Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the
Denver metropolitan area
Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver regi ...
in
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. As
U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...
was constructed. In the local street system, it lies 15 blocks north of the zero meridian (Ellsworth Avenue, one block south of 1st Avenue), and would thus otherwise be known as 15th Avenue. The street was named for former
Vice President
A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax Jr. ( ; March 23, 1823January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th Speaker of the United Sta ...
. At just under in length, it is known as the "longest continuous commercial street in the United States".
Geography
From west to east, Colfax Avenue starts at Heritage Road in
Golden as U.S. Highway 40 and the
I-70 Business Loop, and continues east through
Lakewood and enters Denver at Sheridan Boulevard.
U.S. Highway 287 joins Colfax just west of
I-25
Interstate 25 (I-25), also known as the Pan-American Freeway, is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 st ...
, and follows Colfax east through Denver and
Aurora
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
. In downtown Denver, near the
Colorado State Capitol
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, United States, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, and the Co ...
, the designation changes from West Colfax Avenue to East Colfax Avenue at the intersection with Broadway. It continues as East Colfax Avenue for the remainder of the route. In the eastern outskirts of Aurora, Colfax Avenue meets I-70 and the two U.S. highways follow the I-70 route eastward; signage at Picadilly Road and the frontage road is labeled Colfax Avenue. While appearing to be interrupted at the I-70 and Colfax Avenue interchange, Colfax Avenue has signage in the complex
E-470 interchange, appearing as a frontage road of I-70 on most maps. This frontage road starts just west of the Colfax Avenue and I-70 interchange, and at an interchange (I-70 Exit 292), Colfax Avenue becomes
State Highway 36 and continues east from Aurora through
Bennett to end at Headlight Road in
Strasburg.
Colfax Avenue cuts through Original Auraria, the city's historic core, and skirts the southern edge of downtown Denver. Because of the dense, mixed-use character of the development along Colfax Avenue, the
Regional Transportation District
The Regional Transportation District, more commonly referred to as RTD, is the regional agency operating public transit services in all or a portion of eight out of the twelve counties in the Denver–Aurora combined statistical area in the U.S. ...
bus route ''15 - East Colfax'' has the highest ridership in the RTD system. In 2006, the first
Colorado Colfax Marathon was held, traversing the length of Colfax Avenue through the three cities.
It's become legend that ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' magazine once called Colfax "the longest, wickedest street in America", but attempts to source the actual quote have failed. However, such activities are actually isolated to short stretches of the length of the street. Periodically, Colfax undergoes
redevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space.
Description
Variations on redevelopment include ...
by the municipalities along its course that bring in new housing, businesses and restaurants. Some say that these new developments detract from the character of Colfax, while others worry that they cause
gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
and bring increased traffic to the area.
History
East Colfax
1860–1890: Elite residential street
Colfax's precursor, Grand Avenue, was established in along what was the southern boundary of central Denver. It was established as an east-west running baseline street along with the north-south running Broadway, to border new eastern and southern districts for the city. In 1868, Grand was renamed "Colfax" to honor U.S. House Speaker
Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax Jr. ( ; March 23, 1823January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th Speaker of the United Sta ...
who later became
Ulysses Grant's Vice President. Colfax had visited Denver in 1865, and locals may have named the street after him to gain national support from the prominent Indiana congressman for Colorado's ongoing statehood initiative.
Denver's population rapidly increased with the arrival of railroads, growing from 4,759 in 1870 to 106,713 in 1890. The area along Colfax developed unevenly: by the end of 1879, the area east of Broadway and north of Colfax was still mostly open prairie, but the area between Grant and Ogden Streets had become a prominent residential area. By 1887, residents and property owners along Colfax began pushing for better transportation options.
A cable railway was built in 1886 to connect Grant and Colfax with downtown Denver. The system was eventually replaced with streetcars, which facilitated more efficient transportation and encouraged development away from the city center. The construction of the State Capitol building in 1886 also had a positive impact on the development of the corridor, and by 1890, the Colfax Avenue Railway Company had extended its line to Montclair.
1890–1910: Conversion to denser housing
The Panic of 1893 led to an economic depression in Denver, and many large houses along Colfax were converted into
multi-family units. The once lavish and expensive homes along East Colfax and in Capitol Hill were no longer easy to maintain, and owners of the single-family mansions were forced to rent out rooms in their homes to temporary workers. As the economy recovered, apartment buildings were constructed, raising concerns among residents about the impact on property values and neighborhood quality. Three buildings still in existence from this early period are The Colonnade, Alta Court (formerly the Altamaha Apartment Building), and the Hamilton. The cultural and demographic shift, from single-family mansions toward
boarding house
A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...
s and rental property for the transient middle class, marked a shift in the demographics of East Colfax.
= 1910–1940: Automobiles and commerce
=
The development of East Colfax was significantly influenced by the automobile, with the number of cars increasing exponentially from the mid-1910s to the 1920s. Increasing traffic led to the corridor becoming more commercial and the street was paved sometime prior to 1920. It part of the transcontinental
U.S. Route 40 in the mid-1920s. Various groups sought to make East Colfax the best road in the state, transforming it into the gateway to Denver for tourists visiting by automobile from the East. It remained the gateway to Denver until
i-70 was built in the 1950's.
Denver's 1925 zoning code designated most of East Colfax as commercial or business, and the city's 1929 Master Plan acknowledged its transformation from a residential street to a business artery. This change led to a boom in commercial building construction in the 1920s, with various structures being erected along the avenue. While construction declined during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and World War II, some commercial buildings and apartments continued to be built.
1940s–present
East Colfax and
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...
remained a solid middle-class neighborhood until the next demographic change occurred. After World War II, the mentality of many urban dwellers shifted. Mortgage lenders preferred new construction and there was a massive "
white flight
The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...
" to the suburbs. Families and the established middle class left Capitol Hill in a mass
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...
, selling off the family home to a developer interested in putting up a high-rise in its place or leaving the home abandoned. The demographics of people left behind were an underclass of transients and renters.
Also, the
zoning
In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...
along East Colfax has been badly planned for 50 years. In the 1950s East Colfax was rezoned B4, and the planners encouraged separation of uses and dependence on the automobile. Property owners along East Colfax found it much more rewarding to tear down an existing historic building and put up a new building in its place, rather than renovating. Planners and building officials encouraged this, for this was a time when old was considered ugly and new buildings meant progress.
In addition the zoning code from the 1950s, a 2:1 floor-area ratio (FAR) was adopted for East Colfax. These ratios determine the square footage of the building in relation to the lot size. Builders in the 1950s who tore down historic buildings along East Colfax for the purpose of developing a brand-new property were required to abide by the car-friendly codes and provide for automobile use.
As the feasibility study, ''East Colfax Avenue: An Opportunity and a Model for Development Action'', claims about the streetscape of East Colfax, "
ast Colfax is designed toencourage development of smaller parcels that lack frontage definition, have unevenly deep setback patterns and leave a large quantity of undeveloped space." This FAR almost single-handedly contributed to the architectural demise of East Colfax.
Phil Goodstein, a Denver historian, analyzes the effect of the FAR in his book, ''The Ghosts of Denver: Capitol Hill''. "Now the businesses were set back from the sidewalk with a parking lot between the store and the street. Every block, it seemed, became a parking lot while customers found it necessary to drive from one store to the next. Pedestrians had to dodge cars in the middle of the block... In light of this unpleasant walking atmosphere and Denver's increasing addiction to the automobile, the number of people on the street declined. With this, the neighborhood became less safe." It was a steady downward spiral with many factors leading to what East Colfax is today, including the lack of interest in historic buildings and the myopic visions of the 1950s planners.
Another monumental watershed moment in the history of East Colfax Avenue was the completion of
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, Baltimo ...
. No longer did incoming tourists drive down the thoroughfare on their way into downtown. The tourist dollar was effectively wiped out as a revenue source for East Colfax after this decade. So began another downward spiral. With no tourists to spend money along East Colfax the businesses suffered, as did the demand to go to Capitol Hill.
A factor in the increase in urban poor along Colfax has been linked to Denver Urban Renewal Authority's plans for
urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
in Downtown Denver. In the now-discredited belief that tearing down historic buildings and replacing them with
modern architecture
Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architectur ...
and high-rises would benefit cities, DURA bulldozed the bulk of Larimer Street in downtown. The urban poor that had been housed in Larimer Street's
single room occupancy
Single-room occupancy (SRO) is a type of low-cost housing typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes, or single adults who like a minimalist lifestyle, who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a smal ...
buildings were now displaced to Colfax.
West Colfax
West Colfax Avenue began as a trail blazed during the
Colorado Gold Rush, being a well-traveled direct route to the gold fields in the mountains. Historic media and other sources confirm its existence at least as far back as the spring of 1859, and it immediately became a major thoroughfare of goods, people and transportation service to and from the
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
mountains. Soon it took on its original name, South Golden Road, as the southern road from
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
to
Golden.
Originally West Colfax was configured with two major differences than how it exists today. It did not proceed past today's intersection with Wide Acres Road, as originally Wide Acres and today's South Golden (or Old Golden) roads were the continuation of the thoroughfare into Golden. Also, the road's original route took it through the bed of present-day
Sloan's Lake
Sloan Lake, also known as Sloan's Lake and Sloans Lake, is a body of water, park, and neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. The neighborhood is located on the northwest side of Denver, with the lake acting as a central feature of the neighborhood.
...
, then a convenient swale for road travel. Stagecoach driver Bill Turner, who drove the route for the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express, told the ''
Colorado Transcript'' in 1909 how and when this changed:
The road for many years traveled over open prairie with various farms along the way. With the arrival of a tramway line running along West 13th Avenue, landowner
William A. H. Loveland and others laid out the new city of
Lakewood between Golden and Denver. The road, which soon became known as Colfax, became Lakewood's main thoroughfare.
Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax Jr. ( ; March 23, 1823January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th Speaker of the United Sta ...
himself had actually once traveled this portion of the road named after him, when he was traveling by stagecoach with presidential candidate
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
during a campaign getaway in 1868. In the meantime of the late 19th Century, the eastern end of West Colfax became home to numerous Jewish people of the Denver area. In 1898,
Dr. Charles David Spivak, a noted Russian immigrant, physician and genealogist, established the Jewish Consumptives Relief Society to treat
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
victims on a campus in today's 6400 block of the road. This
sanitorium
A sanatorium (from Latin ''wikt:sanare, sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a Hospital#Specialized, specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence.
Sa ...
treated victims of the White Plague who were too poor to pay or whose cases were too desperate to cure. The Golden Hill Cemetery was established at the western end of the road, divided into mainstream and the hill sections, the hill being the final resting place of victims who could not be cured. The hill section, as well as the JCRS campus, are now listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Around 1914 West Colfax was paved with concrete and designated a state highway, and it continued evolving into a major commercial thoroughfare of the region. During
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
it began showing signs of more colorful notoriety when scofflaw roadhouses such as Twilight Gardens operated along the thoroughfare. In 1937 the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
completely paved and modernized the highway, and built a new western route which took it over the hill and across ranch land to the entrance of Mt. Vernon Canyon, its present route. Around this time Colfax was designated
U.S. Highway 40. From there on, commercial development boomed, including numerous
motels
A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...
, automobile dealerships, restaurants and more. After World War II it was a classic neon-lined highway for natives and travelers of its era; among its landmarks was Davies Chuck Wagon Diner, brought there in 1957 by restaurateur rancher Lyman Davies. The diner is also listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. In 1956, two
shopping malls
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generi ...
, Westland and the JCRS Center, were built along Colfax, introducing major department stores and groceries to the area. At its far west end, at the base of the mountains, the Magic Mountain theme park was built, among the first of its kind in the world. The theme park, like many of its era, collapsed, but was resurrected in the 1970s as
Heritage Square.
After the construction of nearby West 6th Avenue (
U.S. Highway 6) and
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, Baltimo ...
, West Colfax Avenue through Denver's
West Colfax Neighborhood, Northeast Lakewood, and Edgewater slowly declined and gained the seedy crime reputation and reality of its eastern counterpart. Since the 1970s, West Colfax Avenue through west Denver, Northeast Lakewood, Edgewater has had a high reputation and population of
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...
as well as other
Latino immigrants. During the 1990s, Lakewood began what has become a series of urban renewal and beautification efforts along the thoroughfare, from streetscaping to encouraging new proliferation of neon lighting to capitalize on its colorful past. Westland was rebuilt, and the JCRS Center also modified, but not so far as to eliminate the highly popular
Casa Bonita
Casa Bonita ( in Spanish language, Spanish) is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican restaurant in Lakewood, Colorado, located within the Lamar Station Plaza. It first opened in 1974, and was originally part of a chain of Mexican entertainment restaurants ...
restaurant which joined it in 1974. On the west end, the Stevinson family, who had originally built automobile dealerships there in the 1960s, built the new Denver West Village shopping center in 1997. In 2002 the
Colorado Mills shopping center was built and opened across Colfax from there, the largest commercial development yet built on Colfax.
In the late 1990s the entirety of Colfax Avenue was designated a Colorado Heritage Corridor by the state government.
Notable Establishments
Theatres
Colfax is a hub for live music and culture in Denver. A number of theaters actively operate on the street.
Ogden Theatre
The Ogden Theatre is a concert venue that has been a significant part of the city's entertainment history since its founding as a silent-film theatre in 1917 by John Thompson and Henry Goodridge. It is one of the oldest still-operational theaters in Denver, and was designated a National Historical Place after its reopening in 1993 by current owner Doug Kauffman. The venue has hosted notable figures such as
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, and has also played a role in the success of local bands like
The Lumineers
The Lumineers are an American alternative folk band based in Denver, Colorado. The founding members are Wesley Schultz (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, piano). Schultz and Fraites began writing and performing to ...
. Designed by architect
Harry W.J. Edbrooke in a
Mediterranean style, the theater has not only been a concert venue but also a silent film and
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
theater, and later a motion picture theater.
Bluebird Theatre
Built in 1913 as the Thompson Theatre, the
Bluebird Theatre was given its current name by theatre mogul Harry Huffman in 1921. Huffman hosted a successful War Bonds contest during WWII, but the theater faced challenges in the post-war years, eventually screening low-budget and adult films until its closure in 1987. In 1994, Chris Swank and Evan Dechtman purchased the Bluebird and renovated it into a live music venue with tiered levels and a bar, aided by federal funding. AEG assumed control of the property in 2006. The Bluebird Theater is known for an intimate atmosphere and contributing to the cultural heritage of Colfax Avenue. Designed by architect Harry W.J. Edbrooke, the two-story building features a light tan brick exterior with red terra cotta accents and a lighted marquee.
Establishments on the National Register of Historic Places
These places along Colfax Avenue have been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
:
*
Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
*
Civic Center Historic District
*
Denver Mint
*
Ogden Theatre
*
White Spot Restaurant
*
West Side Court Building
*
East High School
*
Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner
*
Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society
The Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) was a non-sectarian sanatorium to treat tuberculosis patients in Lakewood, Colorado. Founded in 1904, the sanatorium campus was also home to the first synagogue in Jefferson County, Colorado. In 1954 ...
*
Hill Section, Golden Hill Cemetery
References
Sources
*
External links
Main Street, USA from the Denver ''
Westword
''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...
''
Eat, Drink and Be Merry on East ColfaxColfaxAvenue.org- Historical Guide to the longest, wickedest street in America.
Colfax Avenue Museum- Historic and one-of-a-kind artifacts related to Schuyler Colfax and the street that bears his name, Colfax Avenue.
Hey Mama Music Video- featuring East Colfax from
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
{{authority control
Transportation in Denver
Auraria Campus
Transportation in Lakewood, Colorado
Golden, Colorado
Streets in Colorado
Transportation in Aurora, Colorado
U.S. Route 40
Works Progress Administration in Colorado
Interstate 70