HISTORIC CONTEXT of LITTLETON COLORADO 1949
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HISTORIC CONTEXT of LITTLETON COLORADO 1949 - 1967 Prepared for the Office of Community Development Littleton, Colorado by Diane Wray Tomasso July 31, 2008 FUNDING AND PARTICIPANTS Prepared for the City of Littleton Office of Community Development 2255 West Berry Avenue Littleton, CO 80165 303-795-3719 Dennis Swain, Acting Director Prepared by Funded in part by Certified Local Government Diane Wray Tomasso Grant Project Number CO-07-015. Historic Preservation Consultant 3058 South Cornell Circle The activity which is the subject of this material has Englewood, Colorado 80113 been financed in part with Federal funds from the 303-552-8254 National Historic Preservation Act, administered [email protected] by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior and for the Colorado Historical Soci- City Project Coordinator ety. However, the contents and opinions do not Andrea Mimnaugh necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Historic Preservation Planner Department of the Interior or the Society, nor does City of Littleton the mention of trade names or commercial products 2255 West Berry Avenue constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Littleton, CO 80165 the Department of the Interior or the Society. 303-795-3719 [email protected] This program receives Federal funds from the National Park Service. Regulations of the U.S. De- partment of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful State Project Coordinator discrimination in departmental Federally assisted Mary Therese Anstey programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, Historical & Architectural Survey Coordinator age or handicap. Any person who believes he or Colorado Historical Society- OAHP she has been discriminated against in any program, 225 East 16th Avenue, Suite 950 activity, or facility operated by a recipient of Federal Denver, CO 80203 assistance should write to: Director, Equal Oppor- 303-866-4822/303-866-2041 tunity Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, [email protected] 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240. Cover This cartoon ad for the Littleton Independent was part of a syndicated series of cartoons and clip art entitled “That’s Suburban Life” that appeared in the papers during the 1950s. It is a humorous commentary on three of suburbia’s defining pastimes – shopping, driving, and mowing the lawn (edited and reformatted for layout). Ad from October 6, 1961, page 2, of the Littleton Independent, Colorado Historical Society microfilm files. TABLE of CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose 2 Project Area 2 Methodology 2 II. HISTORIC CONTEXT 1949 to 1967 From Small Town to Suburb 5 From the Farm to Outer Space 71 Littleton Prior to 1949 6 Littleton Prior to 1949 72 Municipal Growth 1949 to 1967 Industrial Growth 1949-1967 73 Residential Subdivisions 6 Pre-War Manufacturers Other Residential Development 7 Coleman-American 73 Municipal Annexation 8 Red Comet 74 Municipal Governance and Growth 10 O.K. Rubber 74 Fire Protection 11 Heckethorn 75 Police Protection 11 Post-War Manufacturers Municipal Planning 12 Heavy Industry Zoning and Building Codes 13 Mohawk Tire 76 The Planning Commission 14 Electron 76 Urban Renewal 15 Research & Development 77 Transportation 16 Ohio Oil 78 Utilities and Other Services 19 Glenn L. Martin 79 Schools 21 Ramo-Wooldridge 81 Arapahoe Junior College 24 Honeywell 83 Libraries 24 C. A. Norgren 84 Parks 25 Other Littleton Industry 85 Illustrations 28 Industrial and Office Parks 87 Office Buildings 88 From Main Street to Shopping Mall 43 Illustrations 92 Littleton Prior to 1949 44 Commercial Growth 1949-1967 Society, Community and Family 105 Main Street 44 Littleton Prior to 1949 106 Woodlawn Shopping Center 45 Suburban Life 1949-1967 Main Street After Woodlawn 46 The Red Scare, Cold War, Arms Race, Other Shopping Centers 49 Space Race and Civil Defense 107 Other Commercial Locations Civil Rights 109 South Santa Fe Drive 50 The Sixties Counterculture 113 South Broadway 52 The Viet Nam War 114 Other Consumer Commerce 53 Churches and Charities 115 Illustrations 58 The Suburban Family 116 Health Care 122 Golf and Recreation 123 Art, Culture and History 124 Illustrations 130 TABLE of CONTENTS III. APPENDIX and BIBLIOGRAPHY Recommendations for Survey, Preservation, and Further Research Architect Profiles Atchison and Kloverstrom Joseph and Louise Marlow William Muchow Eugene D. Sternberg Additional Named Architects Other George Kelly, Cottonwood Nursery Intermountain Rural Electrification (IREA) Association Headquarters Complex Bibliography INTRODUCTION he radical changes that took place in of space for largely scientific and commercial pur- Littleton from 1949 to 1967 transformed the poses, is the second largest employer in the state. area from a largely rural town with a The personal computer and internet that evolved in handful of nearby factories to a prominent part from the early work of Ramo-Wooldridge offer Tmetropolitan suburb. In some ways, Littleton’s new and innovative avenues for communication, history during this period is typical of many such commerce, creativity, and entrepreneurship. areas across the nation. The town offered all the National security fears are based not on the attractions associated with suburban life – a semi- potential appearance of high-tech nuclear missiles rural character, subdivisions of new single-family from around the world, but on economic collapse, homes and green lawns, auto-friendly shopping, natural disasters, and lone terrorists with box- clean new industries, and quality schools, parks, cutters, backpacks, and dirty bombs. Since 9/11, and cultural facilities. Yet Littleton was also at the backyard fallout shelters and food stockpiles, once center of the Cold War, a new kind of conflict that derided as amusing relics of a distant Cold War brought the threat of extinction frighteningly close past, have reappeared. Department of Homeland to home. Security advisories provide an uncanny echo of Now seems a particularly appropriate time those issued by the Federal Civil Defense Adminis- to re-examine this period. By the end of 1967, the tration. The current presidential campaign demon- suburbs had already begun to be viewed by many strates how far civil rights have come. Communi- as a destructive form of social homogeneity, confor- ties and families fight for meaning, relevance and mity, and pathology, a destroyer of the nation’s ur- engagement in the face of 24/7 exposure to forms ban fabric and a despoiler of its rural countryside. of media and technology created or popularized Today, new scholarship is reevaluating the suburbs between 1949 and 1967. in the light of more recent experience. Works in- cluding The New Suburban History of 2006 by Kruse This historic context of Littleton is presented in four and Sugrue explore perspectives that reconsider sections. From Small Town to Suburb addresses the suburbia as a distinct and often positive form of post-World War II housing crisis and the explosive urban development and social involvement. growth of suburban residential housing, aided by Many events of the period from 1949 to 1967 the Federal Housing Authority, the automobile, also seem curiously parallel, or contradictory to, the cheap fuel, and new federal, state, and regional events of today. The crash of the housing market road systems. It discusses the rapid annexation that seems an ironic commentary on the suburban ideal expanded Littleton’s boundaries and its physical, of home ownership for all. Yet rising energy and educational, and cultural infrastructure. It examines material costs, combined with new engineering and planning methods and organizations that devel- technology, make the period’s alternative vision of oped in an attempt to impose order on the chaotic, economical, pre-fabricated homes seem tantalizing- evolving process of municipal growth. ly near. As gas prices rise and car dealerships close, From Main Street to Shopping Mall address- the era of the ever-expanding automobile suburb es the accompanying expansion of retail stores and appears to be nearing its end. But some casualties services that emerged and evolved to serve both of its inception – mass transit, center cities, and the new suburban community and the interests of open land on the urban perimeter, are now experi- consumer capitalism. encing revitalization and preservation. From the Farm to Outer Space relates chang- Inflation increases and consumer spending es at Littleton’s four major pre-war factories and tightens, yet traditional American values of frugal- describes its innovative new corporate industries ity and thrift are reconsidered. founded on research and development, new scien- ConocoPhillips plans for the former Stor- tific technologies, and clean, light manufacturing. age Tech campus in Louisville summon memories Last, Society, Community and Family de- of Ohio Oil’s Research and Development facility. scribes the international and national events that Lockheed-Martin, now devoted to the exploration transformed Littleton’s family, social, and cultural Page 1 Historic Context of Littleton, Colorado 1949-1967 July 31, 2008 life, engendering radical changes in the position of Purpose minority groups, women, and teenagers within the This document was created to guide a future survey suburban culture. of Littleton’s built environment between 1949 to 1967, and to assist in the identification of significant Littleton has long demonstrated its commitment to non-residential buildings, structures, and sites for the preservation of its rural, agricultural, and small historic preservation. town past. The city’s 19th and early 20th century history, seen through its surviving buildings and Project Area streetscapes, summons a nostalgic appreciation The project area was originally defined as Cen- for those early days and inspires a renewal of the tral Littleton, between South Santa Fe Drive (U.S. values of community that they embody. 85) to the west, South Broadway to the east, West Yet the Littleton we know today was largely Belleview Avenue to the north, and West Mineral forged in the explosive growth and suburban Avenue to the south. However, with the increase in transformation that occurred between 1949 and post-war automobile use, Littleton residents en- 1967.