A Brief History of the Eiber Neighborhood – 123 Years of Change
The Eiber Neighborhood is bounded by Colfax, Wadsworth, 6th Ave, and Oak St., named for George E. Eiber. George and Lillian Eiber moved to Lakewood in 1920. George Eiber was a photo-engraver for the Denver Post and began a poultry business in 1943. They and other families fostered a local turkey industry during the mid-20th century.
Eiber Elementary School is named after George Eiber and of course our great neighborhood, Eiber.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.
More History of Eiber
Agriculture in Lakewood
For Lakewood’s first pioneers, homesteading looked as quixotic as prospecting. There were no natural lakes, no ditches, and very few springs. The earliest attempts at irrigation did not stray far from the largest natural source of water in the vicinity, Clear Creek. Irrigation allowed some to find success growing apples and keeping bees, like Valentine Devinny did on his farm five miles west of Denver.
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. For nearly a century, Lakewood was known for its rural nature. It was a placed established by individuals who rebounded from earlier failures at gold mining by taking their shovels and digging ditches. These diches slowly branched from Clear Creek, which was the only substantial water resource between Denver and Golden. Between the 1860s and 1870s, homesteaders dug three ditches that drew from the creek; the Rocky Mountain, the Welch, and the Agricultural. Supported by a growing network of laterals, these ditches ensured that the community had a fighting chance to overcome Lakewood’s mercurial soil.
Because of irrigation, pioneers like Valentine Devinny were able to keep bees and settlers like Edward Krueger established orchards in northern and central Lakewood.
One of the earliest families in Eiberhood, the Guebelles, lived at 13th and Hoyt. Their 10-acre apple orchard stocked the Cider Hill roadside stand run by the family.
Carson Howell first purchased 80 acres in an area now known as Daniel Gardens in 1868. The farm included gardens, dairy cattle, and hay fields.
Information gathered from internet information and Images of American, Early Lakewood by Robert and Kristen Autobee with Lakewood’s Heritage Center
Denver Federal Center
At the peak of WWII, the former Remington Arms Plant became the Denver Ordnance Plant (DOP) with 19,500 workers that needed housing. After WWII, the DOP became the Denver Federal Center, and its working population stabilized at today’s 6,000 workers. This part of Lakewood experienced a building boom again when former DOP workers decided to stay in the area. The primarily brick, ranch-style homes still exist in well-manicured neighborhoods with tall cottonwoods and a variety of evergreens.
Information gathered from internet information and Images of American, Early Lakewood by Robert and Kristen Autobee with Lakewood’s Heritage Center