, California; Española, New Mexico; Peñasco, New Mexico; and Peñitas, Texas.
Downtown Cañon City, 2010
Bird's eye view of dwellings, commercial and civic buildings between the Arkansas River and mountains in This drawing of Canon City, Colorado, 1882.
Located in Cañon City's National Historic District, the St. Cloud Hotel has stood at the corner of 7th and Main since 1888. It is currently unoccupied and in disrepair after a string of failed attempts to revive the business. The hotel was moved, brick by brick, from Silver Cliff, Colorado, in 1888.
Royal Gorge Bridge in 1987
Fremont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,939. The county seat is Cañon City. The county is named for 19th-century explorer and presidential candidate John C. Frémont.
Cañon City Municipal Building
