Setting
Park Hill is in Denver’s northeastern quadrant and lies within the area known as East Denver. Its borders are Colorado Boulevard to the west, East Colfax Avenue to the south, Quebec Street to the east, and East 52nd Avenue to the north. The City and County of Denver divides the area into South Park Hill, North Park Hill, and Northeast Park Hill.
Early Development
The modern neighborhood includes several historic developments, among them Hartman’s Addition, Colfax Heights, Downington, Strayer’s Park Place, Bellemont, Park Hill Annex, Oakland, San Rafael, Linwood, and East Swansea. Casper R. Hartman purchased land in what is now the southwest corner of Park Hill in 1871 and laid it out in square blocks, giving some streets a pattern that differs from nearby parts of the neighborhood.
The Park Hill name came from land platted by Baron Alois Gillaume Eugene von Winkler in 1887, north of Hartman’s Addition and east of City Park. After von Winkler’s land was acquired by the Park Hill Syndicate, lots were sold with development rules that required generous setbacks and higher-cost houses. Denver annexed Park Hill in 1903.
Integration and Community Life
By the 1920s, development in Park Hill included racial restrictions. Churches and residents formed the Park Hill Action Committee in 1960, and Park Hill resident Rachel Noel advocated for school integration in the mid-1960s.
In recent decades, residents have organized around issues including toxic waste, airport flight paths, and crime. North and Northeast Park Hill have significant Black and Hispanic communities, while South Park Hill is predominantly white. The Greater Park Hill Community organization, formed in 1961, serves residents and businesses, publishes the Greater Park Hill News, operates a youth jobs program, and sponsors a fall home tour.
Schools and Library
Park Hill’s first school was the two-room Park School, built in 1894 at 18th and Forest. A larger building later became Park Hill School, which received Denver Landmark designation in 1994 and is built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.
The Park Hill branch of Denver Public Library on Montview Boulevard was funded by the Carnegie Foundation and designed by Merrill and Burnham Hoyt.
Open Space and Redevelopment Sites
The Park Hill Golf Course Open Space is bordered by Colorado Boulevard, 35th Avenue, Dahlia Street, and 40th Avenue. The land was once a dairy farm connected to the Clayton School for Boys, later became a golf course, and was protected by a conservation easement in 1997 limiting use to golf course and open space. In January 2025, Denver’s mayor announced that the city would acquire the property in a land swap, with interim and long-term uses to be shaped through public input.
Dahlia Square Shopping Center was built in Northeast Park Hill in the early 1950s on a landfill between Dahlia and Elm streets and East 33rd and East 35th avenues. It was once a commercial center for the neighborhood, later fell into disrepair, and became the subject of cleanup and redevelopment efforts after the site was purchased in 2005.