Snow - Denvers City Park and Whittier Neighborhoods

THE WHITTIER AREA PERSPECTIVE MAP, 1889. Whittier was a new residential area in the 1880s. This neighborhood, bounded by Twenty-third Avenue on the south, Thirty-second Avenue on the north, Downing Street on the west, and York Street on the east, eventually took its name from the school of the same name at Twenty-fourth Avenue and Marion Street. City Park was platted just to the south of Twenty-third Avenue and east of York Street in 1882. By the beginning of the 20th century, the park was a huge tourist attraction. (DPL WHC, 4314.)

WHITTIER SUBDIVISION PLAT, 1945. This map shows the names of some of Denvers earliest residents. They were able to take full advantage of the citys growth. These subdivisions included developments by Alfred Case (1868); Jacob Downing (1869); Adolph Schinner (1870); George McCullough (1872); and William and George Clayton (1889), along with smaller additions made by Archie Fisk (1874) and Robert McMann (1887). (DPL WHC.)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS , JULY 7, 1880. Whittiers housing construction blossomed throughout the 1880s and up until 1893, when an economic depression took hold of Denver. This advertisement shows that lots in Fisks Addition were going for $225 each, while Downings Addition offered a bargain on lots for $100 a piece. Suburban Capitol Hill lots on Sherman and Grant Streets were much more expensive, while downtown lots on Fifteenth Street and Tremont Place went for more than $2,700. (DPL WHC.)

THE LARGEST SUBDIVISIONS. Jacob Downing (above, second from left) is standing next to former territorial governor John Evans (in a top hat). Downing commanded troops in the Civil War and was also involved in the notorious Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. Both he and Evans were huge promoters of the city. Downings ideas included obtaining parkland in both east and west Denver to be joined by a parkway. His modified vision contributed to the eventual establishment of City Park. Adolph Schinner (at right) had established Denvers first bakery before setting his sights on real estate. His addition stretched from Twentieth to Twenty-sixth Avenues. Schinner named a street after one of the most famous scientists of the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt. The former Park Street eventually became known as Marion Street, named after Schinners friend Josie Marion. (Above, DPL WHC; at right, CHS, No. 10039329.)