Our History

The Big Ditch

In 1860, construction began on a ditch known as “The Big Ditch,” on the South Platte River about a half-mile above the modern-day Littleton to divert water for mechanical, agricultural, mining, and city purposes.

The completion of the irrigation system in 1867 enabled dry Brown’s Bluff to be transformed into lush Capitol Hill. The ditch meandered through the present site of Washington Park and Smith’s Lake,.

Although most of the ditch is enclosed in an underground conduit today, in Washington Park it still flows uncovered.

Beginnings of Wash Park

In 1897, definite steps toward the creation of a long-anticipated park were taken using the land south of Smith’s Lake.  
After the city acquired the land for Washington Park and the site began to take shape, residential development increased in the area. The commission selected the designation “Washington” for the new park in honor of the country’s first president.

The city selected landscape architect, Reinhart Schuetze, to design the new park Schuetze adopted the English landscape style for Washington Park, with focal points including a large meadow, the lake, and formal floral gardens.

Schuetze was assisted by John B. Lang, who served as the park’s first superintendent. John Lang directed the planting of trees, grass, and flowers; the construction of a children’s playground; and the creation of a Lover’s Lane at Kentucky between Franklin and Humboldt.

To enhance the park, a second lake south of Smith’s Lake was built in 1906, named Grasmere, and surrounded with willows.

Growth & Development

The growth of population in the neighborhood resulted in the erection of the Robert W. Steele Elementary School in 1913. The school opened with 223 pupils taught by six teachers.

Work began on a new structure for the Washington Park Community Church began in 1917, and the building was dedicated on  January 5, 1919. The church was one of the architectural gems of the East Washington Park Neighborhood, and a focal point of community social activity, even housing a branch of the Denver Public Library for a time.

When Denver journalist and writer Eugene Field’s house on West Colfax Avenue was threatened with demolition to make way for a gas station in the 1920s, Mrs. Margaret “Molly” Brown raised money to purchase the house and move it. In 1930, the Eugene Field house was moved to the eastern edge of Washington Park, in what was one of the earliest preservation efforts in the city.

A marble statue inspired by Eugene Field’s lullaby, “Wynken, Blynken and Nod,” had been commissioned by Mayor Speer in 1918. The statue was placed in Washington Park, and was later moved adjacent to the Field House.

The Rise of Gaylord Street

As the surrounding neighborhood added houses and population during the decade of the 1920s, commercial uses on South Gaylord between Kentucky and Mississippi avenues also expanded. The block featured four grocery stores, three meat markets, two confectioneries, two bakeries, two creameries, a restaurant, and a coffee shop.

A decade later, the block expanded to include two drug stores, a hardware store, a dry goods store, a novelty works, three clothes cleaners, two beauty parlors, two barbers, two plumbers, a sheet metal worker, several doctors, a dentist, a shoe repair shop, and the Washington Park Press. The area was historically and remains the neighborhood’s largest area of business activity.

In 1925, East Washington Park even received its own motion picture palace, the Washington Park D & R Theater at 1028 South Gaylord Street. On opening night, two Shetland ponies were given away as a promotional event. The first night program included a musical presentation, All Alone At Last; a Pathe comedy, The First Hundred Years; and the feature film, Raymond Griffith in The Night Club.

Post-War Problems

Following World War II, the neighborhood continued to attract middle class families, as well as new institutions and businesses which played an important role in the life of the community.

By the 1950s, the swim beach at Washington Park was plagued with problems. In 1955, swimming was banned for a while due to pollution. In June 1957, the beach was closed as a result of the high costs of chlorination. At that date, the visibility in the lake was so poor that lifeguards were unable to see bathers one foot below the surface.

Hippie Happenings

In July 1967, The Denver Post reported that “Denver’s first big hippie ‘happening’ rocked Washington Park…as several thousand young people turned out for a ‘Love America Rally’ that lasted 10 1/2 hours.”

The attendees were invited to “Just ‘be’ and you’re in. Come as you are, or come as you aren’t. Smile, maybe or frown. Deal out love.” The crowd, which included “hippies,” elderly couples, little children, and long haired girls, was mostly barefoot.

“Ear-shattering music” was provided by several local groups, and some couples danced in the water of the ditch or swam in the lake. Organizer Bob Gately described the event as “a very peaceful thing…a love-in. This is really a be-in…a love America be-in.”

Preservation Efforts

As Denver began to recover from the energy and construction-related recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s, East Washington Park was increasingly viewed as one of the most desirable inner city residential areas. Heavy development pressure mounted in the neighborhood, as small historic houses were expanded by “pop tops” or scraped off altogether.

In 1999, residents of East Washington Park, drawn together by their concern for maintaining the historic character of the area, founded Progress and Preservation Together, a group which believes that both progress and preservation are possible in one of the city’s most significant historic neighborhoods.