Crown Hill Park History v2

Crown Hill Park is a favorite of dog walkers, horse riders, and is perfect for little bicycle (or tricycle) riders too. Sunsets can be beautiful here, especially if viewed from the east end of the lake.

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While you're here, enjoy the park. The inner loop around the lake is a pleasant 1.25 mile walk. You'll meet friendly dog walkers, kids learning to ride their bicycles, rollerbladers, and sometimes you'll see a guy on a pair of old fashioned roller skates doing some very artistic, fluid, backwards skating!

This park has an interesting history:

When early settlers first came to Colorado they were often drawn by the lure of riches to be found in the towering mountains to the west. The California gold rush of 1849 brought tens of thousands of men, many of them previously farmers, to the west. Many prospected on their way through Colorado. Often their dreams of riches ended in dust, and the disappointed miners returned to the plains to resume their former way of life – farming. A number of small farming communities grew up on the rolling highlands west of pioneer Denver and Auraria. The area offered rich soil that, with irrigation, yielded abundant crops of wheat and vegetables. As its name reveals, the town of Wheat Ridge was built on a highland area that was soon covered with wheat farms. To its north the Clear Creek valley was soon filled with orchards and became known as Fruitdale. Further north, beyond the valley, other farmers built Arvada.

The two water bodies on the park property today were natural ponds. Waters stored in Crown Hill Lake originate in Clear Creek and are transported via the Crown Hill Agricultural Ditch to Crown Hill Lake. Most of the water in Kestrel Pond is seepage from Crown Hill Lake. The farming communities of Wheat Ridge and Lakewood gradually grew.

In 1860, Henry and William Lee came west from Iowa and homesteaded what is now Crown Hill Park. Here they raised produce to sell to the mining camps along the front range. The first apple orchard in Wheat Ridge was established here. After the turn of the century, the brothers founded the Agricultural Ditch Company and sold the land to the Crown Hill Association. Crops were still cultivated and the lake water irrigated the adjacent cemetery.

In 1972, the West Aspen Company of Texas proposed to develop a commercial and residential community to accommodate 8,000 residents in high-rise buildings. Citizen concern for open space surrounding the lake and preserving the habitat for wildlife enabled the cities of Wheat Ridge and Lakewood to work with Jefferson County Open Space to preserve this urban sanctuary. Crown Hill Park is a 242 acre park which has been kept in a natural state with minimal development. Crown Hill Park gets about 300,000 visits annually.