Dana Hudkins Crawford (July 22, 1931 – January 23, 2025) was an American

architectural conservation Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property describes the process through which the material, historical, and design integrity of any immovable cultural property are prolonged through carefully planned interventions. The indivi ...

developer and

preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation u ...

working in

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 ...

, Colorado. She was involved in almost every renovation project in downtown Denver, from the initial designation of the LoDo District and creation of Larimer Square to the Union Station. She was recognized by her alma mater,

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

, for the Larimer Square project, was inducted into the

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the ...

, and in 2013 the hotel at the restoration project of Union Station was renamed as the Crawford Hotel in honor of her contributions to preserve the history of Denver.

Life and career

Dana Hudkins was born on July 22, 1931, in

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1858 ...

. She graduated from

Monticello College Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting la ...

and then went on to complete her undergraduate degree at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in 1953, where she was a member of

Pi Beta Phi Pi Beta Phi (), often known simply as Pi Phi, is an international Fraternities and sororities in North America, women's fraternity founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois on April 28, 1867, as I. C. Sorosis, the first national secret c ...

. From there, she enrolled in

and studied Business Administration, graduating in 1954. That same year, she moved to Denver, Colorado and began working in a public relations firm. In 1955, she married a geologist, John W. R. Crawford III, and they subsequently had four sons. In the early 1960s, when the Lower Downtown (LoDo) area of the 1400 block of Larimer Street was being proposed for demolition, Crawford organized a group of investors to buy the property for a potential retail redevelopment project. They formed an organization called Historic Denver, Inc. with the goal of preserving Denver's architectural heritage and save the

Molly Brown House The Molly Brown House Museum (also known as House of Lions) is a house in Denver, Colorado, United States that was the home of American philanthropist, activist, and socialite Margaret Brown. She survived the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' and ...

. There was strong opposition to the preservation movement from the Denver Urban Renewal Authority as well as community opposition from those who thought that designating the area as a preservation district would limit new development in the area. Finding financing was another hurdle, as many banks did not want to lend to a woman. She surmounted the problem by obtaining financing from the

New York Life Insurance Company New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company and the largest mutual insurance, mutual life insurance company in the United States, and is ranked #69 on the 2025 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporat ...

. After about 10 years of planning, in 1971, Denver's first Historic District, Larimer Square, was launched. She received a Radcliffe Alumnae Recognition Award for her successful development of Larimer Square. After completing the Larimer Square project, Crawford started work on Union Station neighborhood but worked alone for nearly 30 years. In the interim, she worked on preservation of the Oxford Hotel, LoDo's Millennium retail office project, two Flour Mill Loft redevelopment ventures, the Ice House,

Coors Field Coors Field is a baseball stadium in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies. Opened in 1995 Major League Baseball season, 1995, the park is located in Denver's LoDo, Lower Downtown neighborhood, ...

, and others. In 1996, she was inducted into the

for her preservation and development of downtown Denver. The Flour Mill Loft Project, completed in 1999, was one of Crawford's personal favorites, as it was "the first residential project in the Platte Valley". In 2008, several investors got together and a plan was formed to design, finance and build a transit system linked to

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

. The station itself was accepting proposals and Crawford put together a team, which they called the Union Station Alliance, to make a bid. They won the project in December 2011 and a 99-year lease on the station and set about obtaining approval from the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

to make alterations to the historic site. After a year, approval was attained, the consortium changed equity partners and the development got underway. In 2013, the hotel within Union Station, was renamed the Crawford Hotel in Crawford's honor as a way to recognize her contributions to the revitalization of downtown Denver. Crawford died on January 23, 2025, at the age of 93.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Dana Hudkins 1931 births 2025 deaths People from Salina, Kansas Historical preservationists Architectural conservation American real estate and property developers Denver metropolitan area Radcliffe College alumni