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ballpark and lodo historic district living Some Denver residents believe the turning point for Lower Downtown Denver was when Coors Field was built in 1995. The LoDo neighborhood, whose borders are 14th Street, 20th Street, Wynkoop Street and the alley between Market and Larimer streets, was for many years the backyard of Denver. Now LoDo is a vibrant neighborhood with dozens of restaurants, bars and a fashionable nightlife that out-of-towners are told to visit first. But its resurgence started earlier than the emergence of Coors Field. The area is the birthplace of Denver. When the city was being settled in the mid-1800s, gold miners and families looking for a new life settled on both sides of the South Platte River. They were seeking gold that once was found at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. Later, residents on both sides of the river became one town. That was on Nov. 22, 1858, and they named the city after James W. Denver, governor of the Kansas territory. The area became the hub of Denver. During most of the 1800s the town was known for its saloons and brothels as well as the place where the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre was planned. Railroads were the best means of travel and transporting goods in the 1860s and 1870s, and Denver built Union Station in 1881 -- making it one of the busiest areas in the Rocky Mountain region. In the 1890s, LoDo and the area around Union Station were becoming more of a commercial location. People started to spread out, trying to get away from living in the industrial environment of downtown and began moving to the Capital Hill area and northward near Curtis Park and Five Points. But even when people were moving away, LoDo was still a center of activity and a major warehouse district. It wasn't until after World War II, when traveling by train was replaced by airlines and highways, and with the Great Depression over, that activity decreased in LoDo. Many homeless and downtrodden folks moved there and camped on the river banks. Their numbers grew, and more people continued to flee to the suburbs. By the 1950s and '60s, the area was known as a skid row, occupied mostly by alcoholics and vagrants. Although there was still some activity with the railroad and the building of the Postal Annex in the '50s, industries also began fleeing to the suburbs because they needed more space. The city basically turned its back on the neighborhood and the river. It wasn't until the '80s that people started restoring and preserving some of the old buildings. In 1988, LoDo was officially named a historic district. The Denver Business Journal - August 26, 2005 by Quibian Salazar-Moreno |
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