Looking for ways to spend a day on Colfax? Check out this blog from Visit Denver. Remember me. Lost your password? History of Colfax Ave. As this westerly route toward "pure air and an excellent view of the mountains" gained importance, businesses and streetcar subdivisions replaced large and small family farms.
The history of the rail lines is a rich story in itself; however, the growing popularity of the automobile caused the demise of this noteworthy enterprise. Health institutions also played a significant role in the history of West Colfax. Anthony Hospital Central, starting as a dream of the Sisters of St. Francis, was dedicated on June 13, , after the sisters overcame financial obstacles by visiting mining camps, barber shops, and saloons to raise funds for construction of the facility.
Anthony Hospital Central has continued to grow and modernize in response to community needs. Further west from St. The West Colfax neighborhood, bordered today by Federal and Sheridan boulevards, started as the town of Colfax in and was annexed to Denver in West Colfax Avenue was lined with two-story brick commercial buildings, saloons, stores, a hotel, and a restaurant.
West Colfax Avenue had a constant flow of hay wagons and peddlers that came from the agriculture communities of Golden and Morrison en route to Denver. The Hyman family opened the Lake Steam Baths in People go there for massages and steam baths because of the health benefits. The baths were first used by people who had consumption, also known as tuberculosis.
Old and young people still enjoy the steam baths today. The first Colfax Elementary was built in as a one-room brick building. During its first years, students came to the school from farms and homes on Stuart St. Since , the school has served more than four generations of local families. JCRS, or the Jewish Consumptives' Relieft Society, was organized by a group of working men who were frustrated with the policies of the other tuberculosis sanitarium in Denver, National Jewish Hospital, which refused to serve kosher meals, discouraged the use of Yiddish, and for a time because of the fear of being swamped by destitute patients only accepted sufferers with incipient tuberculosis and those who could afford to support themselves once they left the hospital.
A forerunner to what later would become Lakewood, the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society opened in on Colfax to serve tubercular patients from across the country. Though most of the Relief Society patients were Jewish, the organization served thousands of non-Jews, many of whom were treated free of charge.
The society changed its mission to cancer research in the s, also changing its name to the American Medical Center. The property with its original buildings now is the campus for the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.
Charles Spivak, a local legend, and Yehoash Solomon Bloomgarten , who came to Denver to "chase the cure" in Starting around , Yehoash presided over the Yiddish section of the 'Sanitorium,' a JCRS publication, including his own poetry and that of "Lung-fellow" as well as using graphics designed by the Bezalel School in then-Palestine.
Spivak and Yehoash, lovers of Yiddish, are famous for their dictionary of Hebrew elements in Yiddish. Spivak and David Edelstadt, another Yiddish poet and an anarchist, who died of t. Edelstadt's grave a monument was inscribed with one of his poems and a photograph of the poet.
Spivak's grave was adjacent; Spivak donated his skeleton to the Hebrew University. The upper part of the cemetery contained the graves of the patients who didn't beat the "white plague;" many, unfortunately, are marked only with small metal plaques, now unreadable. Colfax Ave. Property in front of the Relief Society was sold in the s.
The Golden Hill Cemetery , one of the few sites along Colfax on the National Register of Historic Places, is the final home to more than 2, people who died of tuberculosis in the early s.
The Jewish cemetery, W. Colfax, has more than 8, gravestones. Voorhees platted the six-block West Colfax subdivision as part of his growing real estate and city improvement activities.
This type of development was in line with the general real estate boom of the late s. West Colfax served as the main connector between Denver and the agricultural communities of Morrison and Golden. As a result, West Colfax had a constant flow of hay wagons and peddlers. In addition, trolley lines and bike paths were laid out. Roady Kenehan lived on 13th and Stuart St. Kenehan was of Irish descent and was active in labor politics.
Their home was a hub for intellectual conversations. In her autobiography, Meir wrote: "To the extent that my own future convictions were shaped and given form [ This viaduct helped connect West Colfax with downtown Denver. High School opened. Photo courtesy Punch Bohn. The restaurant became a major hub for athletes and rumor has it that notorious hothead and former New York Yankee Billy Martin got into a fight there. Bohn's son, Punch, closed the restaurant in , and Eddie Bohn died the next year.
The s also marked a time when West Colfax starting becoming increasingly auto-focused. Spivak Educational Instutute opened its doors at Lowell Ave. During this time, the Jewish community began dispersing to other parts of Denver. During the s, the first public housing was constructed in the neighborhood. Much of this growth occurred in suburban areas, like Lakewood. As a result, West Colfax shifted from servicing tourists to servicing suburbanites. In particular, during the s, Hispanic immigrants began moving into the West Colfax neighborhood.
The area became the focus of revitalization efforts, including Community Development Block Grants supported projects at the Girls Club and Cheltenham School in an effort to improve the neighborhood. In addition, Denver declared West Colfax as a Enterprise Zone District to provide state income tax benefits to businesses that move to the area. Latino immigrants became the primary immigrant group to settle in Denver.
The project brings solar pedestrian lights, trees, and sustainable public art at the East and West gateways to the corridor. This included the leveling of nearly all of the potentially historic buildings at the intersection of West Colfax and Wadsworth Boulevard. The West Colfax Feed and Fuel store north of the intersection was replaced by a gas station, which was subsequently replaced by a strip mall.
The development of the northeast corner of this intersection by Wal-Mart initiated the demolition of the neo-classical Columbia Savings and Loan, the Blu Bow motel, the Pig Parlor restaurant, and a storybook style farmhouse from the s. An observer standing at this intersection today would be hard pressed to find physical evidence of human activity before This trend has continued over the subsequent decade as demolition and new construction never have removed various resources within the project corridor more than 50 years old.
Other buildings, although not as old, have suffered the same fate. Kipling Street. Colfax and Broadway Trolley by Joe Priselac "I walked away to the dumb downtown streets of Denver, for the trolley at Colfax and Broadway, where the big Capitol building is, with its lit-up dome and swarded lawns. The protagonist, Sal Paradise, at one point keeps an apartment there and drinks in its bars.
When the characters Dean, Marylou and Ed Dunkel leave Denver, Kerouac writes that they "roared east along Colfax and out to the Kansas plains" — this was before the construction of Interstate In the "Erection Day" episode of South Park , Jimmy tries to buy a hooker at Colfax Point, a reference to sections of the avenue noted for prostitution.
Another episode of South Park features a visit to Casa Bonita, a Mexican-themed restaurant and entertainment complex located on West Colfax in the city of Lakewood.
Five Iron Frenzy , a ska-punk band consisting of Denver natives, has a song called "Where 0 Meets 15". The title refers to two bus routes that cross at this intersection. In the song, the narrator is waiting at a bus stop. The song was included on the ColfaxAvenue.
In , a sensational murder took the life of outspoken radio talk show host Alan Berg as he arrived home on the block of Adams Street, near East Colfax Avenue across from the Bluebird Theater before it was a concert and fine film venue. Berg, who was Jewish, was gunned down in his driveway while exiting his Volkswagen, by white supremacists who had baited him in hostile calls on the air before the killing.
The execution received national publicity. His killers went on the commit a major armored car robbery in another state. They were later caught and convicted of both crimes. The wife of Alan Berg wrote a book about the tragedy.
In another scene Clint stays at the Royal Host Motel, East Colfax Avenue, and rides the glass elevator to the curb, then walks east toward the Seven Eleven right across the street. In the early part of the century the great magician Harry Houdini and legendary writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came together at the Ogden Theater at East Colfax for the purpose of engaging in a debate over the reality or myth of Spiritualism.
Sue Lyon might have been best-known for her role in the movie "Lolita," but it was only a few years later that she was living at the Bugs Bunny Motel. During an argument inside the motel, at W. Not much of a threat, given that it is a one-story building. This site is maintained as a public service to the people of Colorado and the World.
Plus, comedian Kevin Then follow our pairing guide below to pick up some nearby to-go beer for a delicious night in. Start planning now for exciting events and festivals in Denver. Scroll down our month-by-month list and choose from annual favorites, splashy debuts and exclusive showings. Denver is known as a craft beer epicenter and a leader in the wellness movement with unique spa treatments.
But what happens when you combine the two? You get a beer spa or, more appropriately, The Colfax is technically only the longest commercial street in the U. And as for the wickedest? Like Denver itself, the history of Colfax is rooted in the Gold Rush days of the mids.
The well-trod road was a gateway to Denver and to the lands farther west. Originally called Golden Road, it was renamed in in honor of Schuyler Colfax, the speaker of the U. House of Representatives. It was a hub for business and tourism, with a trolley line and — later — buses, in addition to a being one of the first paved automobile roads in Denver.
The U. Mint and State Capitol Building were constructed on Colfax, along with numerous theaters, churches, hotels, restaurants, jazz clubs, bars, shops and even some surprising tourist attractions, including an alligator wrestling pond and an old Western town. As the times changed, so did Colfax. Once inhabited by the wealthy elite, the area became increasingly run down as upper- and middle-class residents moved to the suburbs after World War II.
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