Big Rentz, a company that leases construction equipment, sent us the results of a survey that asked Americans if they could recognize four major cities without their most iconic skyscrapers. Between Denver, St. Louis, Chicago and Seattle, Denver was the most recognizable.
There could be an easy explanation. Though the company 'shopped out Republic Plaza and the Wells Fargo Center (AKA the "Cash Register Building"), the image does show snow capped mountains in the background.
Of the 1,001 responses to the altered Denver image, 127 (or 13 percent) thought our fine city was Las Vegas. To be fair, Vegas has some mountains behind its skyline, but they look more like Mars than the Rockies. (For the record, Mt. Charleston, which can be seen from the Las Vegas strip, does get snow.)
The remainder of the DenverWrongs thought our fine city was either Minneapolis or Kansas City which, by virtue of a quick search, turn out to be pretty mountain-less.
The DenverWrongs tended mostly to be from Nevada, Alabama, Ohio and California. 100 percent of people from Louisiana (three) got the question wrong. About 40 percent of respondents from Nevada and Alabama (each totaling ten) also were wrong.
One person from Colorado thought the city was Minneapolis.
DenverRights (see what I did there?) tended to hail from New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Oklahoma, to name a few.
BigRentz's analysis said it's obvious that Denver's identity, at least on the national level, is not shaped by its downtown, adding: "Whether taller buildings will make Denver's skyline more iconic remains to be seen."
