The town of Irondale which is now part of Commerce City, was laid out in 1889. Early maps referred to it as Ironton because of the stove factory that was opened in 1890 by a man named Charles Kibler, Jr.

Kibler Stove Works consisted of four big brick buildings. "The Kibler Stove Factory began the year by starting their plant at Irondale." A Rocky Mountain News article in 1890 stated. "The capitol invested is $150,000. One hundred men will be employed and when the busy season arrives the force will be increased to 200. The company will operate its own patents. Two hundred stoves will be the product. They will be modeled in all designs, ornamental and practical. Furnaces will also be made. The wages will average from $4 to $5 a day. The monthly pay roll will amount to about $12,000 from the start. Six travelers will represent the firm in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, Texas, Utah and Idaho. The only competitors west of the Mississippi are at Leavenworth, Kansas." Kibler owned and operated another stove company in Newark, Ohio.

An interesting book "The Forgotten Past of Adams County" Volume II written by students of Thornton High School and printed by Adams County School District 12 in 1978, contains a picture of the Kibler Stove Works with mountains behind it and a train in front. The factory was huge. The book is available at the Adams County Museum.

The Kibler Stove Works, in spite of its good start went out of business in 1893.

Adams County, Crossroads of the West (Volume II) by Albin Wagner, also available at the Adams County Museum, relates that the area between the Union Pacific and Burlington Railroads and Irondale and Dupont Roads was incorporated as the Town of Irondale in an election held at the Irondale School on October 24, 1924. The town government was organized in 1926 and Charles Black was elected the mayor of the new town. Trustees were Nettie Bruce, E. Sebastiana, P. Palambo, Carl Faller, A. D'Andrea and M. Salmonese.

Irondale was called the City of Homes, but portions of the townsite were later vacated. In the 1930's an election was held and the town was unincorporated.

223 acres of Irondale, from 80th to 88th Avenue, and from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks east to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, were annexed into Commerce City in 1985. An interesting note was that Bill Holshue, owner of the 88th Avenue Drive-In Theater protested the annexation because he learned that 88th Avenue would be expanded to a four lane highway with direct access to an expanded Stapleton International Airport east of the Arsenal.

Time hasn't changed much since 1985 because 88th Avenue is still a two lane highway, and the 88th Avenue Drive-In Theater is a thriving summer business.