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What Denver looked like in the 1900s Through these Fascinating Historical Photos

Denver was established as a city and county by a constitutional amendment in 1902. The Denver economy grew as tourism and the service sector expanded, energy resources were exploited, and federal offices were attracted. The Denver Livestock Exchange and the National Western Stock Show anchored Denver’s cattle town reputation. Growth began to pick up slowly after 1900 as the city’s economy improved due to stockyards, brickyards, canneries, flour mills, and leather and rubber goods. There were many breweries in Denver then, but only Coors Brewing survived and has become one of the country’s largest beer producers.

During Speer’s tenure as mayor from 1904 to 1912, several projects were initiated to add landmarks, update existing facilities, and enhance the city’s landscape. These included the City Auditorium, the Civic Center, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Denver’s city leaders went to Washington D.C. and convinced the politicians there that Denver was no longer a frontier town. This allowed the first major party convention to be held in a western state. While jobs began trickling back into Denver in 1897, real estate prices remained depressed until 1900, as the U.S. economy began to recover.

Here are some interesting historical photos that will take you back to the 1900s in Denver. While buildings, streets, and wardrobes have evolved over time, many attractions remained popular today that have remained popular for a long time.

#2 View of the Denver Club at 17th (Seventeenth) Street and Glenarm Place in Denver, 1900

#3 View of Cheesman Memorial Pavilion, Cheesman Park, Denver, 1909

#4 Exterior view of Walter Scott Cheesman’s residence (later called Cheesman-Evans-Boettcher mansion & Governor’s mansion), 400 East 8th (eighth) Denver, 1908

#5 Denver County Courthouse (Arapahoe County Courthouse) on Fifteenth (15th) and Tremont Street in Denver, 1909

#6 View of columned gateway at Fourth (4th) Avenue and Franklin Street, in the Denver Country Club neighborhood, Denver, 1907

#7 Pennsylvania Street (ca. 900 block south), in Denver, 1909

#8 Haish Manual Training School located in the University of Denver Haish Building at 14th (Fourteenth) and Arapahoe Streets, Denver, 1900.

#9 Welcome Arch at Union Station in Denver, Colorado; view of 17th (Seventeenth) street, street railway car number 248, 1906

#10 View of the lily pond and rock garden at Washington Park in Denver, 1909

#11 View of a yard at 742 South Emerson Street, Washington Park West, Denver, 1907

#12 Denver Tramway cars no. 74 and no. 63, 1900

Denver Tramway cars no. 74 and no. 63, 1900

The cars are parked at the intersection of West 38th (thirty-eighth) Avenue and Tennyson Street near Elitch Gardens.

#13 Denver Republican Newspaper building at 1118 16th (Sixteenth) Street in downtown Denver, 1909.

Denver Republican Newspaper building at 1118 16th (Sixteenth) Street in downtown Denver, 1909.

Pedestrians stand along the sidewalk near the stone, four-story building with sash and storefront windows and decorated parapet. O'Brien's Hat Store is next door. A horse-drawn wagon and bicycle are parked near the sidewalk.

#14 Workers dismantle the chassis and wheels from several old Denver Tramway Company cars in Denver, 1909

#15 The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad engine no. 701 pulls into the Union Station in Denver, 1909

#16 Boys pose with wood planes in the workshop at the Denver Orphans’ Home (later the Denver Children’s Home) at 1501 Albion Street in the South Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#17 Ice skating on City Park Lake, Denver, Colorado, 1901. View east to Museum of Natural History building under construction.

#18 View of construction of the Denver Tramway’s storage yard and tracks near Jason Avenue (Santa Fe Drive) and Bayaud Street in Denver, 1904.

#19 Men and boys pose on the Denver City Tramway Company ‘Steam Dummy’ steam-powered street car at 30th (Thirtieth) Avenue and Zuni Street in the Highland neighborhood of Denver, 1900.

#20 Exterior view of Saint Anthony’s Hospital, West 16th (Sixteenth) Avenue and Quitman Street, Denver, 1905

#21 West Denver High School women’s basketball team, Denver, 1908

#22 The Denver, formerly Arapahoe, County Courthouse located at 15th (Fifteenth) and 16th (Sixteenth) Streets and Tremont and Court Places in downtown Denver, 1909

#24 Passengers, conductors, and a tour guide with a megaphone ride on Denver Tramway Company trolley number 112 in Denver, 1900

#25 View of Denver Tramway Company trolleys number 166 and 53 on Colfax Street at Broadway in Denver, 1900

#26 Girls and their teacher sit at tables and on chairs and sew in a classroom at the Denver Orphans’ Home (later the Denver Children’s Home) at 1501 Albion Street in the South Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#27 Sick men lie in beds in a ward of Denver General Hospital in Denver, 1909

#28 View of 18th (Eighteenth) and Arapahoe Streets with the Denver Cable Car power plant smoke stack in Denver, 1909

#29 View of a ditch adjoining the South Platte River in Denver, 1909

#30 Denver Fire Department’s Engine House Number One is being dismantled, corner of Colfax and Broadway, Denver, 1909

#31 View of a Victorian Richardsonian Romanesque house at the corner of 1st (First) Avenue and Grant Street in the Speer Neighborhood of Denver, 1905

#32 View of Denver Tramway Company Park Hill trolley number 230 on 17th (Seventeenth) Street in front of Union Station, Denver, 1905

#33 Denver Public Library at Colfax Avenue and Bannock Street in Civic Center Park, Denver, 1909

#34 A man and Denver Fire department horses, in Denver, 1900

#36 Group portrait of East Denver High School students in Denver, 1900

#37 The Denver Dog Pound with animal control officials and dog posing outside of the building, 1909

#38 View of horse-drawn wagons, one filled with furniture, next to the American Furniture Company warehouse at 1542 Lawrence Street in Denver, 1905

#39 View of Leyden Mine coal trains, Denver & Northwestern Railway cars number 1101, 1555, 1523, and 1546 with Alcott Public School at West 41st (Forty-first) Avenue and Tennyson Street, Denver, 1900

#40 Conductors pose with Denver Tramway Company trolley West 38th (Thirty-eighth) Avenue number 312 at the entrance to Elitch Gardens in Denver, 1905

#41 View of Denver Tramway Company trolley “Seeing The Foothills Observation Car” on 17th (Seventeenth) Street in Denver, 1905

#42 Panoramic view of Denver, Colorado from the Capitol Building, 1900

Panoramic view of Denver, Colorado from the Capitol Building, 1900

Shows the intersection of Colfax and Broadway, Denver Fire Department Engine House No. 1, the Denver Cable powerhouse with a large smokestack and storefronts, a park, sidewalks, commercial buildings, houses and apartment buildings. The rusticated stone Denver County Jail, with clerestory windows, and St. Elizabeth Church are in the distance.

#43 Boys in a marching band participate in a parade on Champa Street in downtown Denver, 1909

#44 Sick men lie in beds and sit in wheelchairs in the Tuberculosis Ward of Denver General Hospital in Denver, 1900

#45 Two women and a young girl sit in a canoe near the shore of Smith Lake in Washington Park, Denver, 1909

#46 Jolin Wright and Nora B. Wright play croquet in the fenced playground of the Detention Home School (later the Gilliam Youth Center for Juvenile Justice) at 2844 Downing Street in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, 1903

#47 View of Larimer Street from 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, Denver County, 1900

View of Larimer Street from 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, Denver County, 1900

Shows the Pioneer Building, an Italianate style building with tall arched windows and balustrade. The Railroad Building is next door. Denver Tramway trolley cars, a horse-drawn covered wagon and pedestrians are in the intersection.

#48 Eighteenth 18th Street cable car house Denver City Cable Railway Co., 1906

#49 Exterior view of Ernest and Cranmer Building located at 17th (Seventeenth) and Curtis Streets, Denver, 1906

#50 View of apartments at 12th (Twelfth) and Pennsylvania Streets in Denver, 1900

#51 Members of the Denver Bears baseball team pose outdoors at a baseball field in Denver, 1909

#52 Denver, Colorado west Denver Turnverein meeting hall at 133 – 12th Street, west Denver, 1909

#53 View of Denver Tramway Company car number 126 and a 500-series trailer (South Pearl Street Line), and men in conductor uniforms, in Denver, 1909

#54 View of the intersection of Speer Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue in Denver, 1909

#55 Parade at the intersection of Broadway and 16th (Sixteenth) Streets in Denver, 1905

#56 Denver Sanitation street cleaning division flushing machines.1905-1915

Denver Sanitation street cleaning division flushing machines.1905-1915

Parade at the intersection of Broadway and 16th (Sixteenth) Streets in Denver, Colorado; shows horse-drawn water tank wagons, a steamroller, a man with a United States flag, the Majestic Building, and a street lamp traffic island. Signs read: "Tremont Grocers," and "Cassell Abbot-Detroit The Dominant Six."

#58 Denver and Rio Grande Railroad employees, men and boys, pose by a horse drawn railroad boxcar in front of the Stout Street Post Office, in Denver, 1909

#59 Engine No. 701 of the Denver and Rio Grand Railway is parked on the tracks at the Union Station in Denver, 1909

#62 View of 16th (Sixteenth) Street from a three-story building on Stout Street, Denver, 1905

#63 View of 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, Colorado; shows pedestrians, traffic, Denver, 1900s

#64 Conductors pose with Denver Tramway Company trolley, Leyden number 68, on Lawrence Street in Denver, 1905

#65 Denver Tramway Company trolleys on 17th (Seventeenth) and California Streets in Denver, 1905

#66 Denver Tramway Company trolley number 200 rides past houses on 17th (Seventeenth) Avenue in Denver, 1900

#67 Girls pose on the shore of City Park Lake in Denver, 1905

#68 View of Speer Boulevard construction, in Denver, 1900s

#69 Denver Tramway Company 17th (Seventeenth) Ave. trolleys number 45 and 42 on 16th (Sixteenth) Avenue at the corner of Champa Street in Denver, 1905

#70 The Arapahoe County Courthouse at 16th (Sixteenth) and Tremont streets in downtown Denver, 1902

#71 Denver Tramway Company trolleys, led by number 36 and followed by the Stock Yard and number 333, are on 15th (Fifteenth) Street in Denver, 1905

#72 Two men shake hands in front of the Albany Hotel at the corner of Stout and 17th (Seventeenth) Streets in Denver, 1909

#73 Interior view of furnaces and machinery at the Denver Tramway Company power station in Denver, 1905

#74 View of the Denver Tramway Power house in Denver, 1905

#75 View down 15th (Fifteenth) Street from Welton Street, Denver, 1900s

#76 View of Denver Tramway Company trolley number 237 on Broadway Street in Denver, 1905

#77 Denver Tramway Company trolley Golden number 67 at Union Station on the 16th (Sixteenth) Street viaduct in Denver, 1905

#78 Moffat Road Station (Denver & Salt Lake Railroad) 15th (Fifteenth) Street (15th and Bassett Street) in Denver, 1905

#80 Interior of the Denver Tramway Company machine shop shows workers, benches, table saws, drills, and lumber, 1909

#81 Denver Tramway Company supply yard in Denver, Colorado with stacks of lumber and piles of stone cobbles, 1909

#82 The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Ticket Office is on the corner of Seventeenth and Stout Streets, in the rocco style Albany Hotel, Denver, 1909

#83 View of 17th (Seventeenth) Street in Denver, Colorado. Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk and in the street. Denver City Tramway Company street car number 232 makes its way north, 1909

#84 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1906

#85 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction consists of basement and foundation walls and cranes in Denver, 1907

#86 Exterior view of Denver Dry Goods building, 16th (Sixteenth) and California Streets, Denver, 1908

#87 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1907

#88 Showing Denver’s new motor street cleaner for resident streets with one of the city’s fifty motor trucks in the rear, 1909

#89 View of Denver City Hall (demolished in the late 1940’s) on 14th (Fourteenth) Street in Denver, 1909

#90 The Boulevard United Presbyterian Church at Lake Avenue (Speer Boulevard) and Federal Boulevard in the Highland neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#91 An African American (Black) man stands near a woman on horseback, possibly a drum majorette, during a parade on 17th (Seventeenth) Street at California Street in downtown Denver, 1905

#92 A marching band participates in a parade on 17th (Seventeenth) Street in downtown Denver, 1900s

#93 A marching band participates in a parade on 17th (Seventeenth) Street in downtown Denver, 1909

#94 Exterior view of Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) building, 18th (Eighteenth) Avenue and Sherman, Denver, 1909

#95 Children, women and men skate on the ice of Smith Lake at Washington Park, Denver, 1900s

#96 A Colorado and Southern (C&S) Railway railroad crane hoists a metal barrier for a bridge on the tracks over the Alameda Avenue underpass construction site in Denver, 1909

#97 Rooftop view of the Post Office at 16th (Sixteenth) and Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver, 1900

#98 Night view of the Golden Eagle Dry Goods Store, at 16th (Sixteenth) and Lawrence Streets, in Denver, 1900

#99 View of flood control construction in Denver, 1909

#100 McLellan Gate, 18th (Eighteenth) Avenue entrance to City Park, Denver, Colorado, completed in 1904 as a gift of William W. McLellan, founder of City Park.

#101 Denver Municipal Auditorium in Denver, Colorado; shows a stone building with domes and entablature, 1908

#102 Rooftop view of Denver to the southwest, probably from the Presbyterian church belfry at 17th (Seventeenth) Avenue and Sherman Streets, 1900

#103 A group of children, probably delivery boys and girls, pose outside of the Denver Post newspaper office on 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, 1900

#104 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in Denver, 1900

#105 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in Denver, 1900

#106 People crowd the Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction site by a crane to watch the cornerstone ceremony in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1900

#107 Children and a woman stand on the porch of the Neighborhood House Association building at 962 Santa Fe in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, 1902

#109 A worker draws slag from an oven or furnace in the Omaha-Grant smelter in Denver, 1900

#110 View of Saint Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church at 16th (Sixteenth) and Ogden Streets in the North Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, 1900

#111 Colorado Governor Henry Augustus Buchtel speaks to a crowd at the cornerstone ceremony at the Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction site in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1900

#112 Shorter African Methodist Episcopal Church at 23rd (Twenty-third) and Cheyenne Streets in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, 1900s

#113 People crowd the Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction site by a crane to watch the cornerstone ceremony in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1900s

#115 View of the intersection of Glenarm and 15th (Fifteenth) Streets in Denver, 1909

#116 Denver City Tramway Company Central Loop at 15th (Fifteenth) and Arapahoe Streets in downtown Denver, 1900

#117 The intersection of 15th (Fifteenth) and Glenarm Streets in Denver, 1909

#118 View of St. Paul’s English Lutheran Church at 22nd (Twenty-second) and California Streets in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, 1900

#119 Dean Peck’s Training School for Girls at 6925 E. 8th Avenue in the Montclair neighborhood of Denver, 1900

#120 The Denver Municipal Auditorium at 920 14th (Fourteenth) Street in Denver, 1900s

#121 Firemen stand and pose in front of the Denver Fire Department Headquarters with Hook & Ladder No. 1 and Hose No. 4 in the first floor of the City Hall Building at 14th (Fourteenth) and Market Street in downtown Denver, 1900

#122 A procession at the intersection of Broadway and 16th (Sixteenth) Streets in Denver, 1905

#123 A truck applying oil to a street in Denver, Colorado; brick apartments and a frame house are in the background, 1905

#124 Women who include Frances Sims, Agnes S. Hall, Anamtille [?] McClung, and Louise Wells work at desks in the catalog department of the Denver Public Library at Colfax Avenue and Bannock Street in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1910

#125 Children pose on and near a merry-go-round in Elyria Park playground in Denver, 1909

#126 Panoramic view of the central business district of Denver, Colorado from the State Capitol Building. Shows the Brown Palace Hotel, Denver Club Building, 1900s

#127 The intersection of 16th (Sixteenth) and Stout Streets, in downtown Denver, 1900s

#128 Denver Tramway car 190 heads southbound on 16th (Sixteenth) Street, between Welton Street and Glenarm Place, Denver, 1905

#129 Third Congregational Church at West 5th (Fifth) Avenue and Fox Street in the Baker neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#131 Denver, Leadville & Gunnison Railway at Pine, 1900

#132 A man, woman and child sit in a rowboat near the shore of Berkeley Park beach on Berkeley Lake in Denver, 1900

#134 View of Mr. J. B. Newman’s house at 1445 Acoma Street in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#135 A man and woman pose in a canoe on City Park (Ferril) Lake in City Park, Denver, 1910

#136 Employees pose by a “Seeing Denver” electric tour coach at 17th (Seventeenth) Street and Tremont Street in Denver, 1900

#137 View of a Denver City Tramway Company street car on 17th (Seventeenth) Street in downtown Denver, 1909

#138 Workmen pour concrete into forms for a gutter near the Alameda Avenue bridge in Denver, 1909

#139 A driver sits in a hearse parked in front of the H. D. Martin Undertaking Co. at 10-12 West Colfax Avenue, Denver, 1900

#140 Denver Tramway Company 17th (Seventeenth) Avenue trolley 44 is by the Kittredge Building on 16th (Sixteenth) Street in Denver, 1905

#141 Denver Tramway Company trolley W. 23rd (Twenty-third) Avenue number 34 in Denver, 1905

#143 View of 17th (Seventeenth) street from Tremont Place, Denver, 1907

#144 Cherry Creek and (possibly) Lawrence Street bridge, in Denver, Colorado; shows a Denver Tramway Company street railway car, 1907

#145 Looking south on B’way extension from East Denver Hi [sic] School, 1909

#146 A group of conductors in uniforms pose in front of the Denver Tramway Company garage on Gilpin Street, Denver, 1905

#147 Building (originally Denver City Cable Railway Company power house) at 18th (Eighteenth) and Lawrence Streets in Denver, 1905

#148 Denver Tramway Company trolleys number 334 and 68 on 15th (Fifteenth) Street at Lawrence Street in Denver, 1905

#149 Denver Tramway Company trolley Park Hill number 230 on 17th (Seventeenth) Street in Denver, 1905

#150 Denver Tramway Company trolley number 152 heads south past houses on Bannock Street in Denver, 1905

#151 United States Post Office at 16th (Sixteenth) and Arapahoe Streets in downtown Denver, 1905

#152 Saint Mary’s Academy at 1370 Pennsylvania Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#153 Denver Tramway Company trolley, Berkeley – Elitch number 64, followed by Leyden number 68 in Denver, 1905

#154 Denver Tramway Company garage, Leyden Coal Co. coal wagons, and a building with smokestack at 38th (Thirty-eighth) Avenue in Denver, 1905

#155 Interior of the Denver Tramway Company garage with trolleys number 195, 151, 72, and 240 at 4th (Fourth) Avenue and Kalamath Street in Denver, 1905

#156 Denver Tramway Company trolley Colfax number 339 is on Colfax Avenue by the Lawrence C. Phipps home at the corner of Marion Street in Denver, 1905

#157 Exterior view of Oakes Home, Denver, Colorado, on West 32nd (Thirty-second) Avenue at Decatur including chapel completed in 1904 center right

#158 Conductors and trolley number 63 in front of the Denver Tramway Company garage on 30th (Thirtieth) Avenue in Denver, 1905

#159 A Freemason Temple, South Denver Lodge Number 93 (A. F. & A. M.), 350 South Broadway, Baker Neighborhood, Denver, 1907

#160 Denver Tramway Company station, with conductors and trolley cars Lawrence Street number 214, and Larimer Street number 183, 1905

#161 Denver Tramway Company trolley cars Englewood number 50 and Leyden number 71 are parked at a covered stop on 15th (Fifteenth) Street in Denver, 1905

#162 View of McPhee Building, 17th (Seventeenth) and Glenarm, Denver, 1906

#163 Men working on Denver City Tramway Company streetcar tracks in Denver, 1904

#164 Denver Tramway Company supply yard shows: stacks of lumber and steel tracks, 1909

#166 View of 15th (Fifteenth) on a busy day; shows electric street railway cars (or trolleys including car number 358), horse-drawn wagons and carriages, bicycles, men and women on sidewalk and the Mining Exchange Building, 1909

#167 View of camp sites beside Rocky Mountain Lake at Rocky Mountain Lake Park in the Berkeley neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#168 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1906

#169 The Denver Tramway Company car #63 is at the Berkeley Loop at the end of the Berkeley, – Elitch line at Berkeley Park about 40th (Fortieth) and Yates in Denver, 1909

#170 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in Denver, 1906

#171 Men (including Mayor Robert Speer) inspect Denver Public Library (Carnegie) basement and foundation walls in Denver, 1907

#172 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction consists of snow-covered basement and foundation walls and a crane in Denver, 1907

#173 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction consists of basement and foundation walls and a crane in Denver, 1907

#174 People crowd the Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction site by a crane to watch the cornerstone ceremony in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1907

#175 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1907

#176 Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1907

#177 Denver General Hospital and Home For Nurses at West 6th (Sixth) Avenue and Cherokee Street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, 1909

#178 Young members of the Denver Boys Club stand in front of their building at 1329 15th (Fifteenth) Street in Denver, 1905

#179 Rocky Mountain News building at 1720 Welton Street in Denver, 1909

#180 Architectural drawing of the William A. Hover & Company building, 14th (Fourteenth) and Lawrence Street, Denver, 1900

#184 View of people and a (possibly) bath house or spa in Denver, 1904

#186 Buildings commercial 5-story near Platte River, Denver, 1904

#189 Colorado Governor Henry Augustus Buchtel speaks to a crowd at the cornerstone ceremony at the Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction site in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1907

Colorado Governor Henry Augustus Buchtel speaks to a crowd at the cornerstone ceremony at the Denver Public Library (Carnegie) construction site in the Civic Center neighborhood of Denver, 1907

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#190 Denver High School (East Side High School) at 19th (Nineteenth) and Stout Streets in downtown Denver, 1900

Denver High School (East Side High School) at 19th (Nineteenth) and Stout Streets in downtown Denver, 1900

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Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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20 Comments

  1. Our house is supposedly the farm house that occupied much of the area but I’ve never been able to find more info. I am assuming if this was true I’d be able to find at least a discussion about it. It makes sense logically as ours is a farm house while the Victorians in highlands are, well, fancy!