Denver Neighborhoods - Historic Park Hill

Named for a rise in elevation just east of City Park, Park Hill was first subdivided in 1871 by Casper Hartman. Few people at the time were interested in such remote countryside. Even the dynamite and gunpowder storage facility built by DuPoint de Nemmours Company blew up in 1884, setting the standard for Park Hill’s explosive history.

Park Hill founder Baron von Winckler had a similarly volatile personality. A sour man, he denigrated his neighbors as “peasants” and reportedly preferred the company of animals to people. Doubtless one of Denver’s “tall tales,” legend has it that while delivering an important message to the Kaiser, von Winckler’s horse stepped in a rabbit hole, sending him flying into the mud. His would-be sweetheart witnessed the embarrassment and subsequently shunned him. The Kaiser subsequently urged that he resign his commission, and he left the country in disgrace. Despite initially sunny fortunes in Denver, his despair deepened so greatly that he ultimately shot and killed himself, a victim of an a far earlier accident.

In terms of distance, Park Hill was initially quite far from downtown Denver. The only early residents were Colorado National Guardsmen who came because the land had been donated to aid their preparations for the 1898 Spanish-American War. Later residents such as Zenon Brickler slept most nights on the floor of his downtown barbershop, making the long journey home only on the weekends. A large snowstorm in 1913 was sufficient to strand Helen Harper’s aunt Nellie downtown for a week. Before the automobile era it wasn't an easy trip to make.

On the other hand, remote flatland was good for some industries including dairy farms, clay brick manufactures, and airports. Colorado's first commercial airport, Curtis Humphrey Field, opened in 1919 at 26th & Oneida. Lowry Field came a bit later with the warning to pilots that “this field is short. USE IT ALL.” Charles Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis here just three months after crossing the Atlantic; Amelia Earhart came to Park Hill the very next year.

The neighborhood sprouted an abundance of bungalows and planted scattered mansions of the nouveau riche. But homogeneity was a time bomb waiting to blow. The demise of informal segregation in the 1950s led to increasing race tensions throughout the city. Park Hill ultimately gained national prominence in 1973 when the US Supreme Court ruled that neighborhood schools were discriminatory. Violent reactions ensued throughout the city, as school buses, buildings, and even the homes of civil rights activists were bombed. It was an ugly period for Denver and the nation.

Unrest, however, gave way to a remarkably stable composition within Park Hill over the past three decades. Longtime amenities such as City Park, the Denver Zoo, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science along with Park Hill’s gracious homes continue to offer remote tranquility within the currently accessible city, and tensions are now past history. As another observer wrote, homes that sold for a pittance in the 1960s now fetch twenty times their earlier prices. So the irrational fears of yesterday have proved false: integration has clearly paid off, and Park Hill residents are the richer for it.

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.