The history of Sunnyside spans over 100+ years and, of course, the only consistency has been change. This page is still a work in progress, but if there's anything you would like to contribute, or if you see an inaccuracy, or if you think something is missing, please email us at history@sunnysidedenver.org or you can always contact us!
The Sunnyside Timeline
- 1858 –
The Highland region originates when Denver founder William H.
Larimer, Jr., wades across the Platte River to stake out high ground on the bluffs
northwest of Denver. Sunnyside is formed as one of Denver's original neighborhoods
- including Berkeley Lake, Potter Highlands, Sloan's Lake, and West Highlands.
- 1860’s & 1870’s -
Large numbers of Irish immigrants move to Highlands.
Many are drawn by both the locale and the employment opportunities in the nearby
rail yards and smelters.
- 1876 -
Colorado becomes the 38th state of the Union.
- 1878 -
Nathanial P. Hill moves the Boston & Colorado Smelter to the
Village of Argo – east of present day Pecos. The smelter is situated on the line
of the Colorado Central Railroad.
-
The view of Downtown Denver from the Highlands, 1879 (image courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
- 1886 -
Street Car Service connects Denver to downtown.
- 1880 – 1895 -
A large influx of Italian immigrants – primarily from
Southern Italy - come to Highlands to work in the railroad. Many purchase land in
the area for a nominal price and establish large gardens. Vegetables grown in these
gardens are sold throughout the city, and peddled door to door in North Denver.
“Little Italy” was full of small, one-room brick cottages along Osage, Navajo, Mariposa,
Lipan and Inca. One early mercantile business was located along W 38th Ave at Jason.
- 1893 -
The Silver Panic happens and the city of Denver slips into a depression.
- 1896 –
After years of trying to remain independent, Highlands is annexed
to the city of Denver.
- 1896 –
The Denver Post reports that the trip from North Denver into
downtown via horse car takes about an hour.
-
Northwest Denver Beet Farmers (image courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
1900's -
Sugar beets are introduced in Colorado as the solution to
an ailing economy, and the sugar companies begin recruiting laborers from the southwest
and Mexico. Hispanics slowly began to replace the Italian residents.
- 1902 -
Smedley Public School is built at 43rd and Shoshone was named for Dr.
William Smedley, a dentist and Quaker who came to Denver in 1870 for health reasons.
He is active in educational circles and served on the school board.
-
Smedley Public School, ~1902-1910 (image courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
- 1904 -
In the years following Annexation, efforts are made to standardize
the naming and the numbering of Denver Streets. Throughout Highlands, streets were
given alphabetical Indian names, as well as chronological numbers.
-
1905 -
The Missionary sisters of the Sacred Heart open the Queen of
Heaven Orphanage designed by Mother Cabrini at 48th and Federal. Until 1967, it
was home to hundreds of girls each year before foster care replaced the orphanage.
Also by this time, a number of street car routes are present throughout the Highlands
neighborhood. No location in the neighborhood is more than three blocks from one
of the trolley routes.
Queen of Heaven Orphanage, 1910 (image courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
- 1913 -
The Argo smelter burns down and is never re-opened.
- 1916 –
Prohibition is passed.
- 1920’s –
The Federal Theater is constructed at 3830 Federal Boulevard
to showcase popular flicks and newsreels.
-
Federal Theatre, 1927 (image courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
- 1925 -
Zoning ordinances categorize a several areas for business and
commercial use. These include Tejon Street, Federal Boulevard, West 38th Avenue
and the area east of Pecos.
- 1927 -
The 38th Avenue Subway (under-passage) is completed, carrying
cars and pedestrian traffic under the railroad tracks and into downtown. As progress
marches on, the windbreak of cottonwoods along 44th, are cut down with street was
widened.
- 1931 –
Construction of Horrace Mann Middle school is completed at 41st
and Navajo. The complex construction provided much needed work for skilled craftsmen
during the beginning of the Depression in Denver.
- 1934 -
Ralph and Mamie Smaldone, open the Tejon Street Café. They have
three sons: Eugene, Clyde and Clarence – as well as a daughter.
- 1943 –
The original Ernie’s pizza Bar opens at 44th and Elliot. Throughout
the neighborhood, Ernie’s is known for its fried chicken.
- 1947 -
Eugene, Clyde and Clarence Smaldone move the Tejon Street Café
to the corner of 38th and Tejon, and rename it Gaetano’s – Italian for “Clyde.”
This same year, The Sunnyside Drugstore opens at 4600 Lipan selling hot meals, cigarettes,
beer and comic books.
- 1950 -
Streetcar service ends in Denver.
- 1952 -
A major public housing facility opens east of Pecos.
- 1967 -
The Queen of Heaven Orphanage is closed and replaced by foster
care.
- 1970 –
The Hispanic population of the neighborhood doubles from 1960
to 1970, and many younger Italian residents leave the area for the Northern and
Western suburbs.
- 1987 –
The Germinal Stage (founded in 1973) moves from 18th & Market
Streets to their current 100-seat converted storefront at 44th and Zuni. Over the
years, their repertoire includes Moliere, Shakespeare, and Shaw as well as contemporary
pieces.
- 1989 -
The Denver Planning Department leads a process whereby concerned Sunnyside residents meet for months to formulate a neighborhood plan. As the plan was nearing completion, the Sunnyside residents were encouraged to start a neighborhood organization to help ensure the neighborhood plan was implemented as envisioned and to make future improvements as needed. Thus, in 1989, SUNI was born!
- 1992 -
Sunnyside neighborhood is one of many areas throughout Denver
that will plants thousands of trees this weekend as part of the annual Denver Digs
Trees.
- 1996 –
Sunnyside is identified as one of the Target Neighborhoods for
the Denver Foundation’s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program. Multiple grants help
build community projects.
- 1997 –
Artist Mark Lansdon’s 'Garden of Flowers' sculpture is installed
at Chaffee Park. The sculpture is constructed using recycled tractor and car parts.
-
Sunnyside Neighbors helping to install the 'Garden of Flowers' sculpture in Chaffee Park, 1997 (images courtesy of Lucy Cook)
- 2000 -
The (then named) Sunnyside Bluegrass Festival begins in the
backyard of a neighborhood couple who wanted to have a free music festival for their
friends and neighbors. By 2000, the neighborhood population has evolved to 72% Latino,
with 16% of residents not speaking English as their primary language.
- 2001 –
The Enchanted Gardens of Northwest Denver Garden Tour is started
by The Conflict Center to serve as the organization’s primary fundraiser.
- 2007 -
A local Sunnyside couple applies for two small grants to revive
the Bluegrass festival. The name is changed to the Sunnyside Music Festival and
the event is moved to Chaffee Park at 44th and Tejon. Also in 2007, Sunnyside is
listed in 5280 Magazine’s 'Where to Buy Now' article, naming Sunnyside as an area
with 'turn-of-the-century single-family homes on tree-lined streets [where] the
smell of fresh tortillas … are commonplace, as are neighbors talking over fences
and from porch to porch.'
- 2008 -
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Business Civic Leadership Center’s
chooses Sunnyside as part of their pilot outreach program. Each home received free
home recycling registration, a front-yard tree, junk mail reduction forms and a
CFL porch light bulb.
-
2009 –
Chaffee Park is chosen as the locale where the nonprofit organization
KaBOOM! joins together with 200 Volunteers to build a 2,500 square foot playground
in one day. Mayor John Hickenlooper, Councilwoman Judy Montero and other community
leaders attend. Also in 2009, The New Ernie’s opens to much excitement, and features
drinks and pizzas in a friendly pub-style Atmosphere.
Sunnyside Residents helping build a new playground at Chaffee Park, 2009
- 2010 -
Sunnyside is once again listed in 5280 Magazine's 'Where to Live Now' as a neighborhood that's 'finally arriving as focal point for homebuyers who want
to get in on the northwest Denver boom.'
The Subdivisions of Sunnyside
-
Sunnyside is one of Denver's original neighborhoods, founded in 1858. Others included
Berkeley Lake, Potter Highlands, Sloan's Lake, and West Highlands. What is now Sunnyside
(38th to I-70 and Federal to I-25) was, originally comprised of:
-
The Original Sunnyside: 38th to 41st, from Pecos to Tejon
This small development was only three blocks square, but this happy name was eventually
chosen by the Planning Commission to represent the entire area from 38th to I-70
and Federal to I-25.
- Original Street Names;
|
38th - Propsect
|
Pecos – Clear Creek
|
|
39th - Beecher
|
Quivas/Raritan Witter, Vine or Lee
|
|
40th – Greeley
|
Shoshone – Arlington
|
|
41st – Dakota, Humphrey
|
Tejon – Goss
|
-
Lewis K Perin’s farm: 44th to 48th, Federal to Zuni
If you live in this area, you may have the same rich soil that Lewis K. Perrin used
to grow his crops over 135 years ago! Perrin was one of Colorado’s earliest successful
farmers, moving to NW Denver in 1875. He built a large house (since demolished in
1958) at what would now be 4375 Clay Street. He grew sugar beets, and there was
an orchard, a grape arbor and a deep 850-foot well that piped water to neighbors
as far away as 41st and Alcott. He planted the long windbreak of cottonwoods along
44th, which stood until the street was widened in 1927. Lewis Perin died in 1897.
- Original Street Names;
|
44th – Curtis, Gatson, Dee
|
Zuni – Gallup
|
|
45th – Antelope, Almina
|
Alcott - Stewart
|
|
46th - Bison
|
Bryant – Tracy
|
|
47th – Coyote
|
Clay – Gibson
|
|
48th - Deer
|
Decatur – Taylor
|
|
49th – Elk
|
Elliot - Morgan
|
|
|
Federal - Boulevard F
|
-
Perrin’s Addition: 38th to 44th, Federal to Zuni
While Perin’s actual farm was comprised of one piece of land, this area was broken
up into smaller blocks, and the farmland was subdivided into plots for strawberries
raspberries, asparagus and celery.
- Original Street Names;
|
44th – Curtis, Gatson, Dee
|
Zuni – Gallup
|
|
43rd - Wyoming
|
Alcott - Stewart
|
|
42nd – Colorado
|
Bryant – Tracy
|
|
41st – Dakota, Humphrey
|
Clay – Gibson
|
|
40th – Greeley
|
Decatur – Taylor
|
|
39th - Beecher
|
Elliot - Morgan
|
|
38th – Prospect
|
Federal - Boulevard F
|
-
North Highlands: 44th to 48th, Zuni to Pecos
With original streets named for wildlife (Antelope, Bison, Coyote Deer and Elk)
North Highlands was comprised of small Victorian houses, scattered with newer homes
as the years went on.
- Original Street Names;
|
44th – Curtis, Gatson, Dee
|
Zuni – Gallup
|
|
45th – Antelope, Almina
|
Wyandot – Gray, Vincent
|
|
46th - Bison
|
Vallejo - Bert, Burt Wall
|
|
47th – Coyote
|
Umatilla – Mary, Forest
|
|
48th - Deer
|
Tejon – Goss
|
|
|
Shoshone – Arlington
|
|
|
Quivas/Raritan Witter, Vine or Lee
|
|
|
Pecos – Clear Creek
|
-
The Village of Argo - 44th to 48th, Pecos to Broadway (including Richardson’s
subdivision)
The Village of Argo - incorporated in 1879 - was built around the Boston and Colorado
Smelting Company, founded by Nathaniel P. Hill. Hill developed a process of extracting
gold from ore. The smelter burned in 1913 and was never rebuilt. A major public
housing facility opened in 1952, but a few small original Argo houses can still
be seen in this area.
- Original Street Names;
|
44th – Curtis, Gatson, Dee
|
Inca – Merril
|
|
45th – Antelope, Almina
|
Jason – Converse
|
|
46th - Bison
|
Kalamath – Somands
|
|
47th – Coyote
|
Lipan – Justine
|
|
48th - Deer
|
Mariposa – Clifton
|
|
|
Navajo – Palmer
|
|
|
Osage – Bell
|
|
|
Pecos – Clear Creek
|
Richard’s Subdivision was laid out in blocks, and served as an area for company
workers which was complete with a hotel, small shops, a Methodist church, an elementary
school, train stop and horse car line which traveled up Pecos to 38th, and then
Lipan to 44th. Later, trainmen employed by the Moffet railroad also lived in Argo.
Almost all the residents were immigrant families – Swedish, Germans, Scottish, Hungarians.
In 1902, Denver was made into a separate county and the village of Argo was swallowed
up.
-
Unincorporated Areas:
Several areas of Sunnyside were unincorporated while these larger plots were divided
up. They may have been farmland or just prairie.
Trolleys in Sunnyside
-
In 1871, horse-drawn streetcars began service in Denver, and in the 1888 Denver
Tramway Company began cable car service. In 1901 the Tramway Power facility opens
- where REI is now located.
-
In 1896 Horse cars ran down Pecos St. into downtown, as well as out to the Village
of Argo The trip from North Denver into downtown via horse car was reported to take
about an hour.
-
By 1905, a number of street car routes were present throughout the Highlands neighborhood.
No location in the neighborhood was more than three blocks from one of the trolley
routes. Trolley Line #28 Traveled North up Tejon, down 44th, and ended at the Shrine
Temple at the Case Golf Course. Trolley Line #13 Traveled down Clay, up 38th and
continued on to Elitch Gardens.
-
Several of the business and retail areas of our neighborhoods off major feeder roads
(Tejon, 44th Avenue) make a lot of sense when you envision the trolley lines that
extended past them. In fact, many of these same lines are used by buses today.
-
In 1950 Streetcar service ended, although there have been several proposals by Cable
Car enthusiasts to bring them back.
-
(images courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
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