Image:  Mile High Rising  is a mural by Marcus Akinlana at Denver International Airport. It  illustrates Black contributions along the Colorado Front Range. Brown and copper figures -- complete with patina-- take centerstage against a blue backdrop of city skies and purple mountain majesty. Akinlana depicts ranchers on horse back,  trades people in construction and mining fields,  and others building home and community.

Mapping Prejudice in Denver

Mapping Prejudice is a group of historians, geographers, and digital activists who document structural racism in real estate.

Mapping Prejudice

 University of Minnesota Libraries  began Mapping Prejudice in 2016. Their work paves the way for other communities to expose the history of structural racism and support the work of reparations locally. The  Colorado State Internet Portal Authority  (SIPA) connects residents to government by putting more information and services online. In 2022,  Denver Public Library (DPL)  received an $8,000 SIPA micro-grant to start Mapping Prejudice in Denver. DPL later contributed an additional $16,000 toward this project. The funding was used to acquire data, train 20 library staff members to conduct public record reviews, test the review process, create this map, and engage the community. This StoryMap documents findings from 144,000 records spanning 1931-1935. The map will be updated periodically as more data becomes available. Our long-term goal is to document prejudice in Denver from the years 1876 to 1968, when the Fair Housing Act passed.

Denver Context

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, spanning 1929 to 1939. Social tensions were high in the United States and racial prejudice had already permeated throughout Colorado for the world to see. Colorado's racism went on full display at the  1893 Chicago World Fair  and the celebrated  Denver African Expedition in 1925 . Indeed, the  Ku Klux Klan  ruled Denver a century ago, as prominent Klansmen held positions of power in state and local government. Klansman Clarence Morley was a Denver Judge who developed inmate labor programs before becoming Colorado Governor from 1925-1927. Klansman Benjamin Stapleton was Denver Mayor from 1923 to 1931.  Anti-Mexican  sentiment similarly marked Ed Johnsons' terms as a congressman and governor from 1923-1937. These were critical years for urban planning in Denver. The maps below demonstrate Denver's first zoning code in 1925, Denver's vision for world class urban parks and transit, and the racial and ethnic tensions surrounding Governor Johnson's multi-million dollar state highway plans.

From Left to Right | 1929 Proposed Denver Park and Boulevard System | 1925 Denver Zoning Map | 1933 Official Route Map of the Denver Tramway Corporation

A map titled "Colorado's Southern Front Against Alien Entry" was published in the Denver Post in 1936. The map is bound by the city of Pueblo (north) and town of Trinidad (south). The darker and broader lines represent Colorado State Highways, as earlier adopted by the Highway Advisory Board in 1923. Ironically, it is the infrastructure that enabled migration.

1929 Negro Report

Prejudice in power made it clear that Denver's progress was was not intended for everyone. Despite these pressures, African American associations took shape to promote racial justice.

In 1929, the National Urban League and the Denver Interracial Committee issued a report titled,  The Negro Population of Denver, Colorado: A Survey of its Economic and Social Statu s. The committee was "an organization of white and colored persons interested in the promotion of amity between the races, and the material situations which affect the Negro's adjustment to urban life." It recommended the adoption of a Housing Commission that would "investigate and make efforts to improve the many unsatisfactory conditions in the city."

From Left to Right | 1920 Black leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Denver | 1926 the racist Ku Klux Klan marches at 17th and Larimer | Black office workers at the American Woodmen Life Insurance Company.

Members of the Glenarm YMCA gathered at Dr. Clarence Holmes' summer cabin.

According to the report, 50% of Colorado's Black population lived in Denver. They held 857 parcels of property with an estimated value of $3.7 million in 1929, roughly equivalent to $66 million in 2023. The majority of Denver's Black residents lived in the Five-Points and Whittier neighborhoods. More than 100 Black businesses were documented. The Supreme Camp of American Woodmen (SWAC) was founded in Denver in 1901. They built community wealth through real estate, managed a life insurance company with $30,000,000 of insurance in force by 1930, and were the largest employer of Black office workers in Denver. Additional Black businesses included grocers, barbers, and physicians such as dentist Dr.  Clarence Holmes , who co-founded the Glenarm Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and Cosmopolitan Club in Denver. The Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, Negro Woman's Club Association, Denver Colored Association, and United Negro Protective Association also took shape to promote mutual aid. The report documented 17 Black churches with congregations ranging from 44 to 1,020 members.

The Five-Points Whittier Neighborhood was home to the majority of Denver's Black residents | From left to right | Mallard's Grocery and Confectionary was a Black owned business. | The Cosmopolitan Club motto was "humanity above nation, race, or creed."| Whittier Elementary School had the highest percentage of Black students. | The Zion Baptist Church was established in 1865 and is Colorado's oldest African American Congregation.

The report also document racial restrictions in theatres where Blacks were not permitted entry, hospitals that would not accept Black patients in the same wards as Whites, and extreme exclusions in employment and organized labor. The  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)  organized to combat such flagrant discrimination in Denver.

Mile High Lodge No. 68 of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen does not admit Negroes on any terms. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 11 does not admit Negroes. Denver Musical Protective Association does not admit Negroes in the same locales with whites. White help would not care to work with colored girls (p. 16 and 23).

1931-1935 Interactive Map

DPL reviewed 144,000 records from 1931-1935. Explicit racism was identified in over 300 real estate deeds. Instances of racism can often be traced to similar transactions between the same buyer or seller. The interactive map below shows the modern address of each restriction.

1931-1935 | Mapping Prejudice in Denver | Click the red markers to review racial restrictions in real estate. A table will appear showing the buyer and seller for that transaction, the modern address for each property, and the explicit racial language used in that deed.

Significant Findings

| The number of Denver subdivisions with racial restrictions in real estate increased from 35 subdivisions in 1931 to over 50 subdivisions in 1935. Common language prohibited "Negroes" from buying, selling, or renting property. Others explicitly limited residence to members of the "White" or "Caucasian" race, unless non-Whites were employed as servants exclusively. | Racial restrictions were often found alongside additional rules about minimum lot size and home values, building materials and design standards, allowable land uses, or other constraints. | DPL identified over 300 transactions with racial restrictions. Of those, 65% were from The D.C. Burns Realty and Trust Company. | It was especially startling to find an explicit, Whites-only restriction in property transactions for Denver School District No. 1. | In addition to documenting discrimination, DPL tracked records that positively identify Black real estate. DPL identified nearly 200 records for Supreme Camp of the American Woodmen, an African American fraternal organization for life insurance and real estate.

Restricted Subdivisions

1905 | The D.C. Burns Realty and Trust Company was located in the Kittridge Building at 16th and Glenarm where a Denver Tramway Company 's trolley passed downtown businesses.

65% of the racially restricted deeds that DPL identified for 1931-1935 were signed by President Daniel C. Burns of The D.C. Burns Realty and Trust Company. In fact, the company wrote racism in their standard contract with the phrases "nor shall said premises be occupied, leased, rented, or sold to a negro," or "said premises shall only be occupied by, sold, leased, or rented to members of the Caucasian race." Yet, multiple Denver subdivisions, parks, and monuments are named in honor of the Burns family legacy. In 1939, Frank Burns took over his uncle's company and was hailed as an affordable housing champion-- a vision that did not include Blacks. The Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management at the University of Denver is named for him.

1907: Robert Burns Memorial Monument at City Park in Denver

Bonnie Brae was founded by mortician George W. Olinger, who envisioned an exclusive community. It was one of many neighborhoods with racial restrictions that governed the entire subdivision. Its explicit intent was to ensure a long-term policy of Whites only. The deeds read,

"No lot or parcel of land in Bonnie Brae Addition to the City and County of Denver, State of Colorado, shall or may be sold to or rented to any person or persons of other than the Caucasian or white race; and it is specifically understood and agreed that no lot or parcel of land in said Bonnie Brae Addition to the City and County of Denver may be sold or rented to any person or persons of any branch of the Caucasian or white race which said branch is objectionable to a majority of the owners of property in said Bonne Brae Addition. PROVIDED, however, that owners of property in said Bonnie Brae Addition shall be allowed to employ servants who are not members of the Caucasian or white race" (emphasis added).

The deed specified that a vote on subdivision rules would not take place until 1975, and that votes would only take place in 10 year increments after that. Restrictions could only be removed in the event that 60% of all recorded property owners agree to remove the restrictions. The photos below depict restricted blocks in the neighborhood, an Olinger mortuary, and members of the Olinger family in a marching band and in a military formation in Denver.

From Left to Right | A 1923 drawing of the Bonnie Brae Development by Saco DeBoer | An early aerial photograph of Bonnie Brae, originally developed in the 1920s on land that had been granted to the Kansas Pacific Railroad in 1870.

From top left to right | Maps of restricted blocks 4 and 12 in Bonnie Brae | The Olinger Mortuary | The Olinger Highlander Marching Band poses in front of the Knight-Campbell Music Co. |The Olinger Highlander Boys parade on Cheeseman Park with rifles at their sides in 1928. The group was formed in 1916.

Subdivision-wide restrictions were also found for Cherry Hills, Lakota Heights, Belcaro Park, and Park Lane Square in 1931.

1926-1931 | Saco Rienk DeBoer was a prolific city planner and landscape architect. Click the images above to view DeBoer's illustrated maps of Park Lane Square. These materials can be accessed via the Western History Archives at Denver Public Library

This 1950s Sanborn map depicts an area originally constructed in the 1930s. It shows a restricted segment of the Lakota Heights neighborhood.

1922 | This proposed covenant for Cherry Hills in 1922 included a racial restriction that endorsed keeping servants. Cherry Hills is one of many communities that Frank Burns, noted above, helped to develop in the late 20s and early 30s. It was formerly believed that Denver real estate did not feature covenants until the 1940s.

HOLC Redlining

The Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) drew redlining maps for over 200 cities to document the relative risk of lending across neighborhoods. Government housing agencies assigned a grade from A to D to different neighborhoods in Denver and refused housing loans to people and families living in neighborhoods of a certain grade (namely grades C and D).Race and ethnicity were influential factors, causing neighborhoods with Black or immigrant populations, for example, to receive a lower lending grade. The maps led to reduced homeownership rates and increased racial segregation in those areas. This review documented thousands of transactions by HOLC from 1933-1935. While none of the HOLC records contained an explicit racial exclusion, the proliferation of HOLC transactions during this time is significant, as 1934 is the year commonly associated with the beginning of redlining.

This 1938 redlining map shows the relative lending risk assigned to neighborhoods in Denver by the Home Owners Loan Association (HOLC) Green indicates the best A Grade neighborhoods, while red indicates the worst D Grade neighborhoods according to HOLC. D grades were often associated with the racial and ethnic make up of the area.

Clarifying remarks for D Grade areas illustrates the racism of redlining. Area 12 was called Denver's closest approach to a slum district, occupied by Negroes and Mexicans. Area 13 was called one of the best Negro districts in the United States. Thus, no matter the condition of the neighborhood, race was a primary factor for D Grades.

This segment of the 1938 redlining map for Denver shows D Grade areas 12 and 13 in the  Five Points-Whittier Neighborhood . Here, the Black population was predominant-- the seat of Denver's African American Community.

Evidence of systemic racism was revealed in this review for Mapping Prejudice Denver. The criteria used to identify systemic racism include racial exclusions written repeatedly by same the parties, such as The D.C. Burns Realty and Trust Company and/or racial exclusions that were applied to an entire subdivision such as Park Lane Square or Bonnie Brae. Raw GIS data for 1931-1935 can be found online at  Colorado Information Marketplace  . Our goal is to continue this research from 1876 to 1968, the year the Fair Housing Act was passed in the United States. Additional data will be added periodically to build on this disturbing and complex story of how and where racism in Denver kept people from acquiring wealth and living in the community of their choice. We would like to thank SIPA for the funds that made this project possible.

Acknowledgements

StoryMap by Mx. Adison Quin Petti With Dedication to Rosemary Lytle Rosemary Lytle spent 25 years as a daily reporter and journalist before shifting her talents toward community and non-profit leadership. She has since worked for ACLU of Colorado and Positive Impact. She served as President of the NAACP CO-MT-WY State Conference for a decade, and is my beloved mentor <3

Special Thanks, Craig Haggit and Sarah Ganderup at Denver Public Library Kevin Patterson and Bo McMillan from Redress Movement Portia Prescott and Walter Huff II, NAACP Housing Committee

A map titled "Colorado's Southern Front Against Alien Entry" was published in the Denver Post in 1936. The map is bound by the city of Pueblo (north) and town of Trinidad (south). The darker and broader lines represent Colorado State Highways, as earlier adopted by the Highway Advisory Board in 1923. Ironically, it is the infrastructure that enabled migration.

Members of the Glenarm YMCA gathered at Dr. Clarence Holmes' summer cabin.

1905 | The D.C. Burns Realty and Trust Company was located in the Kittridge Building at 16th and Glenarm where a Denver Tramway Company 's trolley passed downtown businesses.

1907: Robert Burns Memorial Monument at City Park in Denver

This 1950s Sanborn map depicts an area originally constructed in the 1930s. It shows a restricted segment of the Lakota Heights neighborhood.

1922 | This proposed covenant for Cherry Hills in 1922 included a racial restriction that endorsed keeping servants. Cherry Hills is one of many communities that Frank Burns, noted above, helped to develop in the late 20s and early 30s. It was formerly believed that Denver real estate did not feature covenants until the 1940s.

This 1938 redlining map shows the relative lending risk assigned to neighborhoods in Denver by the Home Owners Loan Association (HOLC) Green indicates the best A Grade neighborhoods, while red indicates the worst D Grade neighborhoods according to HOLC. D grades were often associated with the racial and ethnic make up of the area.

Clarifying remarks for D Grade areas illustrates the racism of redlining. Area 12 was called Denver's closest approach to a slum district, occupied by Negroes and Mexicans. Area 13 was called one of the best Negro districts in the United States. Thus, no matter the condition of the neighborhood, race was a primary factor for D Grades.

This segment of the 1938 redlining map for Denver shows D Grade areas 12 and 13 in the  Five Points-Whittier Neighborhood . Here, the Black population was predominant-- the seat of Denver's African American Community.