Lakewood is a Home Rule Municipality that is the most populous city in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Lakewood is the fourth most populous city in the State of Colorado and the 172nd most populous city in the United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that in 2009-07-01 the population of the City of Lakewood was 141,943 . Lakewood is west of Denver and is part of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area.Before incorporation in 1969, Lakewood was a community with policing provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff, a volunteer fire service, and with few street lights and sidewalks. The City of Lakewood was incorporated in 1969. At the time of incorporation the city population was already over 90,000.The urban/suburban development of the community known as Lakewood was begun in 1889 by Charles Welch and W.A.H. Loveland, who platted a 13-block area along Colfax Avenue west of Denver in eastern Jefferson County. Loveland, the former president of the Colorado Central Railroad, retired to the new community of Lakewood after many years of living in nearby Golden.Lakewood also houses Lakewood High School, ranked number one in the state by Newsweek, and the only International Baccalaureate school in Jefferson County. Lakewood is also home to Colorado Christian University.