All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1960 • Volume 59, Issue No. 5 • May 2020 PART I
more appalling. More than 7,750 people perished – about eight-tenths of one percent of the state’s population. Nationwide, between 500,000 and 675,000 Americans died – more than all the American deaths in all the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries. Millions more were sickened by the plague. Most of Denver’s and Colorado’s deaths occurred in 120 days between late September 1918 and late January 1919. The numbers overwhelmed hospitals and communities’ ability to cope with the fast-moving nightmare.
For the GPHN
Penfield Tate III: Don’t Let Democracy Be the Next Victim
Local Business Owners In Limbo, Try To Stay Upbeat
The three C’s
continued on page 6
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Park Hill resident Blanche Kennedy, 21, was the first reported victim of the Spanish Flu in Denver. This photo was published on page 3 of the Sept. 28, 1918 Rocky Mountain News.
For more than a century scholars have been analyzing the 1918 pandemic, known as the “Spanish Flu” because it was mistakenly believed to have originated in Spain. Today some scientists think its precursors date back to 1915, and some suggest that a version of it cropped up near Fort Riley in Kansas in the spring of 1918. At the time, people called it the grippe, a type of severe influenza that had ravaged the world in the late 1880s and 1890s. Denver mayor Robert W. Speer, now remembered for beautifying the city, succumbed to pneumonia on May 14, 1918 after a bout of the grippe. The virus spread to Europe by soldiers
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On Sept. 27, 1918, Park Hill secured a dubious place in Denver’s history when Blanche Kennedy, residing at 2070 Birch St., became the city’s first reported victim of the influenza pandemic that was then ravaging the world. Kennedy¸ a 21-year-old University of Denver student, supposedly contracted the disease in Chicago, and brought it home. Dr. J. C. Weld, Kennedy’s physician who lived just blocks away, at 2349 Bellaire St., confirmed that she had died from influenza. Dr. William H. Sharpley, the city’s manager of health, put the Kennedy’s house under quarantine. He told Denver’s Rocky Mountain News of Sept. 28, 1918, that he was “confident that the death of Miss Kennedy will not be responsible for any cases in this city.” Sharpley was overly optimistic. Kennedy was likely not the only Denverite infected with the flu in late September. The disease had been spreading across the U.S. for more than a month. Kennedy’s death was to be the first of more than 1,500 Denver residents who succumbed to the flu and its complications, about six-tenths of one percent of the city’s approximately 250,000 people. Statewide the numbers were even
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By Stephen J. Leonard
From The Editor: I Am A COVID-19 Survivor. I Think.
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Reflections Of The Spanish Flu In Denver and Colorado
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Park Hill’s Pandemic Past
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Open Space Versus Develop: Readers Grapple Over The Park Hill Golf Course
Realtors Get Creative, Consult Their Crystal Balls
UPCOMING GPHC MEETINGS Monthly community meetings are cancelled until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Most Important Job Hot Off The Presses! Blockworkers Deliver The News Of The ‘Hood Photo and story by Leslie Hirsch For the GPHN
Traffic Jams Move To The Trails Bicycle Sales Skyrocket As Paths Clog Up Story and photo by Reid Neureiter For the GPHN
With schools, gyms, and ski resorts closed and sports leagues shut down, cooped-up Denver residents are trying to get exercise any way they can – leading to unprecedented numbers taking up walking and cycling on the city bike paths. The result: Unusual levels of crowding and traffic in Denver’s parks, and on the city’s sidewalks and bike trails. Garrick Mitchell, a Denver-based accident reconstruction engineer, has noticed a dramatic increase in the level of traffic on Denver’s bikes paths during the shutdown. Many
more users – including cyclists, pedestrians, joggers, dog-walkers, and rollerbladers – are all using the paths. An avid cyclist who has ridden more than 150,000 miles, Mitchell has also noted a wider diversity of people on the bike paths, both in age level and experience level. “I’m seeing a much greater percentage of cyclists not wearing helmets,” he says, suggesting that these are either new cyclists or riders who have hauled out their old, unused bikes after years in storage. Mitchell expressed concern that many do not necessarily know the safe etiquette for using the paths, creating the potential for conflict continued on page 12
We started delivering the Greater Park Hill News in March. The April 2020 issue was only our second delivery! We learned about delivering papers through our neighbor, who has the paper route across the street. Their children had invited ours to deliver papers with them one beautiful afternoon, and they had a blast walking around their route and talking with neighbors. We were told there was a delivery vacancy on our block and after talking with our daughters, Poppy and Sylvie, they were excited and committed to deliver our important community news. We were able to get in contact with GPHC and let them know our interest and the rest is history! Community papers are so important. They represent the news, needs and unique aspects in our diverse neighborhood that aren’t always reflected in local news, national news or online. The Greater Park Hill News is a special and dear paper to those liv- Gloved and ready: Blockworkers Glenn and Syling in this wonderful neighborhood vie Hirsch get ready to deliver the April issue of we all call home, and we look forward the Greater Park Hill News. to delivering it for many years to come. Editor’s Note: Since 1960, the Greater Park Hill News has been delivered for free throughout the neighborhood, relying on the help from hundreds of blockworkers who deliver newspapers to homes on their blocks. Last month, Newspaper Manager Melissa Davis advised blockworkers to take extra precautions, including wearing gloves, when delivering newspapers. Newspapers are considered essential during the pandemic, and we will continue to use precautions during this critical time. If you would like to deliver the newspaper, contact Ms. Davis at newspaper@greaterparkhill.org.