The Federal Center is in the city of Lakewood, which was incorporated on June 24, 1969.   Since then, Lakewood has grown to become Colorado's fourth-largest city, yet still retains much of its small-town flavor and open space.   With more than 6,500 acres of park land and about 135,000 residents, the city has one of the highest ratios of  parks and recreation facilities per capita in the country.

By the 1970s, urban growth is moving west and has almost surrounded the Federal Center.   Sixth Avenue, the road along the right edge of the color photo, is now a major East-West highway.   Development along Union Avenue, just outside the west edge of the Federal Center is beginning.   Houses begin creeping up Green Mountain, just SW of the Federal Center.  

Building 810, in the SW corner of the Federal Center (large white-roofed structure - upper left portion of color photo) was once the largest warehouse west of the Mississippi River and in 1965 was state-of-the-art and fully automated.   It contained all the supplies needed to service all government facilities for the Government Services Administration (GSA).   Today, Building 810 is the home of several operations for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), including the distribution facility for all the USGS topographic maps and publications and the storage facilities for all geologic and ice core samples drilled from around of the world.