Virginia Vale

Virginia Vale is the short name for Washington Virginia Vale, the city's official neighborhood name. Alameda Avenue runs along the top, Quebec Street is the east edge, and Cherry Creek and South Cherry Creek Drive bend along the southwest side. The separate city of Glendale presses against it on the west, and Leetsdale Drive cuts diagonally through the middle.

A stage stop, an orchard, then subdivisions

The oldest building here went up long before the neighborhood did. In 1859 the Brantner brothers built a two-story log cabin beside the Cherokee Trail, and by 1860 Mary Cawker was running it as an inn. In 1862 the Butterfield Stage Company made it a stop on its route. Levi and Millie Booth bought the house and land in 1864 and eventually owned more than 600 acres.

The neighborhood took its current shape in the 1950s after more than 20 annexations. Developer Marcus Bogue built about 550 houses after World War II and named the area for his wife, Virginia.

Brick cottages and bigger custom houses

Most of what's for sale went up in 1950s and 1960s subdivisions, and the two sides of Leetsdale feel different. South of it, brick cottages dominate. North of Leetsdale, toward Alameda, the houses are larger and custom built, with more variety from lot to lot. If you want more house and more variety, start north of Leetsdale. If you'd rather buy a brick cottage and update it over time, the blocks south of Leetsdale are where to look.

There are condos too, including a group off Oneida Street and Louisiana Avenue with a few unofficial disc golf baskets in the green space behind them.

Four Mile Historic Park

The old mile house still stands at 715 S. Forest Street, now the center of a 12-acre city park with a working farm and animals on site all year. It became a Denver Landmark in 1968 and went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. The city bought it in 1975 and opened it as a park and museum in 1978. You can tour the house, and the calendar runs from a fall Pumpkin Harvest Festival to Bright Nights in winter.

Garland Park, Jacobs Park and the creek

Garland Park runs along Cherry Creek and carries the name of Dave Garland, a Depression-era grocer who backed youth sports so hard he was called the Saint of Denver Sports. It has tennis and volleyball courts, fields for soccer, lacrosse, football and rugby, and two lighted baseball diamonds with real scoreboards. Lollipop Lake is the centerpiece. The city drained it and lined it with bentonite years ago, and it still draws ducks, geese, egrets and herons. The city recently rebuilt part of the shore with big rocks you can sit on at sunset.

Jacobs Park is named for Frances Jacobs, who cared for tuberculosis patients in 1870s Denver and helped start what became National Jewish Health. The Cherry Creek Trail follows the creek along the west side. It's paved and cyclists move fast, so walkers should keep an eye out.

Leetsdale Drive: barbecue, buses and what's planned

Leetsdale is where the errands happen. Brothers BBQ, at Monaco and Leetsdale, is the original location of a homegrown chain that has been smoking meat since 1998, with a style that borrows from several regional traditions.

RTD's 83D and 83L buses run Leetsdale, with a stop at Monaco. Head northwest and they reach Cherry Creek Shopping Center and downtown's Civic Center Station. Head southeast and they end at Nine Mile Station.

City Council unanimously adopted the Near Southeast Area Plan on May 22, 2023, and it covers this neighborhood. It names Leetsdale, along with Evans Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, as a corridor where redevelopment is most likely. If a house you like backs onto Leetsdale, expect the lots behind it could change over the next 20 years.