Four Mile Historic Park has been celebrating Denver’s oldest structure since the late 1970s, but Estee Fraitag remembers when the historic home had shag carpets and orange countertops.
“When I was a kid, we used to sneak over before it was a museum and peek in the windows,” said Fraitag, now a volunteer at the park.
The old house, which was built in 1859 with an addition in 1883, is now a frontier park that is a tourist destination and educational outlet for thousands of schoolchildren each year, and the site is offering some fun activities for children and adults heading into the spring and summer.
The newest event is an Independence celebration on July 2 at the park, 712 S. Forest St., that goes along with the city of Glendale’s fireworks
Previously, the celebration — which includes old-time games, wagon rides, demonstrations and live music — was on July 4.
“We wanted to dovetail with the fireworks and make it a community event,” executive director MacKenzie Pacifico said. “Glendale is a young community and it’s a way to serve them.”
But the park also offers a wide variety of events such as daily tours Wednesday through Sunday, many school events throughout the week and day camps in the summer.
Children especially enjoy the stagecoach wagons.
“For kids, it’s really interesting to have to think about what you would pack in a wagon,” said volunteer coordinator Laura Hiniker.
Every event is based around the volunteers who help make the park feel like a frontier land, as many are dressed in costumes from the mid-to-late 1800s.
About 60 regular volunteers are the most active, with another 100 who show up during special event days. Some of those events include a picnic concert series that runs June through August, a pumpkin harvest festival and a Christmas event every year.
Fraitag has been volunteering since 2000 and wears an old-fashioned dress that was made by the sewing group at Four Mile Historic Park. She also spins an old wheel where she makes yarn and fabric out of goat and sheep hair. She brings the wheel in when it’s a slow day and she might not have too many tours.
“I’m really loving the history,” Fraitag said.
The home and the surrounding park, which includes 12 acres of horses, some livestock and old wagons, was saved by historical groups as Glendale was being developed. The park is owned by the city and county of Denver and the Four Mile Historic Park is a nonprofit organization that is contracted to do programming, preserve the home and maintain the grounds.
The home had residents off and on through the 1960s, back when Fraitag and her friends were peeking in the windows. The home was later restored back to a hodgepodge of states between when it was built in 1859 through the late 1800s after the addition was added.
Hiniker noted that the house is called the Four Mile house because it’s four miles from the intersection of Broadway and Colfax Avenue. There were when it was the common route into Denver during the mid-to-late 1800s.
Hiniker added: “It’s really a way to show the history and heritage of Denver’s transformation from that really early period in 1859 to what it is today.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joe_vacc
Upcoming events at four mile historic park
March 19: Theater at Four Mile portrayal of Ralph Carr. 6:30-8 p.m.
May 21: Colorado Corks and Cuisine, 5:30-8 p.m.
June-August: Shady Grove Picnic Series, Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.
July 2: Independence Celebration, 5-10 p.m.
Info: info@fourmilepark.org or 720-865-0800
