CROWN HILL OPEN SPACE PARK – A BRIEF HISTORY – PLAN Jeffco

What we know today as Crown Hill Open Space Park wasn’t always a public venue. One year before the end of the American Civil War, in 1864, a young man named Henry Lee sojourned west from Iowa to join his brother, William, who had a farm east of Golden, on the south side of Clear Creek.

The land was rich, fertile enough to support wheat fields (Wheat Ridge), fruit orchards (Fruitdale) and further to the north, the farms that would one day become the city of Arvada.

While William worked the farm, Henry traveled on the narrow gauge railroad up Clear Creek Canyon to the mining camps in Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Park counties, selling vegetables to the residents.

In less than 10 years from the time of his arrival, Henry had met and married Jennie Paul, another Iowa ex-pat, and settled down to a married and family life on land that Henry was now farming.

Portrait of Henry Lee, from the Henry Lee House, circa 1890

Henry was a go-getter. In addition to adding acreage to his farm (at one time it totaled about 640 acres), he got into politics, representing Jefferson County in the State House of Representatives for one term. He followed that with two terms in the Colorado State Senate.

While in the State Legislature, he orchestrated the transfer of two sections of State school land to the City of Denver, which then turned one of those sections (640 acres) into Denver’s City Park.

To support their farming operations in Jefferson County, William and Henry developed the Lee and Brothers Lateral Irrigation Ditch, which tapped into Clear Creek and ran eastward along what is now 32^nd Avenue.

Henry continued to acquire land in Jefferson County, stretching from his original acreage east into Edgewater. When, in 1908, the Crown Hill Cemetery Association approached him about purchasing a little over a quarter-section of land, Henry sold them the eastern portion of his original farm, which included the home he and Jennie had been occupying. The Crown Hill Associates added to that parcel an additional acreage purchased from the Union Pacific Railroad. The 290 acres eventually became the Crown Hill Cemetery.

Crown Hill Cemetery was the final resting place for Henry Lee, when he became one of the first victims of an auto-pedestrian accident in Denver.

The two ponds that we now call Crown Hill Lake and the Kestrel Pond were natural ponds on the old Lee Farm. They have been enhanced with additional water, which is used for cemetery irrigation and local community support. The water that fills the 55-acre Crown Hill Lake comes from Clear Creek via the old Lee and Brothers Lateral Irrigation Ditch, which was eventually renamed the Crown Hill Agricultural Ditch, and eventually undergrounded. Most of the water in Kestrel Pond is seepage from Crown Hill Lake.

The Crown Hill Agricultural Ditch, which is now called the Crown Hill Cemetery Assn. Pipe Line & Reservoir (it was filed with the Jeffco Clerk and Recorder in 1911) confers water rights to the Crown Hill Cemetery. In other words, the water in Crown Hill Lake and Kestrel Pond belongs to the Crown Hill Cemetery, not to Jeffco Open Space.

The concept of a public park at Crown Hill was birthed in 1972. As the years following Henry Lee’s death rolled by, the population of Jefferson County continued to grow, hemming in what was left of the old Lee farm on all sides – Wheat Ridge to the north, Lakewood to the south. In 1972, a Texas organization (the West Aspen Company) proposed a development of mixed residential and commercial units, including high-rise apartment buildings for upwards of 8,000 inhabitants.

1972 was the same year that Jeffco Open Space was voted into existence, after nearly a year-long effort by PLAN Jeffco and the League of Women Voters to get the issue on the ballot. With a plan in place, the then-existing Crown Hill neighborhood mobilized, targeting the cities of Lakewood and Wheat Ridge and the newly formed Jeffco Open Space to save one of the last large parcels of undeveloped land in that section of the County.

In 1978, the cities of Wheat Ridge and Lakewood partnered with the County, purchasing 168 acres adjacent to the Crown Hill Cemetery, which included both the lake and the smaller pond, and Crown Hill Open Space Park was born. To this day, Crown Hill Open Space Park remains part of unincorporated Jefferson County.

Today, Crown Hill Open Space Park has grown to 229 acres. As a passive recreation area, activities allowed in the park are walking, jogging, biking, horseback riding, roller blading, wildlife viewing, fishing (only from the dock or access locations along the lake shore and with a State of Colorado fishing permit for anyone 16 years of age and older), and picnicking. Commercial photography and special events, such as painting in the park or guided hikes, require a permit. Dogs are allowed to bring their humans to the Park, but they must be connected to their person by a lead no longer than 6 feet. There is no “dog park” at Crown Hill Open Space Park. Neither are there any entry fees; at the time of this writing, all Jeffco Open Space Parks are fee-free and open to the public.

No swimming, wading, floating, paddleboarding, canoeing or other watercraft are allowed on Crown Hill Lake or Kestrel Pond.

Kestrel Pond is a National Urban Wildlife Sanctuary. The wetlands in the northwest corner of the park are strategically important to migrating wildfowl as well as home to a large variety of bird life. Only humans on foot are allowed in the wildlife sanctuary; no horses, dogs or bikes are allowed.

In a typical year, the wildlife sanctuary is closed from the 1^st of March to the end of June to protect the nesting wildlife. In high-water years (like 2023), the closure may continue until the boardwalk is back above water and deemed safe for foot traffic. It’s always best to “know before you go”: https://www.jeffco.us/1207/Crown-Hill-Park

Jeffco Open Space has been and is still doing a lot of work to enhance the visitor experience at Crown Hill Open Space Park: https://www.jeffco.us/DocumentCenter/View/24942/Crown-Hill-Park-Plan-Virtual-Update-PDF

Statistics:

elevation ~ 5500 feet above sea level
3 miles (4.8 km) of natural surface trail
6.5 miles (10.5 km) of hard surface trail
Flush restroom and drinking fountain, ADA accessible
2 small picnic shelters, each with one ADA accessible picnic table; 1 at main parking lot, 1 overlooking Kestrel Pond
18 park benches
8 picnic tables, 1 ADA accessible in each picnic shelter
Horse hitching rail near restroom
Horse exercise arena maintained by the City of Lakewood
ADA accessible fishing pier; fishing allowed from the access areas along the Crown Hill Lake walking path (but not in Kestrel Pond). Colorado Parks and Wildlife stock the lake annually with bass, crappie, carp, perch, bluegill, and saugeye. Native sunfish and trout live in the lake.
2 asphalt parking lots; 1 lot with 103 parking spaces plus 5 ADA accessible, equestrian parking lot with 13 parking spaces plus 1 ADA accessible and 2 horse trailer spaces