Character

Originally known as the Arlington Park Addition, the land encompassing the Alamo Placita Historic District was developed by the Arlington Park Land Improvement Company in 1889.

One notable investor was Robert W. Speer, whose involvement in the neighborhood’s development initiated his political career and led to his election as the Mayor of Denver in 1904.

The northern part of the neighborhood, above 4th Avenue, was originally a middle-class residential development and was settled by a large number of Swedish, and later Greek, immigrants.    Buildings in this first development area consist of Queen Anne, Classic Cottages, Denver Square, Dutch Colonial Revival, and a small number of Mission-Revival style and Bungalow homes, as well as a few early 20th-century commercial buildings along 6th Avenue.

The southern part of the district, located below 4th Avenue, was home to the Arlington Park Amusement Park, which operated intermittently from 1892 to 1902. The City of Denver purchased a portion of the amusement park land for use as a public park in 1911, and the remainder was developed between 1915 and 1942 for residential use.  Most of the buildings in the southern development area are Bungalow, Tudor, and Mission-Revival style homes clustered around Alamo Placita Park, designed in 1927 by landscape architect S.R. DeBoer.