Denver Neighborhoods - Historic Bonnie Brae

In the 1870s, the Kansas Pacific Railroad owned the lands that would become Bonnie Brae. Instead of developing the area, however, they sold it as farmland. Then well out into the Denver hinterland, area growth would come slowly.

When mortuary baron George Olinger decided to recreate a medieval Scottish village in 1923, he called upon his past inspiration. Having grown up in north Denver, he knew a subdivision called Argyle Village, with winding streets such as Caithness Court and Dunkeld Place, traces of which can still be found just east of North High School.

Olinger hired Washington Park landscape architect S. R. DeBoer to lay out the area for “Bonnie Brae,” borrowing the Gaelic term for “pleasant hill.” DeBoer highlighted the residential character of the neighborhood through small, irregularly shaped lots centered around a verdant Ellipse Park, confining unsightly filling stations and businesses to the 700 block of South University.

Business corruption delayed development. After Olinger sold off Associated Industries in 1925, the new officers embezzled more than $5 million before declaring bankruptcy. Headline news soon detailed the scandal, and both the president and secretary treasurer went to prison.

During the 1930s Great Depression, few people bought new homes, further delaying growth in the area. A lack of water and utilities also contributed to the dreariness of the lawns and parks. The end of World War II brought an end to all such privations, however, and the lands of Bonnie Brae were snapped up in the post-war boom. With America turning towards the suburbs, modern subdivisions like Bonnie Brae were all the rage, with single-family houses located on curvilinear roads in a park-like setting reinforced by automobiles and the culture of consumption.

The Bonnie Brae Tavern at 740 South University has been one of the area’s true mainstays. Founder Carl Dire, an auto mechanic in the 1920s, had opened a filling station at 750 South University in 1932 and planned to expand his operations with a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership. But he sensed a need for a roadside inn at the end of Prohibition, and so opened the tavern in June 1934. As Bonnie Brae grew, so did the tavern. A new building was constructed in 1949, but it remains a family business. With aesthetic design and timely business opportunity, the tavern both serves and represents the character of Bonnie Brae.