Alamo Placita, Denver facts for kids
Alamo Placita is a special historic area and neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, United States. It gets its name from Alamo Placita Park, which is found on the north side of Speer Boulevard, between Ogden and Emerson Streets.
This area is bordered by Downing Street to the east, Speer Boulevard to the south, and Pennsylvania Street to the west. To the north, it's bordered by 6th Avenue west of Clarkson Street and 7th Avenue east of Clarkson Street. Alamo Placita is actually part of a bigger official neighborhood called Speer.
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Exploring Alamo Placita's Past
The story of Alamo Placita begins in the 1860s. Back then, it was just open prairie land near Cherry Creek, about three miles (5 km) southeast of the new town of Denver. A smart investor named Moses Hallett, who was a lawyer from Illinois, bought this land in 1864. His land later became known as Arlington Park Addition, and then the Alamo Placita neighborhood.
By 1887, Denver's southern city limit was right at the northern edge of Hallett's land (which is now East 6th Avenue). A road on the eastern side of his land, called Hallett Road, is now Downing Street. In 1889, Hallett sold his land to a company called Arlington Park Land and Improvement Company. He even became one of the investors in that company.
Who Was Robert W. Speer?
Robert W. Speer came to the West in 1878 because he was sick. But he got better and had tons of energy! Speer is famous for becoming Denver's first mayor under "home rule" in 1904. He served three terms as mayor. He loved the "City Beautiful Movement" in Denver, which aimed to make the city more beautiful with parks and grand buildings. He also supported Denver's park system.
Speer had important connections to the Alamo Placita neighborhood.
- First, Alamo Placita was his very first big real estate investment. He created a group of investors to develop the land. When Arlington Park Addition was made, it was the first project for Speer's new real estate company.
- Second, by creating an addition and then an amusement park, Speer learned how to bring big plans together with powerful people in Denver.
- Third, the neighborhood was his home! Robert and his wife, Kate Speer, built their house at 505 Clarkson Street in 1890. They lived there until 1906.
Fun Times at Arlington Park and Chutes Park
Arlington Park officially opened on July 4, 1892. The main event was a huge play called "The Last Days of Pompeii." It had 300 actors and a giant 54-foot-high set of Mt. Vesuvius! When the "volcano" erupted, there was a big fireworks show. Speer made sure everyone knew about it, and about 12,000 people came!
It looked like Arlington Park would be a big success. But then, in 1893, there was a big economic downturn called the "Silver Crash." This made money very tight, and the park's future looked uncertain.
In 1898, Arlington Park reopened with a new name: Chutes Park. The main new attraction was "the chutes," which was like a graded waterfall. Riders would go down in boats into a lake at the bottom.
In May 1899, two new exciting attractions were added:
- Miss Sadie Boynton, who had just come from Paris, France, would "shoot the chutes" on a bicycle!
- "Professor Barnes' amazing herd of driving and diving elks" would walk up a ramp and then plunge, one by one, off a 60-foot-high platform into a tank of water.
Posters for the park called it "The Coney Island of the West," comparing it to a famous amusement park.
Sadly, fires in 1901 and 1902 closed the amusement park for good. This made the neighbors happy, as living near the noisy park was quite difficult!
Building the Arlington Park Addition
The Arlington Park Addition was created in 1889. It was the first and largest part of Moses Hallett's land to be divided into lots for homes. It included almost all the land that wasn't part of the amusement park. This area stretched from East 6th Avenue down to about half a block south of East 4th Avenue, and from Logan Street to the alley between Corona and Downing Streets.
In January 1890, R.W. Speer and Company started taking deposits for the properties. By the end of February, 319 lots had sold for $217,000! The local newspaper, The Rocky Mountain News, even wrote that "R.W. Speer’s smiling face is more smiling than ever." Some important early buyers included Colonel John Arkins (who owned the newspaper), John Cochran (the city postmaster), and T.M. Patterson (Colorado's first Democratic congressman).
The fast growth in Arlington Park Addition stopped in 1893 because of the economic problems. We don't have building records for 1893 to 1900, but it seems that home building slowly started to recover. The new homes were usually more modest, and the new residents were often less famous. The neighborhood became an affordable place for new renters and people buying their first homes. Many of these new residents were first- and second-generation European immigrants.
Two groups of immigrants were especially common in Arlington Park:
- Scandinavian immigrants: Many Swedish people came to make Hallett's land their new home. In 1890, half of all Swedes in Colorado lived in the Denver area. At first, many Swedish residents in Alamo Placita worked in construction, domestic service (like housekeepers), and gardening. Many Alamo Placita homes were even built by Swedish craftspeople. Later, Swedish-Americans started working in many different jobs.
- Greek immigrants: By the early 1930s, many Greek-Americans moved to Alamo Placita. Most were moving from near their church, which was north of Capitol Hill. This was the first Greek Orthodox Church in Denver.
In 1933, the Greek Orthodox Church moved to 574 Pennsylvania Street. They tore down a house there and built a new Assumption Greek Orthodox Church. The church was designed with the traditional onion-shaped domes often seen in Eastern Orthodox churches. This building brought a rich, new, visible ethnic identity to Alamo Placita. This church was the main Greek church in Colorado. In 1973, the church moved again to a beautiful new Assumption Greek Orthodox Church on East Alameda Avenue.
Alamo Placita Park
Alamo Placita Grows After World War II
After World War II, many new homes were built, and people started moving to the edges of the city or to new suburban areas. But most of the Alamo Placita neighborhood continued to attract people who needed more affordable housing. Some builders tore down a few older homes to build more profitable apartment buildings. Most of these new apartments were not very large.
Records show that by 1930, about 90% of the buildings in the Alamo Placita Historic District were already built. By 1940, 94% were built. This includes single-family houses, apartment buildings, and the few shops in the area.
The neighborhood continued to develop slowly, changing with the ups and downs of the economy. During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, young professionals and others quietly rediscovered how great the neighborhood was. It was a family-friendly place close to the city center. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, and businesspeople started moving into Alamo Placita in larger numbers, joining the skilled workers, clerks, and salespeople already living there. For example, Richard and Dottie Lamm lived at 531 Emerson Street in the 1960s, before Richard Lamm became the governor of Colorado for three terms.
People started to appreciate and respect the neighborhood's architecture more. More and more residents became aware of how special the buildings were. Their interest led them to want to protect their neighborhood and learn more about its history. This is how the Alamo Placita Neighbors Association was formed.
Alamo Placita's Architecture
The Alamo Placita Historic District has some homes built for important early Denver residents. But mostly, it shows what the neighborhood was like from 1889 to 1942, with homes for middle-income workers, professionals, clerks, and railroad workers. The first residents wanted to show their success partly by building their homes in the popular architectural styles of the time. Investors who built single-family and multi-family homes followed this trend.
Together, they created a neighborhood with smaller homes and streets that looked nice. The houses were set back from the street, leaving space for gardens, lawns, and sidewalks. You can still clearly see the mix of different architectural styles, building materials, and unique decorations, even though a few newer buildings have replaced original ones. While some newer buildings are a bit too big, only one is much taller than the others, at 12 stories.
The very first homes in the district were designed in Victorian-era styles. After 1893, when the Victorian style became less popular, much of the district was still undeveloped.
People in Alamo Placita were quicker than wealthier citizens to adopt the Arts and Crafts Movement. In Alamo Placita, this style mostly showed up in "Foursquares" (square-shaped houses) and "Bungalows" (smaller, often one-story homes). Wealthier people often showed their status with Classical Revival-style homes. Less wealthy people were more open to the practical new designs. Over time, along with the Arts and Crafts influence, some popular Tudor-style homes (with decorative half-timbering), Spanish Mission-style homes, and other styles that reflected Denver's connection to the southwestern U.S. appeared. The neighborhood also includes small commercial buildings built along its borders, like on East 6th Avenue, Speer Boulevard, and Downing Street.
In 2000, the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission all agreed to recommend that Alamo Placita be named a Historic District. They did this because of its important history, architecture, and location. The City Council also agreed, voting unanimously to approve the designation on June 12, 2000.
See Also
- Alamo Placita Park
