Curtis Park: Denver’s Oldest Neighborhood 

By William Allen West,
Photography by Carole D. Cardon 

Enjoy a walk through history in Denver’s oldest neighborhood!

The magnificent Isaac Gotthelf Mansion at 2601 Champa Street was originally built for James F. Mathews, an ore and bullion broker. He and his wife were socially prominent members of early Denver Society. In 1890, Isaac Gotthelf bought the house for $25,000, at the time a very considerable sum. Having immigrated from Germany with only $5 in his pocket, Gotthelf made his fortune as a merchant at Saguache, in the upper San Luis Valley, though he had cattle and banking interests as well. He was twice elected to Colorado’s House of Representatives.

Published by Historic Denver, 2002. 

---

Curtis Park, a Denver Neighborhood

Text by William Allen West,
Photographs by Don D. Etter

On April 1, 1975, a residential portion of Denver’s near east side was awarded a district designation on the National Register of Historic Places. The Curtis Park neighborhood, a place of Victorian residences named after Denver’s first city park, not only stands as a vestige of a bygone era but also as a unique portrayal of an urban neighborhood with an unusually rich heritage of occupancy by middle-class whites of diverse religious backgrounds, Mexican-Americans, Blacks, and Japanese-Americans.

This book of photographs provides a look at Curtis Park when its past is serving to assure its future. The neighborhood is presented visually, through the photographs of Don D. Etter, and historically and impressionistically through the text of Victorian scholar William Allen West.

Published by Colorado Associated University Press, in cooperation with Historic Denver, Inc., 1980