Other gold deposits were found in surrounding gulches. Quickly, mining camps grew in Springfield, Bortonsburg, Missouri City, Nevada City, Dog Town, Eureka, Russell Gulch, Lake Gulch, Black Hawk Point, Chase's Gulch and Enterprise City. By July 1859, between 20,000 and 30,000 people were living in and around Gregory Gulch.

The stories of the gold strikes in Gilpin County were astounding. The Rocky Mountain News claimed that almost 2 million dollars in gold dust had been taken from the county by the end of 1858.

From 1859 through 1866, Central City was the most important town in Colorado Territory. Central City became the county seat when Gilpin County was organized in 1861.

The stage coach arrived to Gilpin County in 1860, with the Western Stage Company running daily from Denver to Mountain City. The ride greatly improved transportation time; by stage, it took seven to eight hours, whereas the journey had taken three to four days the previous year.

In addition to transportation, technology helped the booming gold fields. Nathaniel P. Hill, a Professor at Brown University, developed a smelting process that rid the ore of most of its impurities. This process produced a concentrate of copper, gold and silver that could be separated and refined. In 1867, Hill began the Boston & Colorado Smelting Company in Black Hawk, which resulted in a construction “boom” in the area.

In the 1870s, Central City was the most important city in the territory. In 1871, the City had 13 blacksmiths, 5 boarding houses, 10 butchers, 1 dentist, 4 drugstores, 12 grocery stores, 18 lawyers, 7 physicians, 11 shoemakers and 5 tailors.

Before 1873, most buildings were constructed of wood. In January 1873, a fire destroyed sixteen buildings on Lawrence Street, below Raynolds' Court, which stopped the fire from spreading further east. Then, on May 21, 1874, a fire started in Dostal Alley, behind Main Street. The fire destroyed about 150 buildings in the downtown area. The loss was estimated to be about $500,000.

As a result of the fire's destruction of the business district, the city was able to widen and straighten the streets. The community also planned for a more substantial city than the one that burned.

This rebuilding of the city resulted in the downtown business district that exists today.
By 1880, Central City began a period of relative stability that lasted about twenty years. By 1890, Gilpin County’s boom was over. During the 1880s Gilpin County's share of mineral production dropped to 1/10th and by the 1890s it was only 1/20th of Colorado's total production.

The first evidence of Central City's decline was in 1881, when the Tabor Grand Opera House opened in Denver. This immediately displaced the Opera House in Central City as the leading show house in the state.

Population shifts also occurred. Many entrepreneurs, business men and prominent citizens moved their offices and homes from Central City to Denver. Many prominent citizens of Central also began moving to Denver in 1878.

From the mid 1880s to the beginning of World War I, the relationship between the price of gold and the price of other commodities was favorable to gold. In the early 1900s, gold production began to decline, as the mines got so deep that it was too expensive to continue mining and inflation caused the price of other commodities to rise while the value of gold stayed constant.

By 1920, the value of gold had dropped dramatically in relation to other commodities. As a result, most mines in this area suspended operations, businesses closed, and Central City’s population dropped from 3,114 in 1900 to 553 in 1920.
During the 1910s and 1920s, many frame houses in Central City, Black Hawk and Nevadaville were torn down. The lumber was taken to other parts of the state for construction of new residences.

During the 1930s there was some recovery in mining due to cheap labor from men out of work because of the depression and an increase in the price of gold from $20 to $35 per ounce.

In 1932, the Central City Opera House Association (CCOHA) began producing summer festivals. This activity also stimulated interest in Central City. Many people began buying old residences for summer and week-end retreats. This brought a small economic revival to the area.

After World War II, some mines occasionally reopened, then, like old soldiers, they faded away. There are still vast quantities of gold ore beneath the surface of Central and the surrounding area. However, it is not economically feasible, in most cases, to extract it.

In 1989, a group of Centralites formed Central City Preservation Incorporated (CCPI) and its political action arm, Preservation Initiative Committee (PIC). They began working toward the legalization of limited gambling as a way of attracting tourists back to Central City.

On November 6, 1990, the voters of Colorado approved