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ADAMS COUNTY |
ArvadaDENVER TRAMWAY STREETCAR #.04 Denver Tramway Co. Streetcar #.04 is important for its 39-year association with the Denver & Intermountain Railroad and the Denver Tramway Co. electric streetcar system. It was the last electric streetcar to be operated in revenue service by the Tramway Co. before the end of service in July 1950. Built in 1911 by the Woeber Manufacturing Company, a prominent Denver car builder, #.04 is also significant as the sole surviving representative of its class of interurban streetcar. AuroraFITZSIMONS GENERAL HOSPITAL, MAIN HOSPITAL BUILDING 
Opened in 1941, the building is associated with the history of military medicine in the United States and served as a national center for the treatment of tuberculosis in military personnel. As the largest building in the state at the time of its construction, it quickly became a regional visual landmark. Portions of the brick and stone building rise to a ten-story height. The Modernistic style building’s then state-of-the-art design for military general hospitals is reflected in its stepped and terraced plan which allowed maximum sunshine, fresh air, and scenic views. L.M. Leisenring, supervising architect for the Army Quartermaster Corps, oversaw the building’s design and construction.
WILSON HOUSE (Centennial House) This 1890, brick two-story Queen Anne residence is associated with the early development of Aurora, originally known as Fletcher. It was the first house built for turn-of-the-century suburban developer Donald Fletcher, who also invested in local water companies and streetcar lines and was president of the group that founded Fairmount Cemetery. BrightonADAMS COUNTY COURTHOUSE (Brighton City Hall) 
The 1906 Adams County Courthouse is an excellent local example of the
Classical Revival style. The courthouse exhibits such key elements as a
prominent pedimented portico with Tuscan columns, pilasters, and keystones
in the window lintels along with a wide frieze and prominent cornice. The
building is a direct result of the creation of Adams County in 1902 and the
election of Brighton as the county seat. By 1939, Adams County had outgrown
the existing building and the county received money for an expansion project
through the Public Works Administration, one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s
New Deal programs. Denver architects Richard O. Parry and Lester L. Jones designed
an addition that nearly doubled the size of the building and used the same local
materials found on the original portion–green glazed brick on the foundation and
red pressed brick for the walls. Windows were also copied from the original building.
The building housed the county’s governing board and administrative offices, the
courts and judicial offices, the sheriff’s office and jail, and public meeting
rooms. Much of the county’s early legal precedents were set here. In the mid-1970s,
the county moved to a new building and Brighton purchased the facility for city offices. BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOOL The 1927 school served as a high school until 1955 and as North Junior High School from 1955 through 1984. Prominent Colorado architect Robert K. Fuller designed a dignified, elegant and functional building while keeping within the modest budget of a rural school district. BROMLEY FARM / KOIZUMA-HISHINUMA FARM 
Emmet Ayers Bromley came to Colorado in 1877 and became one of the largest sheep and livestock owners in Colorado. He also established a long and distinguished record of public service, holding the positions of Arapahoe County deputy sheriff and deputy assessor. He served three terms in the Colorado House of Representatives and two in the Colorado Senate, where he sponsored the 1901 senate bill establishing Adams County. Following the Bromleys’ 31-year ownership of the property, the William O. Roberts family purchased and operated the farm until 1947, selling the land to the Koizuma family. The Koizumas and their relatives, the Hishinuma family, farmed the land until 2006. Asian American families made a major contribution to local agricultural and social history. Arriving in the first years of the twentieth century, Japanese immigrants and their decedents were recruited to work on irrigation ditch construction and to labor in the sugar beet fields. Many initially lived in migrant worker housing. As families saved money, some were able to purchase farms of their own. Typical of those in the Brighton area, the Koizumas and Hishinumas raised sugar beets, cabbage, alfalfa, and corn. The farm’s architecture represents the full range of buildings and
structures necessary for the operation of a twentieth-century Colorado
cattle ranch and farm, including a rare surviving example of transient labor
housing. (Photograph 2006) BRUDERLIN HOUSE 
Emil Bruderlin arrived in Denver in the early 1870s to work as a bookbinder for the Rocky Mountain News Printing Company before going into business for himself. Remembering stone houses in his native Switzerland, he ordered several railroad cars’ worth of South Platte Canyon granite to build this 4,300-square-foot, two-and-a-half-story home for his growing family. The 1890 residence exemplifies Germanic building techniques and style. Shortly after completing this country home, Bruderlin died in a train accident. His family subsequently had to sell the home, which became a boarding house until its abandonment in the 1960s.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH This small red brick building is a good local example of the Gothic Revival style. Constructed in 1886, a bell tower was added in 1890. Acknowledged to be Brighton’s first permanent religious building, it served several congregations before being purchased by the Adams County Historical Society in 1975. Restored as a Bicentennial project, the City of Brighton assumed ownership in 1976. The building remains available for community use. Commerce CityGOTTLIEB AND ROSE EGLI HOUSE 
The circa 1910 bungalow is associated with early 20th century agriculture and irrigation in Adams County. While many of the farms in the area were small operations of 20 acres or less, Swiss-born immigrant Gottlieb Egli and his wife, Rose, farmed over 500 acres. The Sand Creek Lateral irrigation ditch, a part of the High Line Canal, provided water for crops and livestock. The Egli property was among the many acquired by the US Army in 1942 for construction of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. The house and nearby garage are the only surviving pre-World War II structures on the approximately 30-square mile tract of arsenal land now being redeveloped as the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. RIVERSIDE CEMETERY Beginning in 1876, Riverside Cemetery served as Denver’s primary
resting place for the prominent and influential, the unknown and
unwanted, and all those in between. The cemetery grew out of the
19th century movement toward the creation of landscaped rural-type
cemeteries. NorthglennTHEDE FARMHOUSE The Thede Farmhouse conveys a long association with agriculture in the Northglenn area. The farmhouse and its 11 surrounding acres are some of the last undeveloped fields within the city limits. The 1903 house is the only remaining domestic structure in the city of Northglenn constructed prior to 1950 and is a well built example of late Queen Anne style architecture. WestminsterBOWLES HOUSE This house is significant as an example of 1870s residential vernacular architecture and for its association with Edward Bowles, a pioneer resident of the town now called Westminster. In his day the community was DeSpain Junction. The Italianate style building has a red sand brick exterior with matching mortar. It now houses the Westminster Historical Museum. WILLIAM J. GREGORY HOUSE The 1910 William J. Gregory House is one of the earliest houses in the original townsite and is associated with the development of Westminster University. It is a rare Colorado example of a solid brick, two-and-a-half story Dutch Colonial Revival style residence with a flared gambrel roof. HARRIS PARK SCHOOL Built between 1892 and 1899, this school signifies the early beginnings of education in Westminster and continues to serve schoolchildren today. Originally Romanesque Revival in style, the brick building was remodeled in the 1920s to incorporate elements of the Craftsman style. Many interior features, such as original oak flooring and red brick, are visible. SAVERY SAVORY MUSHROOM FARM WATER TOWER The circa 1925 Savery Savory Mushroom Water Tower marks the site of a
prosperous and extensive mushroom growing and canning business. The water
tower is the only intact remnant from the complex. The distinctively painted
water tower has been a prominent landscape feature over the past 80 years,
becoming a familiar community landmark. The city commissioned the historically
accurate tower repainting in 2006. (2006 photograph) UNION HIGH SCHOOL Constructed in 1929, the two-story, blond brick Union High School served as the first high school for the Westminster community. It functioned in that capacity from 1929 until 1949. In 1939, the school district constructed the gymnasium and classroom addition by taking advantage of Public Works Administration funding. The building is now used as an alternative education center. WESTMINSTER UNIVERSITY (Belleview College) This towering red sandstone structure, in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, was jointly designed by E.B. Gregory and noted New York architect Stanford White. Finished in 1892 for the Presbyterian Church, the original university failed in 1917. Its law school survived and later merged with that of the University of Denver. In its place Pillar of Fire, an indigenous Colorado organization, established Belleview College to promote liberal education under a religious influence. |
In 1955, an eighth floor suite of rooms served as President Dwight Eisenhower’s
office and living quarters for seven weeks while he recuperated from a heart
attack suffered while visiting Denver. The suite stood vacant in later years and
eventually became an office. The University of Colorado Heath Sciences Center
secured much of the Fitzsimons site in 1995 for its relocation from the old Denver
campus at East 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. The old hospital forms the historic
centerpiece of the new medical campus. The Eisenhower Suite, as it came to be known,
has been restored as a museum, thanks to a $67,100 SHF grant, a $10,000 donation from
Wells Fargo, and matching funds from the University of Colorado. The restored suite,
which opened in 2003, features Eisenhower-era details such as nurse-call buttons and
glass ashtrays along with a Secret Service sitting room, nurses’ station, and a
private dining room. 
State Register 12/16/2005, 5AM.1856