A home in the Arapahoe Acres subdivision.

National and State Register

Historic Residential Subdivisions of Metropolitan Denver, 1940-65

The Historic Residential Subdivisions of Metropolitan Denver, 1940-65 Multiple Property Documentation Form covers residential subdivision growth in the five-county metropolitan area. Subdivisions represented the building blocks for the region’s rapid development during the period, producing substantial growth within Denver and resulting in suburbanization of the surrounding counties.

The associated historic context describes the region on the eve of World War II, discusses changes occurring during the conflict, and traces the first two decades of subdivision development in the postwar period. The 1940-65 era captures subdivision growth associated with World War II as well as the postwar boom which saw large multi-filing developments and planned communities. The selected time period is comparable to those used by jurisdictions around the country in other recent studies.

The statement of historic contexts addresses:

  • Metropolitan Denver on the eve of World War II
  • World War II era developments 1940-65
  • Growth of the metropolitan area and post World War II subdivision development, 1946-65
  • House Construction and Design Trends
  • Builders and Developers in the Denver Region
  • Patterns of Subdivision Development

Section F addresses Associated Property Types and their registration requirements. These include:

  • World War II and Postwar Metropolitan Denver Residential Subdivisions, 1940-65
  • Subtypes: Existing Subdivision
  • Domestic Subdivision
  • Multiple Filing Subdivision
  • Planned Suburban Community
  • Specialty Subdivision

The project developed a Regional Parcel Database of selected county Assessor information to analyze and map parcel-level data for all parcels within the Region 6 boundary. The database comprised a unique tool (never assembled previously for the region) that provided hard data on the historical magnitude, location, and chronological shifts in sub-regional housing development.

This project contained more than 739,000 parcels drawn from five different counties. While the Regional Parcel Database had limitations, it was sufficiently robust to permit aggregation, summarization, description, and analysis of key trends in residential growth and development by county, municipality, and subdivisions for the 1940-65 period. 

Historic Residential Subdivisions of Metropolitan Denver, 1940-65 (654)

Arapahoe County

Englewood

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    Arapahoe Acres

    Arapahoe Acres, built from 1949 to 1957, represents new patterns of residential development after World War II.  

Littleton

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    Arapaho Hills Historic District

    The Arapaho Hills subdivision, constructed between 1955 and 1964, reflects new patterns in the post-World War II period and their influence on the development of new forms of suburban residential subdivisions.