The Valley Highway project was required to evaluate historical resources in its Environmental Impact Statement. Released on November 15, 2006, this document compiled a great deal of information regarding the southern border of West Wash Park, and is a worthwhile read for a variety on topics, including Noise Pollution, Air Quality, Soils & Geography, Paleontology, and a dozen other characteristics.

(Was a mammoth tooth found in West Wash Park?! More research at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science would be necessary.)

But for the point of this posting, the online document indicates that West Washington Park contains numerous buildings as potential contributing structures in a national historic district. These structures on south Lincoln and East Ellsworth are listed, and described as follows:

West Washington Park Historic District (5DV6959)

The APE [Area of Potential Effect] includes a portion of the western edge of West Washington Park, a historic district residential area characterized by rows of generally well-preserved, modest-sized (predominantly brick) dwellings built mainly between 1900 and 1930.

Approximately 90 historic dwellings in this area were inventoried in 1999 by Centennial Archaeology in conjunction with the I-25 Broadway viaduct replacement project. Centennial’s 1999 survey encompassed a portion of the Valley Highway APE, including 26 significant historic houses on South Lincoln Street and East Exposition Avenue, one significant auto garage on South Lincoln Street, and one significant historic commercial building on South Broadway. Centennial did not recommend any of these properties as individually eligible for the NRHP, but evaluated them as contributing to a historic district.

The SHPO [State Historic Preservation Office] officially concurred with Centennial’s evaluations of these West Washington Park properties on October 12, 1999, and assigned site number 5DV6959 to the West Washington Park Historic District. An historic context has been developed for the district, but its boundary has not been fully defined (Norgren et al., 2002). For the Valley Highway Project, a provisional boundary based on field review was delineated for the southwestern portion of the district. A comprehensive intensive-level survey and evaluation of the hundreds of homes comprising this large historic residential district is beyond the scope of the Valley Highway Project.