Denver's Washington Park

By Sarah O. McCarthy

In the Rocky Mountain West, Denver is considered the big city. Yet its urban core consists of numerous neighborhoods developed in the late 19th century that act today as virtual small towns. South-central Denver’s Washington Park is one of those “small towns,” and its name refers both to a 166-acre historic park and to the surrounding blend of residential and commercial neighborhoods. Cited as a model for new urbanism, this area serves as an enduring example of the City Beautiful movement. Touted in the late 19th century for its “rapid transit,” clean air, and pure water, the area once known as Broadway Terrace, Myrtle Hill, and the Miracle Mile of South Denver continues to serve as a recreational mecca for Denverites. Over a span of 100 years, it has transformed from prairie to potato fields to “posh.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Mar 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439644874

Sarah O. McCarthy

Sarah O. McCarthy, a 30-year neighborhood activist of Washington Park, utilizes her preservation knowledge to generate this collection of local images that celebrates this “small town” and enlivens the spirit inherent in the people, places, and events that have defined this community since the 1880s.

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INTRODUCTION

One and a half centuries ago, groups of white men headed west, either to find gold or to supply the hopeful miners with the goods and services they would need. They learned the hard lessons of settling near Colorado’s seemingly placid creeks and rivers. Four miles southeast of the junction of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek is high ground; this land area became South Denver in the 1880s and is generally known today as Washington Park. For the purposes of this book, the boundaries of inclusion start in the northwest at Broadway and the Cherry Creek, proceed south along Broadway to what is now Interstate 25 (formerly part of the Denver & New Orleans Railroad route), travel east along this corridor to University Boulevard, and proceed north to Cherry Creek.

In the early 1860s, three men who would be instrumental in establishing South Denver’s community culture and quality of life settled along the banks of the South Platte River with their families. William N. Byers, John W. Smith, and Rufus Clark, among others, worked to resolve the issue of getting water to areas east of the Platte River by completing Smith’s Ditch, which allowed newcomers to make their homes and lives here.

After Smith finished his 25-mile-long, meandering ditch that allowed Clark to plant fields of potatoes on land irrigated by ditch water, others took it upon themselves to relieve congestion on the Santa Fe Trail, the only improved route from the south to Denver. Local farmers carved out a new route, Broadway. Once the busiest roadway in Colorado, it extends more than 20 miles from north to south and serves as the east-west divider in the burgeoning Denver metropolitan area. With Broadway graded, a bridge was needed to cross Cherry Creek. Again, it was local residents—not the county or city government—that took action, laying planks that repeatedly got washed away in periodic floods.

Most of the men and women establishing their homes in what became South Denver were shop or factory owners—not the same class of people who built mansions on Capitol Hill. These were typical businessmen and -women who lived where they worked, favored clean air and pure water, and developed ways to sustain the desired quality of life that benefitted others as much as themselves. To many in the South Broadway Union Club or the South Side Improvement Society, that meant no liquor establishments. These were people who took initiative when the vitality and desirability of their community was threatened. They planted trees beside the roads, started a town government, established school districts, and made plans for a central park.

The area closest to Broadway, viewed in chapter one, developed first with homes, businesses, schools, and churches. As the decades passed, the development kept moving east and south. Chapter two follows the lines of that progression. For 40 years, the neighborhoods surrounding Washington Park were grateful recipients of the public investment implementing Denver’s version of the City Beautiful Movement, which was fostered early in the 20th century by Mayor Speer. Many elements of the movement remain evident in and around the park and continue to benefit current residents. There is a strong sense of community in these neighborhoods. The history, traditions, rituals, and rivalries alive in South High School contribute to the sense of belonging that is palpable today in this virtual small town.

The high ground near the few natural local waterways, the mountain views, and the central location as Denver developed in all four directions have made Washington Park a desirable place to live for 130 years. With popularity come pressures, and not all times have been good in this community of neighborhoods. There were shenanigans along the way, beginning in the 1880s. There have been questionable election results as well as preferential treatment or plum appointments for people with friends in the right places. A firehouse and other structures have been demolished in the dark of night, residential streets have been converted to thoroughfares of speeding cars over one weekend, and zoning changes have pitted neighbor against neighbor and the ever-present developer. Yet, on the whole, most of the residents have flourished from the efforts of South Denver activists and made a good life here (except, perhaps, for liquor establishments).

Life is a series of interconnected stories about who we are, where we come from, and what it takes to survive. It is not easy to tell the story of 130 years of activism in fewer than 130 pages; however, these snapshots will hopefully instill in the reader a sense of the power and influence that comes of taking action as well as its enduring impact on a community’s quality of life.

One

BROADWAY TERRACE

Montana City was settled along the east bank of the Platte River around 1858 but was quickly abandoned. John W. Smith soon collaborated with Rufus Clark in the area east of the Platte to grow produce. The building of the short-lived National Mining & Exposition Hall brought attention, early development efforts, and saloons to the open land south of Cherry Creek. Nascent Broadway early became the route for pioneering rapid transit efforts that started with horsecar service.

Businessmen of smaller enterprises chose to move south of Cherry Creek. This merchant class, not as wealthy as the mansion builders of Capitol Hill, erected smaller, less palatial—but still elaborate—homes. However, very soon, commerce moved down Broadway, replacing these residences with business frontages and shops. As development pushed east, subsequent building in a mix of architectural styles now makes these neighborhoods walkable and interesting places to live and work. There were Queen Anne, Denver Square, Cottage, and eventually Bungalow edifices built in what became the neighborhoods near Washington Park.

William Byers, cofounder of the Rocky Mountain News, settled along the Platte bottom and was