The Eiber Neighborhood Association is committed to serving the beautiful, vibrant and growing Eiber neighborhood of Lakewood, Colorado

 

Once an orchard

Beneath the asphalt and concrete of West Colfax Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard, there were once orchards.  It is hard to visualize, but apples, plums, and currants blossomed where lampposts now take root.  Cattle, chickens, and turkeys roamed in the open prairie before it was covered by parking lots.  Continue reading

 

A green community

They say it’s ‘not easy being green’ – but it sure is a lot of fun when you do it with neighbors and everyone pitches in! The Sustainable Neighborhoods Program (SNP) aims to support citizens in ‘greening’ their own neighborhood.  Continue reading

Get Involved

Hello neighbors. Are you familiar with the boundaries of Eiber, your neighborhood? If you live between Oak Street and Wadsworth, and between Colfax and 6th Ave., you live in Eiber! Have you ever attended an Annual Eiber Meeting? Continue reading

The W Line: Connecting Eiber with Golden and Downtown

A Brief History of the Eiber Neighborhood – 123 Years of Change

The Eiber Neighborhood is bounded by Colfax, Wadsworth, 6th Ave, and Oak St. It is named for George E. Eiber, a local poultry rancher of the early 20th century. The town of Lakewood was first platted July 1, 1889, Colfax to 10th Ave, Harlan to Teller (present Two Creeks Neighborhood).  A second platting extended the western boundary to Carr St. in 1890, into what is now the Eiber Neighborhood. Settlers and speculators homesteaded farms and ranches in the area, which supplied Denver markets with produce such as corn, sugar beets, potatoes, apples, cherries, poultry, and dairy into the 1920s and 1930s. Much of these goods were transported to Denver on the Denver and Intermountain rail line. Concrete was laid for W Colfax Ave beginning in 1916 to improve an old stage coach trail that had run from the Platte Valley to Golden, and the mountain mining communities beyond. Early farms began to be randomly parceled out in the 1910s thru 1930s, mostly along Smith Rd (Garrison St) and along 10th Ave. What might be considered "old town" Lakewood began as clusters of commercial enterprises on Colfax from Teller to Carr.

In Eiber, Hess Jewelers, Denver Hardware Manufacturing Co, the Lakewood Grange, and others clustered around Colfax and Carr. WWII brought the Remington Arms plant to the area at what is now the Denver Federal Center. Planned subdivisions appeared in 1940s and 1950s to provide housing for workers at the plant. Many orchard sheds and poultry houses were converted to dwellings during this housing boom.

In the 1950s, Colfax began to develop commercially to support increasing auto traffic on US40. Motels, diners, drive-ins, auto stores, gas stations, lumber yards, feed stores replaced several homesteads and mansions that had been situated on or near Colfax. The housing boom of the 1950s gave way to an apartment complex boom in the 1970s, doubling the population of the neighborhood in a few short years. 6th Ave, already widened to four lanes in the 1950s, became a freeway in the 1960s. The I-70 bypass was completed in the late 1960s, displacing autos and the commerce that had supported them on Colfax. Colfax began a slow decline as a business corridor.

The opening of the RTD W line is now expected to help revitalize W Colfax, along with prudent planning principles that have been developed by the City of Lakewood, with help of the Eiber Neighborhood Association and an involved local community.