Walking Denver

Founded in 1864 as the Colorado Seminary in downtown Denver, the University of Denver (DU) was relocated to a one-time potato farm in South Denver in the late 1880s. From these humble roots, it became the first and oldest independent university in the Rocky Mountain region. It seemed to start with visionaries and continue with them—first founder John Evans, who didn’t want people to have to go back East for their higher education, then others like astronomy professor Herbert A. Howe, who oversaw construction of the first building on this campus (the Chamberlin Observatory), and on to Josef Korbel, founder of the university’s graduate school of international studies and father of the first female United States secretary of state, Madeleine Albright. It’s a who’s who on the alumni list, with one of Korbel’s star pupils, Condoleeza Rice, the first African American woman to serve as US secretary of state, New York Times editor Andrew Rosenthal, Peter Coors of the Coors Brewing Company, former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, and many more. This walk takes you from the observatory through the campus arboretum, historic and modern buildings, and through a bit of the surrounding neighborhood.

Begin at the

Chamberlin Observatory in Observatory Park east of the University of Denver campus, the corner of Warren Avenue and Fillmore Street. The Chamberlin Observatory was built between 1890 and 1894, driven by the vision of DU’s first astronomy professor, Herbert Howe, and designed by architect Robert Roeschlaub. It was named for its benefactor, local businessman and amateur astronomer Humphrey Barker Chamberlin. The dome has a 20-inch aperture Clark-Saegmuller refracting telescope and is open for weekly public viewing.

Walk west on E. Warren Avenue. As you get closer to the campus, the splendid homes—both historic and new—make way for two-story apartment buildings and fraternity and sorority houses.

Cross S. University Boulevard and stay on the left side of the circular drive. To the left is the

Iliff School of Theology’s historic building, built in 1892. The school was started with a financial gift from Elizabeth Iliff Warren (see Walk 31), widow of John Wesley Iliff, a very successful cattle rancher, and wife of Bishop Henry White Warren. The school was founded in 1889 as part of the University of Denver; it closed around 1900 and then reopened in 1910 as a separate entity from the university. Since the 1980s, the schools have had a joint graduate program.

Turn right as you come to the front of the

Mary Reed Building. Mary Reed ran a realty company in the 1920s after her husband died and had a castle built for her private home near the Country Club neighborhood (see Walk 19). Reed’s daughter, Margery Reed, was a DU alumna and assistant English professor who died at the age of 31. Mrs. Reed made many substantial gifts to the school in honor of her daughter. The Mary Reed Building was constructed as a library in 1932, and a portrait of her hangs in the Renaissance Room of the building, per her request. Today it is an administrative building and used for graduate studies programs.

Continue walking north as the sidewalk winds closer to the historic

University Hall, the campus’s first building, which opened in 1892. According to Steve Fisher in University Park and South Denver, it is called “Old Main” and originally housed everything from a chapel to classrooms and a gymnasium. Fisher notes that a multimillion-dollar renovation made it possible for the building to still be used today.

Straight ahead is the

Buchtel Memorial Tower—or what’s left of it. The chapel was completed in 1917 and named for the university’s third chancellor, Henry A. Buchtel, who had also served as governor of Colorado. It was dedicated as the Memorial Chapel for the university alumni who died in World War I. There was a tower like the one you see before you on each of the building’s four corners, topped with copper domes. A fire in 1983 destroyed everything but this tower. A small conference room in the base of the tower is used for meetings devoted to veterans’ issues.

To the right of the dome is

Margery Reed Hall, built in 1929 and named after Mary Reed’s daughter. At the time of her death at age 31, she was married to English teacher Paul Mayo, and her name was Margery Reed Mayo. But when the building in her honor was regularly referred to as Mayo Hall, her mother asked that the name be changed to truly recognize her daughter. To the right is the

Daniels College of Business, named for Bill Daniels, who was known as “the father of cable television” and donated millions to the school.

Turn left at the second path as it circles the right side of the Carnegie Green. Until 1990 this was the site of the Carnegie Library, the last of the academic libraries funded by Andrew S. Carnegie when it opened in 1908. The campus outgrew that library by the 1930s, and the Mary Reed Library was built. Eventually renovation proved too expensive on the deteriorating building, and it was demolished.

Turn left at the end of the Carnegie Green to walk south and behind the Mary Reed Building. A statue of two women holding a book in the middle of the green is another dedication to Margery Reed by Mary Reed. The waterfall and man-made stream you are walking over is part of the Harper Humanities Garden. The campus is also an arboretum, and this garden is part of the whole landscape, featuring water lilies and reflecting pools.

Evans Chapel and reflecting pool of the Harper Humanities Garden on University of Denver campus

Turn right over the bridge and walk slightly west and then north as the path winds over the water. On your left is the historic

Evans Chapel. The University of Denver was founded by John Evans, the second territorial governor of Colorado and founder of Northwestern University in Chicago (Evanston, Illinois, is named for him). “Together with the Methodist Episcopal Church, Evans founded Colorado Seminary, later to become the University of Denver, in 1864,” writes Fisher. The Colorado Seminary was first located in downtown Denver and moved to South Denver in the 1880s. The chapel was built as a memorial to Evans’s daughter Josephine, who died at age 24. It was moved here brick by brick in 1960 from its original location at 13th Avenue and Bannock Street downtown. The chapel is used for weekly services and is a popular place for weddings on the campus.

Turn right as the path curves toward the Anderson Academic Commons (formerly Penrose Library), the campus’s main library, billed as a “true 21st-century library” with computers, fireplaces, a café, and of course, books.

Cross E. Evans Avenue and continue walking north on this block of the campus with the Driscoll University Center (also called the William T. Driscoll Student Center) on your left. If it’s a cold day, you can go inside and use the skybridge to cross over E. Evans Avenue instead.

Walk to the right of the

Shwayder Art Building, named for the Jesse and Nellie Shwayder Foundation. Jesse Shwayder was the founder of the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company in the early 1900s, which became the Samsonite Luggage Company. Inside this 1978 building is the

Victoria Myhren Gallery that is open most weekday afternoons and has changing exhibits of local and national artists. Around the side of the building is a fun piece of art, Whispers, by former DU professor Lawrence Argent (his I See What You Mean blue bear sculpture is seen on Walk 6). Here giant lips on benches invite you to sit down and listen to voices coming up from the grating under your feet.

Directly in front of you, and almost wrapping around you, is the

Daniel L. Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness with the iconic golden tower (the school colors are crimson and gold). Built in 1999 and named for DU’s 16th chancellor, the Ritchie Center tower was modeled after one on the University of Bologna campus in Italy. There are seven athletic venues within and surrounding the Ritchie Center. Inside the tower is the Williams Carillon, 65 chromatically tuned bells that chime every hour.

Turn left just before the front doors of the Ritchie Center and find yourself at the top of the bleacher seats overlooking the soccer and lacrosse fields. Pause to see the view of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains from this vantage point too.

Turn right on E. Asbury Avenue. On your right is the

Merle Catherine Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women, the current home of the Women’s College of Denver, which was founded in 1909 and has had a long relationship with DU.

Turn right on E. Evans Avenue to leave the campus and get a bite to eat or a drink. One of the oldest campus hangouts is the

Stadium Inn, a dive bar with pool tables and other games where students come to blow off a little steam or celebrate team wins.

Jerusalem Restaurant has a diner feel with affordable Middle Eastern food that draws people from beyond just the campus. A few doors down is

Kaladi Coffee Roasters, with organic and fair-trade coffee and free Wi-Fi.

Note: You can walk 1 mile south on S. Franklin Street to E. Bates Avenue and combine this with Walk 24.

Cross S. University Boulevard as you keep walking east to S. Columbine Street. At the corner of E. Evans Avenue and S. Columbine Street is the historic Buchtel Bungalow, built for the university’s third chancellor and now restored to serve as home for the current and future chancellors. According to DU archives, the Craftsman-style bungalow was built between 1905 and 1906 and included a “tuberculosis” porch and sheds for chickens and cows, as well as electric lighting and a coal furnace.

Turn left on E. Warren Avenue and walk back to Observatory Park where this walk ends.

Points of Interest

Chamberlin Observatory 2930 E. Warren Ave., 303-871-5172, denverastro.org/das/chamberlin-observatory

Iliff School of Theology 2201 S. University Blvd., iliff.edu

Mary Reed Building 2199 S. University Blvd.

University Hall

Buchtel Memorial Tower 2150 S. Evans Ave.

Margery Reed Hall 2306 E. Evans Ave.

Daniels College of Business 2101 S. University Blvd., 303-871-3411, daniels.du.edu

Evans Chapel University of Denver campus

Shwayder Art Building 2121 E. Asbury Ave.

Victoria Myhren Gallery 2121 E. Asbury Ave., 303-871-3716, vicki-myhren-gallery.du.edu

Daniel L. Ritchie Center 2240 Buchtel Blvd., 303-871-3845, ritchiecenter.du.edu

The Merle Catherine Chambers Center 1901 E. Asbury Ave., chambersfund.org

Stadium Inn 1703 E. Evans Ave., 303-733-4031, stadiuminndenver.com

Jerusalem Restaurant 1890 E. Evans Ave., 303-777-8828, jerusalemrestaurant.com

Kaladi Coffee Roasters 1730 E. Evans Ave., 720-570-2166, kaladicoffee.com