Valverde

Valverde is on Denver's near west side. The 6th Avenue freeway runs along its north edge, West Alameda Avenue is the south edge, Federal Boulevard is the west edge and the South Platte River is the east edge. Barnum is across Federal, Athmar Park is across Alameda, and Baker starts on the far bank of the river, where I-25 runs.

A railroad town Denver swallowed

The name is Spanish for "green valley," for the trees and growth that lined the river. It started as a town laid out on the Denver and South Park Railroad line, and in 1902 the Town of Valverde was dissolved and annexed to Denver.

The first houses went up along Alameda east of Tejon Street. Real building started around 1915, and from 1945 to 1959 about a third of the blocks were at least half built out, mostly in a subdivision in the southwest corner. Down by the river, truck farms gave way to warehouses and offices once I-25 arrived in the mid-1950s and the 6th Avenue freeway followed in the 1960s.

Small frame houses on the high ground

Denver Assessor records count 779 detached houses here. About a quarter were built before 1940 and 71 percent between 1940 and 1959. Only 4 percent came after that, and almost none since 2000. Most are modest one-story frame houses, some with basements, with a few brick ones mixed in. The median house is about 880 square feet, so if you need a third bedroom or a second bath, plan on finishing a basement or adding on.

The houses sit in the west and south parts of the neighborhood, mostly on higher ground, while industry fills the low land to the north and east. Along West 2nd Avenue the split is literal: houses on top of the bluff, warehouses below. West of Zuni Street the homes sit right on the bluff, and starting at Alcott Street the grid gives way to winding streets.

Three parks with ball fields

Valverde has three city parks. West Bar-Val-Wood Park (12.7 acres) and Valverde Park (5.8 acres) were both designated parkland in 1956. Barnum Park East, 11.8 acres at the Federal and 6th Avenue corner, has ball fields. Valverde Park also has ball fields and sits by the South Platte River Trail.

The 1965 flood and the low ground

On June 16, 1965, the South Platte flooded, and Valverde was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the city. Water spread from the river west to about Tejon Street. Around 324 homes were condemned and 75 were lost outright. FEMA redrew the 100-year floodplain for this stretch of the river in 1990. If you're looking east of Tejon, pull the current flood map for the address and get a flood insurance quote before you write an offer.

Getting around, eating and the area plan

Federal and the 6th Avenue freeway meet at the northwest corner of the neighborhood, and I-25 runs along the river on the east side. On Alameda, La Calle Taqueria y Carnitas is on Westword's list of the ten best places for tacos in Denver, and the lunchtime line runs to the counter for campechano and cochinita pibil. Valverde is one of six neighborhoods in the West Area Plan, which Denver City Council adopted on March 28, 2023, to guide growth and city decisions for about the next 20 years.