Throw Back Thursday: Street Names of Edgewater

The street names of Edgewater have not always been named Ames, Harlan or Otis. With the dreams of real estate developers, the street names of Edgewater began with lofty, presidential names in the late 1800s.

On April 22, 1889, the investors of the Highland Avenue Land Company plotted a lofty 640 acre townsite for the City of Edgewater. The town would run from Colfax Avenue to Highland Avenue (now 26th) and from Washington Street (now Sheridan Boulevard) to Garfield Avenue (now Pierce Street). This townsite included 128 blocks with each block containing 28 lots.

Each of the north-south streets were named for presidents except for one street (Calhoun):

Adams Street – now Ames
Jefferson Street – now Benton
Madison Street – now Chase
Monroe Street – now Depew
Jackson Street – now Eaton
Van Buren Street – now Fenton
Calhoun Street – now Gray
Harrison Street – now Harlan
Tyler Street – now Ingalls
Polk Street – now Jay
Taylor Street – now Kendall
Fillmore Street – now Lamar
Pierce Street – now Marshall
Lincoln Street – now Newland
Grant Street – now Otis Street
Garfield Street – now Pierce

The original east-west avenues also had different names in the late 1800s:

Edgewater Avenue – now 20th
Pearl Avenue – now 22nd
Agate Avenue – now 24th
Emerald Avenue – now 25th
Highland Avenue – now 26th

On February 6, 1902 these streets were lettered from A through P for easy identification. Edgewater residents did not like the new letters, so they formed a committee to find better names. Finding no better replacements, the streets returned to their original names.

Then in 1906, Denver renumbered their east-west avenues and so Edgewater renamed all their streets with the present street names being adopted.

Sources:

Edgewater’s Golden Anniversary pamphlet – 1901-1951
2003 Historic Building Survey of Edgewater Reconnaissance Survey and Historic Contexts Report

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.