Denver is a place many think of as a quick stop on the way to the mountains. But that’s a misconception, and an ambitious new program will work to change that.
Funded by both federal and local money, a partnership of public and private entities is planning to establish a “Heritage Trail,” linking Denver’s key historical sites and parks.
“One of the things we know is that when people visit Colorado, they typically think of the mountains. They may spend a day or two in Denver. We want to broaden that mindset so they will want to visit the sites on the Heritage Trail,” said Steve Turner, executive director of Historic Denver Inc.
Turner and other project leaders say the trail will be modeled after Boston’s 3-mile Freedom Trail, which links 16 historical sites, including Boston Common, Park Street Church, Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House and Bunker Hill.
Denver’s Heritage Trail will start out more modestly with fewer sites.
Linked together by the urban pathway will be five of the city’s primary historical sites: the Molly Brown House, the Byers-Evans House, the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, the Black American West Museum and Four Mile Historic Park.
Annie Levinsky, assistant director of the Molly Brown House, said that each of the sites is in a distinct neighborhood, which adds to the attraction of the pathway.
“We are very excited about this program. It is a way to raise the city’s profile,” Levinsky said. “We are excited that it could grow and excited about the partnership opportunities.”
“The Heritage Trail system will highlight (Denver’s) history in order to attract visitors to the city’s historic neighborhoods and promote a strong preservation ethic in the city,” she added.
Levinsky wrote the proposal for the trail, which resulted in a $64,000 federal “Preserve America” grant from the White House. That grant was matched with another $64,000 from a host of local Colorado agencies, according to Turner.
A kick-off celebration for the “Heritage Trail System” will be at 9:15 a.m. Thursday at the Molly Brown House Museum. Attending will be Mayor John Hickenlooper, representatives of the Preserve America program and representatives of agencies taking part in the program.
The partnership behind the Heritage Trail includes the five historic sites plus the city of Denver’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Historic Denver and the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Turner said that in the coming years, the trail will expand. He envisions it as being a metro-wide trail that could include many other area historical parks, buildings and sites, such as the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave.
“It is a metro-wide initiative,” Turner said.
Four of the five initial sites are within walking distance, but a trip to Four Mile Historic Park — located in Glendale but owned by Denver — would require a trip by bicycle or public transportation.
The city has numerous other historical neighborhoods and dozens of historical buildings, including Daniels & Fisher Tower, the Brown Palace, the Paramount Theater building, the Masonic Temple building and the Navarre, a Victorian structure built in 1880 as the first co-ed college west of the Mississippi.
In Boston, the Freedom Trail is marked by a red line painted on the sidewalk and red or granite paving stones. Just how the pathway will be marked in Denver has not been decided, but Turner and Levinsky said they will be working closely with the Denver Public Works Department to determine what is appropriate.
Signs will soon be going up at the five historical sites identifying them as part of the Heritage Trail.
Levinsky said each has an interesting history:
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
