Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park sits just southwest of downtown Denver, and the city's official name for it is La Alma/Lincoln Park. West Colfax Avenue is the north edge and 6th Avenue the south. Cherry Creek runs along the east side, the South Platte River marks the west, and I-25 cuts north and south through the western part.

Rail yards, mills and a governor's homestead

This is one of Denver's oldest residential areas, just south of where the city first settled in the 1850s. The railroad arrived in 1870 and the blocks filled in quickly after that. The park in the middle was once the homestead of A.C. Hunt, who platted land here and later served as territorial governor.

Cottages in rows, then condos by Speer

The housing is a real mix: two-story brick Victorians, row houses, duplexes, brick bungalows and one-story stucco houses, many from around 1900. The oldest stretch runs along Lipan, Mariposa and parts of Kalamath between 10th and 14th. Most houses there are single-story Italianate and Queen Anne cottages built between 1879 and 1889.

Those blocks became a historic cultural district on August 2, 2021, Denver's second after Five Points. It recognizes the neighborhood's role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and '70s. Its custom design guidelines allow a range of materials but control setbacks and limit demolition, and owners may qualify for 20 to 25 percent tax credits on repairs. If you buy inside the district, plan on landmark review before changing the outside of a house, and ask about those credits before you price out a new roof.

Parkway Center, at 12th and Galapago, holds about 1,050 apartments and condos. At 10th and Osage, the Denver Housing Authority replaced the 1950s South Lincoln Homes with the Mariposa development, a $197 million project with nearly 600 mixed-income units.

The park, the pool and Sunken Gardens

Lincoln Park itself, at Mariposa and West 11th, has an outdoor pool, a recreation center, softball fields, tennis and basketball courts and sand volleyball. Emanuel Martínez's 1978 mural "La Alma" covers the rec center. Sunken Gardens Park lines Speer Boulevard around 8th Avenue and has been on the National Register since 1986.

Santa Fe Drive and the Buckhorn

The Art District on Santa Fe has more than 40 galleries, shops and restaurants along the drive, plus a First Friday art walk every month. El Taco de Mexico, at 714 Santa Fe, began as a trailer on the same street in the 1980s and in 2020 became the first Colorado restaurant named one of the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics, for its smothered pork burrito. By the tracks, the Buckhorn Exchange at 1000 Osage has served steaks, elk and Rocky Mountain oysters since 1893.

Santa Fe is torn up right now. The city is rebuilding it from 6th to 13th with wider sidewalks, trees and more than 70 new lights, and finishing is planned for the end of 2028. During the water main work, the street is closed to through traffic north of 6th from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. If you're looking near Santa Fe, expect detours through 2028.

Light rail at 10th and Osage

The 10th and Osage station, at 975 Osage, opened in 1994 and has C and E Line trains. The H Line is suspended during RTD's downtown rail rebuild, and no buses stop at the station.

Burnham Yard and the Broncos

Burnham Yard is a 58-acre former rail maintenance yard here, used from 1871 to 2016. The Broncos made it their preferred stadium site in 2025, and a purchase agreement was signed in May 2026. The team hopes to start building in 2027 and open in 2031, with the 10th and Osage station moving south of 10th and growing. The city's Burnham Yard small area plan covers 820 acres between Colfax and Alameda and adds a north-south Burnham Parkway, and City Council still has to vote on it. Anywhere near the yard, count on years of construction and then game-day crowds.