Editing Florence, Colorado (section)

==History==
{{See also|Early history of Fremont County, Colorado}}

Florence was built as a transportation center, with three railroads including a small railroad depot for the trains that hauled coal from the neighboring towns of [[Rockvale, Colorado|Rockvale]] and [[Coal Creek, Fremont County, Colorado|Coal Creek]]. After a small oil was discovered north of Canon City at [[Oil Spring]], commercial quantity oil was discovered in Florence in 1862,  Florence became the first significant oil center west of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]]. In the early 1880s the town grew rapidly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.florencecoloradochamber.com/community-history|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107182105/http://www.florencecoloradochamber.com/community-history|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2011|title=Community History|publisher=Florence Colorado|access-date=July 12, 2012}}</ref> The city was named after Florence, the daughter of local settler James McCandless.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dawson|first=John Frank|title=Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin|year=1954|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015051116740;view=1up;seq=27|publisher=The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co.|location=Denver, CO|page=21}}</ref> The town was incorporated in 1887.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.city-data.com/city/Florence-Colorado.html|title=Florence, Colorado |publisher=City-Data.com|access-date=July 12, 2012}}</ref>

The [[Downtown Florence Historic District (Florence, Colorado)|Downtown Florence Historic District]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2017.
[[File:Downtown Florence Historic District.JPG|left|thumb|Downtown Florence, in 2017]]