Denver Neighborhoods - Historic Congress Park

In the 1880s and 1890s, founders used the name Capitol Heights to denote a easterly area even higher than elite Capitol Hill. Yet it certainly wasn't a respectable area at the time, and no one would have called it Congress Park until at least 1946, when a neglected former cemetery became the area’s second to be so named.

Like Cheesman Park, which had earlier been named Congress Park and was a cemetery for some time, these lands rose to respectability. In the nineteenth century, the area around 9th & York had been home to the city's pest house – a last-resort hospital with Denver’s most contagious and deathly-ill patients – as well as the consecrated lands of Hebrew Cemetery. Considering the 5,400-foot elevation, the city also placed an 80 million gallon reservoir named “Cemetery Hill” in the area (the name was later replaced by the more euphonious “Capitol Hill Clear Water Reservoir”). Accessible water then brought the city nursery, as the park became a victory garden during and after World War I. The remaining open space drew Little Leaguers, as the 1930’s Works Progress Administration built a baseball diamond for youngsters. But when rats infested the weed-filled former garden and cemetery plots in the mid-1940s, neighbors successfully sued the city as a negligent landlord. Denver would have to create a real park: Congress Park, which today provides open recreation and shade trees for its many daily visitors.

Residential Congress Park had a more sedate history. Respectable Denver Squares and Arts & Craft bungalows dotted the neighborhood, and middle class residents gave the development a decidedly community feeling. Ruth Mosko Handler, inventor of the Barbie doll, grew up here. Here the Stovers ran a confectionery business, bringing Russell Stover Eskimo Pies and Mrs. Stover’s Bungalow Candies in boxes designed to look like their little Capitol Heights home. Swanee Hunt, 1990s US ambassador to Australia and daughter of multimillionaire H. L. Hunt, and restaurateur Pete Siahamis, owner of the PS Lounge and Pete’s Kitchen, have also lived in the area.

Congress Park today boasts some of the most prominent historic landmarks in Denver, with the graceful homes of the East 7th Avenue District and the unique lot design of Snell’s Resubdivision. The National Jewish Hospital's historic slogan – “None may enter who can pay; none can pay who enter” – indicates the same willingness to serve as found in the area’s many public schools. In all capacities, residents find something valuable in their midst. With the attractions of Cherry Creek, Capitol Hill, and City Park all around, here is an area that fits together as a living, neighborhood community.

July 2008 Market Statistics

In metro Denver closed sales in July were 5,123 compared with 4,980 in July 2007, a 2.9% gain. The average selling price for the period was $262,224 compared to an average in July 2007 of $289,294, a percentage drop of 9.4. The median sale price for single-family homes was $229,200 compared with $255,000 in July 2007, for a drop of 10.1%. 969 condos and townhomes sold in July 2008, compared with 1,081 for the same period in 2007, a drop of 10.4%. Median prices for condos in July 2008 were $149,000 compared with $158,000 in July 2008, a drop of 5.7%. For single family houses, condos and townhomes the average number of days a house was on the market in July 2008 was 98, and in July 2007 was 95. The list to sale ratio was 97% in 2008 versus 98% in 2007. 25,673 houses are currently on the market and interest rates are still low. It’s a great time to buy in the Denver real estate market, but if you’re a seller you may want to wait till conditions improve.

Check out the current Market Conditions Report for further analysis.