All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1960 • Volume 59, Issue No. 2 • February 2020
Photo by Cara DeGette
This House Has Seen It All
Past Owners Include an Early Denver Developer, a Lawyer Who Stood Up To The KKK, and a Famed Colorado Mountaineer and Inventor. Now, Their Old Park Hill Home Is an Historic Landmark. By Cara DeGette Editor, GPHN
Risky business, lost fortunes made again; midnight car chases and threats of violence from the Ku Klux Klan; snowshoe inventions and climbing pitons hammered into the walls. “This place has seen it all, right here,” George Dennis says, of his house, which stands prominently at the northeast corner
of 26th and Clermont. Built in 1911, the architecture is distinctive Mission Revival style with Craftsman elements, including curvilinear parapets, large windows for light and massive timbers at the eaves. It was originally designed as a “Tuberculosis house,” with a sleeping porch, (sometimes called a “cure porch”) that encouraged the circulation of fresh air to help combat the disease that brought so many
to Denver at the turn of the last century. All the bedroom windows open to a 15-window solarium. The main floor is 2,581 square feet, with another 2,581 square feet of unfinished basement with 9-foot high ceilings and detached garage. Since Dennis and his wife Beverly bought the house in 2008, they have painstakingly restored what was an uninhabitable rundown mess to its original glory. In late January, after an extensive process, they
On Jan. 27 the Denver City Council voted unanimously to approve historic landmark designation for the KGF house. Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval thanked the Dennises for their efforts and said she is encouraging her constituents to follow suit. “Often this is the only protection we have, the only way we won’t [demolish] the history of Denver,” Sandoval said. “Tell your neighbors we welcome these proactive designations.” The Dennises hope their efforts inspire continued on page 8
Inside This Issue
RAW POLITICS Penfield W. Tate III
continued on page 4
Dolphin Trainer Mattie Toll And Other Remarkable Tolls
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not be fully examined and some candidates can slide by without taking a position on anything. The divide will greatly impact the race, with the “winner” likely not being the most popular but the one who survives the multiple splits in votes. The question then becomes, can the winning Democratic candidate win a general election against Gardner? Not because the Republican incumbent is so popular – he will likely be less so as the impeachment trial plays out – but because Democrats may not unite around the winner of the primary. Many feel that is what
Saving Bees, Banning Plastics And Other Updates In The ‘Hood
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The U.S. Senate Race Is Real. Get Engaged. And Vote.
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It’s Game On, Colorado
Justice, Equality, Love: Students March To Montview Womxn’s March: Today We Dance, Tomorrow We Vote
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Many of us think of the U.S. Senate as the place where judges are confirmed and some legislation is passed. But in our current life and times, the impeachment of Donald John Trump, and the president’s subsequent trial in the Senate, we are all acquiring a better appreciation for the systems of checks and balances in our form of government. Trump is only the third U.S. president in hisPenfield W. tory to face impeachment. With his trial in the Senate underway as of this writing, many believe tate III that the very foundation of our government is on trial as well, in full view of the world. The proceedings certainly illustrate and magnify the importance of our U.S. Senate. In Colorado, it’s game on. We have a hotly contested Senate race, and we all need to be engaged and vote. The Democratic primary is June 30. There does not appear to be a Republican primary, as incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner has no challenger. Let’s examine the race. The crowded field of Democratic candidates includes Diana Bray, Lorena Garcia, David Goldfischer, John Hickenlooper, Andrew Romanoff, Stephany Rose Spalding, Michelle Ferringo Warren and Trish Zornio. Critter Milton, a financial advisor, is also running, though not a high profile race. If you have attended any of the forums or debates you will hear many similarities in the candidates on key issues, and a few sharp differences. Personalities and styles differ greatly. You will also see the divide in the Democratic Party between the progressive, moderate and conservative perspectives. The Democrats have worked to temper the tone of forums – I moderated one – hoping to avoid direct conflict and disagreement. That simply does a disservice to the process as clear differences can-
convinced the Denver City Council to designate it as an historic landmark. That means, as George Dennis puts it, “it makes it extremely difficult to demolish it; it would practically take an act of Congress.” It wasn’t just the hard, tedious work of restoration that inspired the Dennises to seek landmark preservation for the home, which they have named the KittredgeGinsberg-Forrest House (KGF for short). It was also the history. Specifically, the remarkable stories – which the Dennises pieced together during years of archival research – of three past owners of the house, whose contributions were significant to early Denver and Colorado in vastly different ways. Imagine these ghosts strolling the corridors of your house: • Charles Marble Kittredge, a banker, developer and visionary whose influence on early Denver helped establish it as a city of substance; • Attorney Charles Ginsberg, who conducted a personal and public crusade against the Ku Klux Klan during Denver’s period of social discord, corruption and violence during the 1920s; • Mountaineer Bill Forrest, whose inventions inspired climbers to conquer sheer rock walls and who helped establish Colorado’s reputation as an outdoor wonderland.
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. In February, students from four Park Hill elementary schools made their annual neighborhood marade to Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Story and more photos are on page 10. Photo by Ali Monroe Larson
Fun This Summer: Kids Camp Guide For 2020
Upcoming GPHC Meetings The next meetings are on Thursday Feb. 6 and Thursday March 5 at 2823 Fairfax St. at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.