DenverUrbanism!

For my regular readers over the past three years or so, I am still posting periodic blogs but have joined up with the best of Denver's urban bloggers over at DenverUrbanism.com

Check out all of the great information at that site on urban planning, historic preservation, urban renewal, infrastructure development and associated topics: all with a focus on Denver and environs.

I may still post a longer blog or two here but most of my shorter posts will be over at that site and cover topics on Denver's past, just like here.

However, please continue to email me all of your great questions to denverhistorytours@gmail.com

Otherwise, see you at denverurbanism.com

Shawn Snow

Early Denver Homes: 2222 Champa

One of my hobbies is collecting early Denver related ephemera such as post cards and pictorial tour booklets. A few years back, I purchased a circa 1890 booklet entitled "Souvenir Album of Denver, Colorado". In it are drawings of numerous buildings around town, including the houses of the prominent citizens of Denver. Most of these houses were in downtown proper or close by. Doing the research on even one house takes a while but here's what I found out about 2222 Champa, the home shown above.

This lovely Second Empire house was the residence of Wolfe Londoner, Mayor of Denver. He was elected in 1889. His detractors immediately accused him of ballot stuffing and corruption. The Rocky Mountain News stated the election to be "the most disgraceful in the history of Denver politics, corrupt as they have been before." This seems to imply that although previous elections were corrupt, this one took the cake. Saloon owners and other unsavory proprietors such as Ed Chase, Soapy Smith and Bat Masterson were said to have perpetuated and encouraged this corrupt behavior. Subsequent investigations led to Mr. Londoner's removal from office in 1891 just before he was to finish his term as mayor. He has been the only mayor to be removed from office.

Wolfe Londoner

One can imagine the mayor riding his carriage over to City Hall at 14th and Larimer. Or perhaps he took the Curtis or Stout streetcar into downtown. His home at 2222 Champa was among many nice homes in the southern reaches of what we now call the "greater" Curtis Park neighborhood. At the turn of the last century, the thought of this area succumbing to the ravages of growing urbanism would have been unthinkable.

But the march of the 20th century radically changed this part of downtown. Today, the lots where the house once stood sit within the city of Denver's planning area known as Arapahoe Square. The area has among the highest concentrations of parking lots in the city. The homes that once stood here were demolished for business uses or parking lots. Only a few original houses remain in this Arapahoe Square area, mostly along adjacent Stout Street...and they are in very sorry shape. For the mayor's lot, Nate's Import Service and the adjacent parking lot now occupy the space, with an address of 2218 Champa. Investigation of the Sanborn Insurance Maps of 1890 indicate that Mayor Londoner had a double lot with the house sitting mostly upon today's parking lot with Nate's Import Service now occupying what was once part of the yard.

Mayor Londoner's home was demolished in 1940. Records and newspaper evidence indicate the home was constructed in 1878. The area near the home had begun a long decline after the Broadway road extension was put through in 1909. This endeavor sliced through the whole neighborhood and resulted in numerous demolitions. Even prior to that, the area's residential character was called into question as the house on the corner was replaced in 1904 by the Moratto Block (a building which remains).

The Londoner Home May 1, 1909
From the Denver Republican p. 12. The article talked about the declining property values caused by the extension of Broadway through the neighborhood, less than a block from Londoner's home.

These two clips come from the Denver Post, April 2, 1940

Pictures from the modern era in the 2200 block of Champa follow below:

The Moratto Block is the building that sits on the corner. For many years during the middle 20th century to circa 2000, various bohemian coffee shops occupied its walls, including Muddy's Java Cafe. Nate's Import Service is the building north of the Moratto Block.

This parking lot and Nate's Import Service, 2218 Champa, sit on the site of the former Londoner Mansion and yard. In the rear of the photo, you can view the back of one of the few remnant homes on this area south of Park Avenue. That home faces Stout Street.

Nate's was built in 1935 as an auto service garage. Its footprint encroached well into the yard of the former Londoner Mansion, leading to the home's demolition in 1940 as the residential character of this portion of Denver began to change more dramatically.

A front view of Nate's, 2218 Champa.

A close-up of Nate's with the Moratto Block in the rear.

Seeing this type of urban change over time is but one example of the amazing diversity and plethora of housing that once existed all the way from 1st Street up to 44th Street in what we now call downtown Denver. All of the housing in the current Central Business District is long gone except for the Curry-Chucovich-Gerash House at 1439 Court Place. Between 20th and 23rd Streets (Park Ave), very little housing remains. This is what makes all of the homes that make up the Curtis Park Historic District so miraculous. These old homes survived to the present day. Places like the Londoner home though are not among the survivors. Many other amazing architectural wonders were also lost. This bit of research on one such home offers a window into this lost past.

Historic Denver Brands

A summer of research has turned up some interesting advertisements from Denver's past. Taking a bit of a diversion from my normal building related posts, here are some ads from a Broadway Theater program dated January 22, 1906.

The beautiful Broadway Theater used to be located at 1756 Broadway across from the Brown Palace Hotel. It was demolished in 1955. This showplace featured numerous acts over the years.

While we lament the awful destruction of the Broadway, we can live it again (sort of) by looking at these fun ads:

This ad came out before the Daniels and Fisher Company had built its signature clock tower and flagship department store at 16th and Arapahoe. Daniels and Fisher used to be located nearby at 16th and Curtis.

The University of Denver started out its life as the Colorado Seminary in 1864. It was founded by our second territorial governor, John Evans. Dr. Evans' house stood across the street from DU until 1910 when it was demolished to make way for the Denver Tramway headquarters (today's Hotel Teatro).

The Oxford is one of two downtown hotels still in public use from Denver's early years. The other is the Brown Palace. The other 48 or so privatly run hotels have mostly been demolished over the years although a few of the buildings remain standing even though their uses have changed.

If you have been to Dixon's Downtown Grill at 1610 16th Street, you may have noticed the Solitaire name in the windows. This grocery brand was sold and produced by the Morey Mercantile Company which used both the Henry Lee building where Dixon's is now located as well as the adjacent Tattered Cover Bookstore, built originally for the Morey Mercantile Company.

Ah, Baur's. This Denver institution of candy and ice cream started in 1872 and nearly lasted one century before caving into urban renewal downtown. With much of its 20th century business related to the theater crowd located on Curtis Street, the continual closure and removal of these theaters after WWII led to Baur's demise. It relocated to the Cherry Creek Shopping Center around 1955 and was closed down completely by 1970. Today however, the name and sign live on in the same building at 1512 Curtis with Baur's Ristorante.




Deep Rock still delivers water and is still located in the Five Points neighborhood after all this time. Of course, it helps that the underground aquifer the company uses is still serving outstanding water for over a century!

Enjoy this look into Denver's past through these fun ads. More to come in the future.

Post Office Terminal Annex and EPA Building

This photo, circe 1992, shows the massive Post Office Terminal Annex rising to the left, behind the bridge over 15th Street. The old Moffat Train station is on the far left (photo from Denver Public Library Western History Collection X-23640)

The EPA building is shown from the 16th and Wynkoop corner (photo courtesty of EPA).

It wasn't too long ago when one of the more convenient post offices downtown was located at 16th and Wynkoop. The old Post Office Terminal Annex disappeared however to make way for the EPA Region 8 Headquarters and the adjacent 1515 Wynkoop office building. The building's use as the main sorter facility for mail had been taken over by a larger facility at 56th and Quebec so the majority of the building was no longer in use. Visit DenverInfill.com to learn more about the transformation of this site.

Here I am in 2000 with the initial development of the Central Platte Valley in full swing. Standing atop the new hill created when Commons Park rose out of the former railroad yards, the Post Office is clearly visible. What a difference ten years makes! And there's more to come.



The new buildings on the Post Office site are particularly intriguing, especially the EPA.

Upon entering the building, your eye is drawn upward. Is the building without a roof? No, it's up there, just way WAY up there! And the light is so bright, the illusion is harder to dispel, but that comes from bright sails near the ceiling, sails that transmit the natural sunlight down into the atrium, further enhancing the thought that you are outside. In front of you are stairs ascending, some large, some small and the sound of water is nearby. Elevators glide smoothly on their paths and people may be seen through the numerous windows that are in the interoir of the building. A vertical column of light and connectivity forms the interior of the building, a secret hidden to those on the outside, gloriously revealed upon entering.

One of the building's more intriguing features is not as impressive in scope in many ways, but more so on consideration. The living roof, covered with plants, looks like a gardener's pallette, but it does so much more than simply provde space for plants. The breathing things planted around the crown of the building absorb heat, reducing the costs to cool the building, and calm the flow of water from our tempetuous rains. Even if the intricate dance of management and growth of the roof fails to move you, the view is spectacular!

This green roof can serve as an inspiration for continuing this trend across the roofs of Denver. This movement has been very successful already in Chicago. The EPA building's innovative environmental design can only have a postive effect on the future built environment of Denver as it influences the next generation.

The EPA has expanded its offerings to the public, to help folks get to know the building and see its remarkable designs first hand. Normally, a full tour of the building requires advanced reservations. However, the public may do a shortened version of the tour on their own and without such reservations.

To learn more about the green features of this building, self-guided tour possibilities, or to schedule a full tour, click here or call Patty Provencher at 303-312-6836.

Colorado History Museum

Over the past five months, I have been working on packing and preparing to vacate my workplace: the Colorado History Museum. When I'm not giving tours, researching and writing...I have to find time to actually work! Anyway, it's been a bittersweet time, so this overdue blog covers a brief history of the Colorado Historical Society's buildings and history since 1879.


The Historical and Natural History Society, the State Historical Society of Colorado, the Colorado History Museum, the Colorado Heritage Center, the Colorado Historical Society, and now History Colorado....all of these names and more have graced our state's "history museum" over the years since its founding in 1879 with Dr. Frederick Bancroft as the first president.


History Colorado (the newest name for everything associated with the Colorado Historical Society) as an entity has manifested itself most recognizably in its various museums and collections brought together over the years since its founding. Today, along with numerous regional museums across the state such as the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose or the Healy House and Dexter Cabin in Leadville, the state's main repository for past history has been various buildings in Denver since 1879.


The old Glenarm Hotel, old Chamber of Commerce, old Mercantile Library, and the old Arapahoe County Courthouse gave space to the museum over the years. By 1895, the museum had moved to permanent quarters in the basement level of the still-under-construction state capitol. Included in the museum's collection at this point was the large cache of archaeological wonders from Mesa Verde which had been purchased from the Weatherill brothers in 1889 for $3000. All the eclectic collection fit into 13,000 square feet and it soon became apparent that more space was needed.

One of the last buildings designed by architect Frank Edbrooke, the new state museum opened to much fanfare in 1915 with 59,000 square feet of space. This was the museum's longest-lived home where it stayed for 62 years. The building still stands at 200 14th Avenue.


By the early 1970s, pressure grew for expanded space once again. Enter the Colorado Heritage Center which joined the new State Judicial Building in one big modernist complex. The museum now had over 135,000 square feet for various uses, including space to house its growing collection. A competition was held to design the new buildings and the winner was none other than Rogers-Nagel-Langhart Architecture Company, better known by its initials of RNL today. The project definitely proved to be a challenge both architecturally and monetarily. Even before the competition, RNL said that the project was for two very incompatible uses. While it was felt the Judicial Building should be quiet and restrained, the Heritage Center should be inviting to people, particularly large numbers of children.


Upon its completion, the reviews were decidedly mixed in how to regard this new modernist structure and if it indeed was "inviting to people". While the Colorado Historical Society was certainly pleased to have a new building, negative feelings still found there way into print. Said W.E. Marshall, the Historical Society Executive Director, "In a state of mountains and plains, it is psychologically inapporpriate....for the history of Colorado to be relegated to a basement." Most of the museum's exhibit space was indeed located on the underground level. He also felt that the revised layout and structure "diminishes the structure to a level inconsistent with the functions, purposes and repsonsibilities of the Historical Society." "The exterior looks like a subway station," he continued.

Indeed, the overall reputation of the building has suffered over the years as few could recognize that the building housed a museum. Signage and exterior design elements were modified over the ensuing years to make the function of the building more apparent. The relatively recent addition of the handsome signature history panel certainly helped (see below). Still, a 1982 local pamphlet called the Capitol Hill Guidebook featured this building on its list of 'Archiectural Crimes Against Denver: a Few Candidates for Demolition'. The caption for the Colorado Heritage Center gave the following description: "the physical embodiment of the word 'hostile'".

And with its age not even yet 35, this publication gets its wish. Another example of our 1970s architectural heritage will be lost. Demolition of this building is set for May 2010. The museum gets its wish for a larger facility although this reality is really being pushed by the state judicial system--it wants more space as well. That institution will build a new expanded facility on the entire block, demolishing its current structure along the way. Click this link to learn more at DenverInfill.com.


The Colorado Historical Society has a new 200,000 square foot museum under construction at 1200 Broadway. While its design is certainly more dramatic than the current facility, it certainly is not going to turn any heads. Hopefully though, people will recognize it as a museum! As for the now "old" facility, soon to be razed......will we regret the loss of yet another 20th century building? Our built environment of the 1960s and 1970s is disappearing. Although these buildings themselves often replaced wonderful Victorain structures, showing no mercy themselves when constructed, are we not just repeating the same mistakes of the past. While the Colorado History Museum at 1300 Broadway has had its detractors, it definitely was a unique building that I have been proud to both work in and be involved with through volunteer work since 1999. I'm sorry to see it go.


Look for the new History Colorado Center to open in 2012 with the Colorado Historical Society, Colorado History Museum, State Historical Fund and Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation all under one roof .

Colorado Casket Company

Oftentimes when I am doing research I come across random photos and think to myself, "Surely this building must have been demolished long ago." Such is the case with the Colorado Casket Company photo.

The picture caught my eye because of the name on the building of course! Its straightforwardness is refreshing in light of many of today's bewildering company names.

The Colorado Casket Company was located at 1213 Wazee Street and this picture dates from 1935. In my mind I was thinking the building would have been demolished during the destruction of old Auraria or perhaps as part of the widening of Speer Boulevard.

However, after consulting old maps, I found that Wazee Street corresponds partly with the current path of Auraria Parkway. In fact, when Auraria Parkway went in, part of Wazee went out! I thought of Kacey Fine Furniture at 1201 Auraria and realized that this casket building might actually still be in place.

An lo and behold, although its address is now listed as 1221 Auraria, the building in question remains! For a current view of this building, click here to go to Google maps.

Oh, by the way, the business currently listed at this address is 47 LTD LLC. Do you suppose they manufacture caskets?

16th and Wazee

The first floor of the Henry Lee Building at 16th and Wazee is better known as Dixon's Restaurant in the modern day. But while doing research on Wazee Street, I stumbled across some old pictures showing the evolution of this building over time.

There is a Lower Downtown Walking Tour plaque stating that the building's origins date back to 1870 which would make it one of the oldest buildings in all of downtown Denver. However, Babs Gibson, in her book The Lower Downtown Historic District, gives the date of construction as 1886. Both sources agree that in 1907, the building was joined with the adjacent Chester S. Morey Mercantile Building via an elevated corridor that is still in use in 2010 (see below). Mr. Morey needed more space for his growing grocery business. Henry Lee's name remains associated with this building however since he had it constructed to house his farming implement business.

This picture shows the Henry Lee Building on the left, circa 1935. Also apparent is the 16th Street Viaduct rising past the main Morey Mercantile Building (where the Tattered Cover Bookstore is located today). The corridor is also visible as is the old elevated doorway into the Morey Building. Now you know why there is an elevated door at the Tattered Cover. It was not part of the original building but was installed after the viaduct was built!

In 1954, the Morey Mercantile Company went to considerable expense to reface the Wazee Street facade of its building. They replaced it with a modern metal covering. Research indicates that the building was in need of reinforcement on that side and it is assumed that the company felt 'modern' was the way to go. I am almost certain that their changes removed the window frames and brick work and completely replaced it with metal. So there is no chance just to remove the metal to reveal the old building underneath.

Even during this renovation, the Morey Company was under growing competition from the likes of Lloyd King's King Soopers and from Safeway. By 1956, Morey Mercantile was no more. Luckily, if that word can be used in this case, the Morey Mercantile Company left the 16th Street facade alone. Although it was painted white, the picture above shows the modern facade with the old. Today, the building's 16th Street facade has been restored to its original brick color. And the only other hint of the building's association with the Morey company is the decals in the windows of Dixon's advertising Morey's Solitaire grocery line. Click here to see part of the building today!




For more information on Block 16, home of the Henry Lee Building, click here to be taken to DenverInfill.com




All black and white historic photos are from the Denver Public Library's Western History Collection.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod

While I normally write about subjects in or near downtown Denver, I couldn't help but be struck by finding Denver's wonderful Wynken, Blynken and Nod statue in Pennsylvania!! While I was on vacation this summer in the northeast, I stumbled upon the unmistakable statue we know so well...in Wellsboro, PA!


So, how did this happen? I found it an interesting connection of two seemingly unrelated places.

Creation of the Original Wynken, Blynken and Nod statue

Mabel Landrum Torrey was born in a sod house in Colorado. She taught school in Sterling where her father was a judge. She left to attend the Art of Institute of Chicago and majored in sculpture. Her original Wynken, Blynken and Nod sculpture received praise from art critics when it was on exhibit in Chicago. Mrs. Torrey presented Denver Mayor Robert Speer with her original piece of work. He was reportedly so delighted with it that he commissioned her to sculpt one in marble. In 1918, it was placed in the children’s fountain of Washington Park. The statue was later restored and moved to a different area of the park near Exposition and Franklin next to Eugene Field’s house. He was the creator of over 500 poems and stories for children, including Wynken, Blynken and Nod. When his modest home was threatened with demolition along West Colfax, Molly Brown had it preserved by moving it to the park.


How the Statue Also Appears in Pennsylvania

Elizabeth Cameron married Fred Bailey on June 16th, 1892. Both were natives of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. They spent their married life in Denver, where Mr. Bailey became a state senator, a major stockholder in Cripple Creek gold mines as well as the Brown Palace Hotel. Following the death of his wife, Mr. Bailey honored her with a bronze statue/replica of Wynken, Blynken and Nod, placed on the Green in Wellsboro, where it has remained since its dedication on Friday, Sept. 23rd, 1938. Mabel Landrum Torrey was in attendance during the dedication.

So goes the story of how Denver’s iconic Wynken, Blynken and Nod statue is also found in Pennsylvania.

Denver's City Park and Whittier Neighborhoods

Well, at long last, my super long days of research and work have culminated in a book on these two areas of Denver. I have made reference in some of my other blogs to the fact that I've been busy researching and writing. I've also been scanning our city for pictures. Some of you have suggested I write a book. Well, I've finally found a way to make that dream a reality. I have worked with the Arcadia Publishing Company to produce this book. I hope you'll stop by the Tattered Cover or Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy. I know you'll enjoy it. I found some AMAZING pictures and I'm pretty excited about it.


A presentation and book signing will be held on the following occasions. More may be in the works too:


Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at the LoDo Tattered Cover (1628 16th) and on Friday, February 26, 2010 at 12:15 p.m. at the Colorado History Museum (1300 Broadway).


A book signing only will occur on Saturday, December 5 between 10 and 2 at the Colorado History Museum as part of the museum's open house festival.



Thanks again for reading and for all your questions!

The History of the Naming of Market Street

I have been working on a HUGE project all year of which I will make an announcement shortly. But it also relates to my being away from this blog. Too many obligations and too few Shawns.

Last time however, I said I would follow up with the street histories of Lower Downtown Denver. But since the history of Market Street is the most complex, I'll write that below and follow up with the rest of the streets soon. Enjoy!

Following Larimer Street, we come to Market Street.

Market and Walnut: This street has the most interesting history of any downtown. Originally known as McGaa Street, it was changed in 1866 to Holladay Street. In 1858, William McGaa had been entrusted by Charles Nichols to safeguard the town claim for Saint Charles while he went back to eastern Kansas territory to officially file the town claim. No sooner had Nichols left, then William Larimer arrived on the scene. McGaa ignored the Saint Charles interests and helped Larimer name the early streets of the city. Because he was living with the Arapahoe Indians, he insisted on naming one street for himself (and others for his wife (s)). Along with Larimer, he is most responsible for the street naming system of downtown Denver. Unfortunately for McGaa, small town politics got in the way of his legacy. When he became known as the town drunk, city fathers voted to remove his name from the street in favor of Benjamin Holladay. He was the savior of Denver in the 1860s for choosing the city as the terminus for the stage coach over rival Auraria. So popular was he that the city felt justified in naming the street in his honor. The oldest building remaining in downtown Denver in fact was the stage headquarters at the southwest corner of 15th and Market (Holladay!). This building dates from 1868-72. Anyhow, by the 1880s, Denver was booming and dear Holladay Street had become the center of the city's red light district. The shocked Holladay family petitioned the city to remove their name from this street and the city complied, renaming it Market. While there were legitimate wholesale markets along the street, the more interesting flesh market was known all throughout the west, remaining a legitimate business until reform moved it underground around 1915. Furthermore, residents who lived wholesome lives north of 23rd Street (Park Avenue) and south of Cherry Creek in Auraria (west Denver) were offended to be associated with such a bawdy street as Market. They petitioned the city between 1899 and 1903 to have their sections renamed Walnut Street, a name that remains in place today. This is one of the only places in Denver where adjacent streets have two different names.

Downtown Streets

In my September 2007 blog, I wrote about the origins of Wynkoop Street. Since that time, I've been meaning to write about the origins of Downtown's other named streets. I find the whole subject rather interesting as the streets and their names and orientation are just about the only thing that still ties us back to the origins of Denver. The built environment of 1858-59 is gone. The street names of old Auraria are gone. Even the numbered streets we use Downtown today were originally letters of the alphabet. Sixteenth Street for example was known as "G" Street. At the time, Auraria and Denver had their own names. By 1873, long after the two towns had joined forces, the city of Denver began enacting a long series of street naming reforms which has resulted in the street naming system we enjoy today. At that time, the city designated First Street as being the first street northeast of the Platte River and Colfax.

Sixteenth Street is therefore 16 blocks from where Colfax intersects the Platte River. In 1873, Auraria's streets were also renamed to match the other named streets of Denver proper. Even though Auraria's streets were laid out parallel to Cherry Creek, they line up pretty well with Denver's streets. Denver's main streets were named after early founders of the city and those who had signed on as members of the Denver City Town Company. They can be thought of as friends of William Larimer, Denver's founder. They tell a story of how our city was founded, which was basically by jumping an already "filed" claim for the city of Saint Charles. Larimer's group arrived in November of 1858 after another claim was on its way to being filed in Kansas to make it official. Larimer would have none of that and essentially jumped the claim and named the city after the territorial governor of Kansas at that time: James W. Denver. William Larimer built his cabin at the southeast corner of what is today 15th and Larimer. He of course named the main street in Denver after himself. Adjacent streets took on other names, including Indian names and tribes. At the time, no one could have imagined that the city would grow into the metropolis it is today. We are lucky Larimer chose to give the town some unique names other than the more common streets named after trees such as Elm, Maple and Pine.

But what are these other names and for whom are they named? Well, here are a few to get us started (beginning at Colfax and Broadway):

Cheyenne Place: Cheyenne Indians

Cleveland Place: changed to honor Grover Cleveland in 1889; it was originally named for J. T. Parkinson who had been the very surveyor who had laid out the streets of early Denver and Auraria.

Court Place: named to honor the location of the stunning Arapahoe County Courthouse; originally known as Wapoola or Wasoola Street (a name of unknown origin).

Tremont Place: orignally known as Clancy Street until 1874; possibly renamed Fremont Place to honor explorer John Fremont; Tremont stuck however with the possibility that it also honored an early Auraria hotel known as the Tremont which welcomed and housed such notables as second territorial governor John Evans.

Glenarm Place: named by early Denverite William McGaa for his supposed ancestral home in Scotland

Welton Street: N.W. Welton, an early founder of Denver City with William Larimer

California Street: honoring the '49ers of an earlier gold rush, hoping to bring the same luck to the new '59ers

Stout Street: Elisha P. Stout was the first president of the Denver Town Company as well as a town founder with William Larimer.

Champa Street: No one is sure of the origins of this street name; some have surmised that it is one of William McGaa's many Indian wives; others feel it is a corruption of the Sioux word "chapa" which means 'beaver' or that it is a corruption of a Ute word "yampa", thought to mean 'bear'. Still others relate the word back to the Chama Indians of New Mexico.

Curtis Street: Samuel S. Curtis was a founder of Denver City with William Larimer.

Arapahoe Street: named for the Arapahoe Indians who inhabited Denver and Boulder upon the arrival of settlers

Lawrence Street: Charles A. Lawrence was a founder of Denver City with William Larimer

Larimer Street: William Larimer was Denver's official founder who came up with the idea to name Denver after the territorial governor of Kansas.

Tune in next time to learn about the streets of Lower Downtown.

Information compiled in this blog can be further explored by reading Denver Streets: Names, Numbers, Locations and Logic by Philip Goldstein

Indian Memories at Colorado National Bank

Painted by Denver muralist Allen True, whose works also grace the walls of the Denver and Cheyenne capitols, the expanded Colorado National Bank interior opened to the public in December 1926. Mr. True worked on the series of fourteen murals for over three years. Reflecting the changing attitudes toward the American Indians in the 1920s, Mr. True sought to portray the Plains Indians "before his contact with the white race--days when he roamed the beautiful untouched reaches of our West in deep but unconscious sympathy with the loveliness of primeval nature--days when his dignity and cruelty, his joy of living, stoic endurance and primitive integrity, as well as beauty and superstition and religious belief, made the cycle of his life an epic which has never been properly sensed or understood by the white race."

This mural is entitled "Happy Hunting Ground".

"...an old leather-dry squaw sits by the edge of a waterfall, leaning eagerly and intently forward, for there in the iridescent spray she fancies that shes sees her own girlhood beckoning to her. She imagines herself young again and splashing through the water with other laughing, dancing maidens. In the morning air a mist hangs over the water and from the mist, and the shadows of the quaking aspens, appear the figures of still other girls and young mothers smiling contentedly at the happy dancers in the water."

"The once mighty chief of a warlike tribe besats the rhythm of his war chant whle the witer snows whirl past him...."

"An old buck sits in front of his chip fire and dreams..."

This series is entitled "Youth".

All of these photos were taken by Roger Whitacre and appear in the book Growing Through History with Colorado: The Colorado National Banks by Tom Noel. The quotes are from the artist himself.

As I have not heard any differently, these murals remain in the now shuttered Colorado National Bank building (most recently known as US Bank) at 17th and Champa. These treasures must be saved and it is hoped that they will again grace the walls of this building in one of its future uses. Some of Allen True's other paintings and murals appear in Civic Center Park and at the Brown Palace Hotel. He graduated from Manual High School in 1899.

Colorado National Bank

The Colorado National Bank building sits forlornly, yet proudly, at the southwest corner of 17th and Champa. The building is empty and its fate remains unknown. The photo above shows what the site looked like prior to the construction of the bank in 1915. The original home on the site belonged to Joseph P. Cofield and was erected in 1873.

Colorado National Bank was one of the last locally owned banks in Colorado, having been founded in 1866. When US Bank took over this venerable institution after 1998, the prominent building downtown was to become just another piece of excess bank real estate lining 17th Street. Unfortunately, the Champa side of the bank has been a notorious drug-dealing location since US Bank closed the building earlier this decade. And although the building is included in the Downtown Denver Historic District, no new tenant has been found to take over the building.

The third home of Colorado National Bank was opened in 1915. Designed by prominent Denver arcitects William and Arthur Fisher, the bank with the neoclassical columns was coined "the bank that looks like a bank." In 1925, Merrill and Burnham Hoyt added a seamless addition.

The 1960s were a difficult time downtown as urban renewal began to take hold of the central portions of downtown. The Skyline Urban Renewal Project eventually erased much of old Denver. Colorado National Bank determined to remain downtown however and added a modern addition to their building in 1963. In the process, they demolished the Frank Edbrooke designed Ernest and Cranmer building (1890, also above) at 17th and Curtis, the old May Department Store at 16th and Champa and other smaller structures. In their place was put a "six window drive-in banking facility and spacious parking lots." The suburbs and truly come downtown!

(photo by Ted Trainor )

The site was not empty for long however. By 1972, the Colorado National Bank tower was under construction. The 26-story tower was designed by Minoru Yamasaki who was the architect of New York City's World Trade Center. Denver's tower exhibits the idea of Formalism in modern architecture. Its vertical orientation and use of a blue-smoky glass, gives this building a dominance at the corner of 17th and Curtis. It is considered one of Yamasaki's masterpieces and is a real stand-out at the national level of Formalism in architecture.

(FYI, Formalism is a type of modern architecture that can be distinguished from the better known International Style. While International Style was very prominent in American architecture after World War II and stresses a horizonality in a building's form, Formalism, which was especially popular during the 1960s and 1970s, stresses the vertical form, among other things. )

Tune in next time to learn about the interior wonders of the Colorado National Bank building.

Information and photographs shown above have come from the following title, Growing Through History With Colorado: The Colorado National Banks by Tom Noel.

For additional information on Block 108, home of the Colorado National Bank buildings, click here to be taken to DenverInfill.com

More D & F

Back in November, I blogged about the upcoming Centennial of the Daniels and Fisher Tower. You can link back to that blog here. While doing other research however on another project, I came across this fun advertisement from the December 10th, 1910 edition of Denver Municipal Facts. The caption for the above advertisement reads, "The New Store and Tower of the Daniels and Fisher Stores Company at Sixteenth and Arapahoe Streets as It Will Appear When Completed." I especially like the drawing of so many transportation choices in 1910: walking, bicycle, horse, horse and carriage, street car....and that new thing called an automobile.

Hopefully you'll be able to read the type script when you click on the picture. I couldn't get it any larger without sacrificing some of the image itself.

A Glorious Day for Denver: June 24, 1872

I recently had the honor to speak at the Denver 150 Symposium, "Denver Indside and Out". Numerous subjects were discussed concerning early Denver and its growth over the past 150 years. I spoke about the struggle to build the city's first school building which was eventually known as the Arapahoe School. The picture above shows the cornerstone laying ceremony from June 24, 1872 when most of the whole town turned out for a huge celebration. The picture gives me chills when I imagine all of those people, horses and carriages gathering to celebrate the establishment of our modern school system in Denver. The fights and struggles over how the building would be funded contributed greatly to its delay in actually being built (arguments that sound just like the FasTracks discussion in Denver today). But the party atmosphere shown above was captured in this passage from the Rocky Mountain News, June 25, 1872:

…the procession probably contained not less than two thousand persons while the number of spectators who thronged the streets could not have been less than six thousand. Windows, sidewalks and every available spot on the line of the march, especially through F [15th] Street, were occupied…..an immense throng of spectators filled the space about the school building. A crowd of men and women roosted themselves upon the observatory of Tritch’s elegant mansion, where beneath the blazing sun, they endeavored…to be jolly, but were really very miserable.

What's this town you say? Well, lo and behold, the first Denver skyline. Public School One, later known as Arapahoe School (but almost called Anderson School) sits as the tallest building in Denver. For many years, visitors to Denver travelled to 17th and Arapahoe to go to the school's cupola for stunning views of the city down below. This picture above is taken from near 15th and the Platte River, not far from where the REI store is today. The school was officially ready for use on April 2, 1873. When it opened for primary grades, it was the largest school in Colorado Territory.

The beautiful Arapahoe School, designed by Chicago architect G.P. Randal, eventually contained the first high school classes in Denver and Colorado, starting in 1874. The Class of 1877 was the first to graduate from the school and included Irving Hale who went on to be a Brigadier General during the Spanish-American War. If you've heard of Hale Parkway in east Denver, it is named in his honor. This pictures shows the Henry Rietze House on the left and the Thomas M. Field House on the right.

This photo, circa 1879, shows the German Methodist Episcopal Church, looking from the corner of 18th and Arapahoe. The high school eventually left Arapahoe School when the new Denver High School was opened at 1932 Stout in 1882. This school became known as East High School.

The top photo is taken from the observation deck of the school. It shows a view looking east with a bit of the First Baptist Church under construction at 18th and Curtis. It is especially interesting to see the large home across the road complete with a fountain! The second photo is looking northwest toward Boulder. The Ezra A. Newton residence is on the left. The school was a big tourist attraction. When US Vice President Henry Wilson visited Denver in 1875, he stopped by and made an address to the high school students.

But of course, in Denver, nothing seems to last. The explosive growth experienced by the city after the arrival of the railroad in 1870 endangered the lovely old school building. By 1890, it was in the middle of a business district and people were clamoring for its closure and removal to a more suburban location. The district complied and sold the land and building. The Club Building, designed by Frank Edbrooke of Brown Palace fame, was built in front of the school. The old school acted as a back annex for the lovely Club Building. Above is a photo circa 1910.

This photo is circa 1893 and shows a tiny sliver of the Arapahoe School on the right behind the Club Building.



Even the Club Building could not survive the onslaught of the automobile. It, like numerous buildings in downtown Denver, was demolished in 1955 to make way for an expansion of the Federal Reserve Building (which was soon to be demolished too) and also for a parking lot! The photo above was taken from the alley and is the last known image of the Arapahoe School. Construction workers are lowering a wheelbarrow. The Denver Post reported that "no one even noticed or cared" that the old school was coming down. That is not true, but...that is a whole other story. Today, portions of Skyline Park takes up the space where the Arapahoe School once stood.

For additional information on Block 077, home of the Skyline Park and the old Arapahoe School, click here to be taken to DenverInfill.com

All black and white historic photos are from the Denver Public Library's Western History Collection.