All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 • Volume 56, Issue No. 6 • June 2017
Inside This Issue
talk of the neighborhood
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Artist rendering of the west side of the business block, on Oneida between 22nd and 23rd Avenues.
4TH Of July Parade Ready To Rumble
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Compiled by Cara DeGette GPHN Editor
The following is a synopsis of what was discussed on May 6 during the monthly meeting of the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. The next community meeting is Thursday, June 1, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at 2823 Fairfax St. It is free and open to the public, and everyone is welcome. The new owner of the Oneida Park Center says he envisions transforming the business block in the mold of an Old South Gaylord or Old South Pearl Street development – references to the wildly successful and highly congested business blocks in the
Schools Update Lynn Kalinauskas
An Issue Of Equity
Teacher Shortages Give Rise To Relay – But At What Cost?
There is a teacher shortage crisis in Colorado and the nation. Fewer are entering the profession and many are leaving. The teacher turnover rate for Denver Public Schools hovers above 20 percent. Lynn The traditional pathKalinauskas way to becoming a teacher consists of completing a four-year degree, including an accredited teacher preparation program at a college or university. There are also alternative pathways to becoming a teacher for those who already have a four-year degree. Some accredited institutions, like Metropolitan State University of Denver offer such opportunities. Another example is the Denver Teacher Residency Program, a partnership between DPS and The University of Denver’s Morgrige College of Education.
Relay: an alternative pathway Yet another route to the classroom is the continued on page 8
Washington Park neighborhood southwest of Park Hill. First-time developer Todd Snyder and partner Rick Firmine, have purchased all of the buildings on the Oneida Street business block between 22nd and 23rd avenues in east Park Hill, save for the Park Hill Motors building on the north end of the block. Snyder, who is also a commercial real estate broker, detailed his vision for the properties during the May Greater Park
Hill Community meeting and in a subsequent newspaper interview. Snyder does not plan to tear down any of the buildings on the block. He does, however, plan to repaint them and update the colors – currently light peach with turquoise awnings. Snyder said he also plans to repair the iconic Oneida Park Center sign that stands sentinel over the block. continued on page 4
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Developer Envisions ‘Old South Gaylord’; Plans Include 5,000 Sq. Ft. Restaurant; Critics Cite Lack Of Parking
Sneak Preview Of The 17th Annual Garden Walk
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Oneida Park Getting A Facelift
Park Hill Character: ‘I Make Jewelry And Trouble’
Men’s Soccer Kicking It To Russia
Avoid the ‘Summer Slide’ At The Library
Next GPHC Meeting is on Thursday, June 1 at 6:30 p.m., 2823 Fairfax St., Denver All are welcome to attend
Of Homes And History
Before Pearl Harbor, Ensign Thomas McClelland Owned The Fairfax Street House Now Slated For Demolition By Bernadette Kelly Zoning Chair, GPHC, Inc.
Dec. 7, 2016 marked the 75th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Until the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, it was considered the worst attack on US soil. Twenty naval vessels and 300 airplanes were destroyed by the Japanese; 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died and 1,000 others were wounded. In Pearl Harbor, on that day 75 years ago, we lost a Park Hill neighbor and significant member of the Denver community: Thomas Alfred McClelland. McClelland, known to his family members as Tom, was born March 13, 1905 in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up as the only son and oldest sibling with four younger sisters. After attending college in Kansas City, Tom enlisted in the navy as an apprentice seaman in September, 1924. He was honorably discharged four years later. In 1929 he married Lovelmae Leffel. The couple moved from Kansas City to Denver. He was the chief engineer of KLZ Radio in Denver in the mid to late 1930’s, and was the first to do a live coverage of a forest fire, in Rocky Mountain National Park. In 1937, the McClelland’s bought their home in Park Hill at 2858 Fairfax St. The one story, L-shaped home, was designed in an English Cottage style and had been recently constructed. The following year, knowing that there was going to be a war, the navy offered to send McClelland to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. There, he completed his studies in communications in April 1941. He was assigned to the USS West Virginia, stationed in Bremerton, Washington
before it was moved to Pearl Harbor that year.
Two bombs, six torpedoes The events of what happened on Dec. 7, 1941, are described in detail on the website usswestvirginia.org, and originally published in 1959 in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, United States Naval History and James L. Mooney. “Shortly before 0800, Japanese planes,
tion of the ready-service projectiles stowed in the casemates. “The second bomb hit further aft, wrecking one Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane atop the ‘high’ catapult on Turret III and pitching the second one on her top on the main deck below. The projectile penetrated the 4-inch turret roof, wrecking one gun in the turret itself. Although the bomb proved a dud, burning gasoline from the damaged aircraft caused some damage.”
Navy Ensign Thomas A. McClelland died at Pearl Harbor. His old home, at 2858 Fairfax St., is slated for demolition.
flying from a six-carrier task force, commenced their well-planned attack on the Fleet at Pearl Harbor. West Virginia took [six] 18-inch aircraft torpedoes in her port side and two bomb hits, those bombs being 15-inch armor-piercing shells fitted with fins. The first bomb penetrated the superstructure deck, wrecking the port casemates and causing that deck to collapse to the level of the galley deck below. Four casemates and the galley caught fire immediately, with the subsequent detona-
According to the account, six torpedoes also struck the USS West Virginia. Records show that much later, workers “located 70 bodies of USS West Virginia sailors who had been trapped below when the ship sank. In one compartment, a calendar was found, the last scratch-off date being December 23” – which was more than two weeks after the bombing. Among the men who perished in the attack was Thomas Alfred McClelland. continued on page 6