Which areas of Denver and suburbs have a traditional Main Street? (Aurora: houses, neighborhoods)

[brwynn]

Hi - just wondering what areas of Denver or surrounding cities have a traditional Main Street? I know Arvada does, but was wondering about other areas. Thanks!

[2bindenver]

Littleton, Parker, Castle Rock

Highlands Ranch is working on one.

I think Lowry, Stapleton, Bradburn, parts of Lakewood....

Why?

[Dorthy]

Everything 2b said, plus Englewood.

[livecontent]

There are many more traditional Main Streets in the area than most people realize. It can be defined as the old center core of a town or city where most services at a period of time were located; and has the buildings and shops that have historical architecture reflecting the early use of a Main Street:

Arvada is on Olde Wadsworth and it known as it is very defined.

Littleton has a very a very large old city centering on West Littleton Blvd.

Golden has still a very thriving, alive and well known Main Street.

Englewood on South Broadway, near Hampden shows the original old center of town.

Edgewater has a defined main street on West 25th, just past Sheridan.

Westminster is on Lowell near West 72nd.

Wheat Ridge has the old city center main street on West 38th, just east past Wadsworth.

Aurora has the old traditional Main Street on East Colfax.

Boulder cannot be forgotten with the Pearl Street as the original city core.

Longmont Main Street carries the name and to me is really a good example of a old Main Street.

Louisville has a really great Main Street.

Lafayette is also defined by a city core of a Main Street.

Erie has an old center of town.

Berthoid has a Main Street that is very apparent as you drive through town.

Fort Collins has and Old Town area near the traditional Main Street.

Castle Rock has to be mentioned with its old Main Street.

Morrison has a little remnant of a old Main Street.

Evergreen has the shops and stores that to me defined a early Main Street along Bear Creek Road, Hwy. 74.

Idaho Springs has a Main Street.

Central City and Black Hawk certainly have the traditional Main Street but no longer the traditional businesses but just the architectural front of gambling houses.

Brighton has a very well defined Main Street.

We often hear the nomenclature of North Denver. Most people do not know that it came from the fact that there was a incorporated city of North Denver, centered on Tennyson St. This area was absorbed by Denver and is now the Berkeley Neighborhood. Tennyson St. certainly shows clearly that it was a Main Street of a Early City. It grew even further as it was also a trolley car route which helped establish it as a center of business. We can then note other areas of Denver that grew into a mini main street because of the centering of businesses along trolley cars. South Pearl Street comes to mind as a good example in the Platte Park neighborhood of Denver. We also have the Gaylord Street business district in Denver.

Lakewood as one of the largest suburbs, I have left off the list because it was never developed as a separate town and just was incorporated latter from a suburbs. It never developed a traditional old Main Street. The same issue applies to Thornton, Broomfield, LoneTree, Centennial. Highland Ranch is not an incorporated city but just a governed development.

I do not consider the new urban developments as a traditional main street. They can never replicate the patina of age in these traditional main streets. I go to Olde Town Wadsworth and i just walk and feel the ambiance of Main Street but the old feelings of time are more evident in the old homes near the main street; I can hear the sounds of yesterday. Perhaps in 100 years, the new urban settings will be viewed as the historical main street of its time but today, to me, they just do not bring the same emotions.

Livecontent

[davidv]

Add Golden, Morrison, and South Pearl Street in Denver. to the above list.

There are some new urbanist areas that are trying to revive the main street feel, including: Belmar in Lakewood, Southglenn in Littleton, and Stapleton in Denver.

[denver_hacker]

I'd add W. 32nd in Highlands, S. Gaylord St. in Wash Park, and Kearny St. in Park Hill as more mom-and-pop commercial strips in Denver.

[avalen]

very well written Livecontent, it brought back a lot of memories,
think my favorite was Golden

[zenkonami]

Though not quite "Main Streets", I'd certainly chime in (or reinforce) S. Pearl St, Highland Square, Tennyson St., University & Exposition (Bonnie Brae), to name but a few City of Denver (proper) neighborhoods that retain some of that older style (and relatively authentic) charm.

[livecontent]

In my big list, I seemed to have overlooked the major main streets of the area, in the Denver city core--16th Street, 17th Street (Our Financial Main Street) and of course the ever popular and evolving East Colfax. Let us not forget Broadway and the exciting variety of the Baker neighborhood.

We even have a renewed Main Street that is more akin to an old trolley line neighborhood. If you take the D Light Rail line, you will go straight down Welton, north of Downtown Denver. You will then be in the middle of the Main Street of the traditional African Community of Denver.

It just shows that the Denver metro area has a great variety of places to live, but you will not see, hear and smell these areas unless you get out of your car and walk around and enjoy.

Livecontent

[bhcompy]

Parker has a very nice main street for a relatively recently developed suburb