Cherry Hills Crest & Cherry Hills View
One early family to settle in our area was Arthur and Julia deKoevend. Arthur was born in 1846 into a wealthy Hungarian family with the title of Count deKoevend. Julie Fisher deKoevend was born in 1852 in Alsace Lorraine, Austria. Julie was an accomplished artist who sang in German theaters. Around age 12, she traveled to America and performed in Philadelphia before returning to Germany. She traveled through Europe singing and playing several instruments, including the viola, piano, violin, and cello. Also noted was her superb Swiss Yodeling!
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When she was 30, she returned to America in 1882 and married Arthur in 1883 in Philadelphia. They soon traveled to Colorado to homestead sometime before 1885. Their first residence was in a home in the area of Cherrelyn (near Broadway and Hampden). The land they purchased was 160 acres between University Boulevard, South Steele Street, Arapahoe Road and E. Maplewood Avenue. It became known as Elkhorn Ranch.
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Undated photo of Elkhorn Ranch buildings and
orchard. From the Collection of the Littleton
Museum.
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The Elkhorn Ranch house stood near the southwest corner of Chapel Hill Cemetery, with an artesian well near the house and a small lake created from the overflow. This was different from your typical ranch, even though there was an orchard, wheat field, flower, vegetable garden, and a greenhouse for growing herbs and livestock. It was also a restaurant, dance and meeting hall. The Monkey Club Outing restaurant offered Hungarian chicken, roast duck, Parisian potato salad, and cheeses—a welcome respite for neighbors and those traveling from Denver for a visit to the country.
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1890's menus from Elkhorn Ranch. From the Collection
of the Littleton Museum.
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Not only was Julia responsible for farming and growing vegetables and herbs to sell to Denver hotels, but she also had six children. Arthur was described as an educated man and artist enjoying tending to a lobelia garden that spelled Julia’s name.
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Photo of Julia deKoevend at Elkhorn Ranch. From the
Collection of the Littleton Museum.
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Tragically, Arthur was found dead of self-inflicted wounds by their lake on April 4, 1900, leaving Julia and their six children. A news article in the Littleton Independent describing the circumstances of his death indicates a change in the family’s circumstances, “The DeKovends were formerly in easy circumstances, but reverses had reduced them to poverty.”
Later, in 1900, Julia lost her son Hugo, age 15, from a ruptured appendix. Julia continued to raise her remaining five children and was able to keep the Elk Horn Ranch. When Julia passed away in 1926, she left each of her five children 48 acres of land.
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A November 1911 reminder of the popular annual turkey shoot.
Courtesy of The Littleton Independent.
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Hermine, the only daughter in the family, inherited the 48 acres that included Elkhorn Ranch and raised her family on the ranch. Ernest, the oldest brother who was described as the mainstay of the family after his father’s death at age 13, retired from the Lock Joint Pipe Co. as a director of large-scale water-line construction. Herman was a popular supervisor for the High Line Canal and resided at 6100 University Boulevard until 1955. William (Bill) worked in the trades.
Frederick, the youngest of the family, married Mabele George and had seven children. Mabele and her children sold a portion of the land acquired by the South Suburban Metropolitan Recreation and Park District in 1962. In addition to the deKoevend land, another 7.5 acres were being negotiated with another landowner interested in keeping approximately two acres for a housing development. South Suburban allowed him one year to obtain the proper zoning approvals.
The zoning approvals were not obtained, and South Suburban considered condemnation and contemplation of a sanitary landfill operation. Mabele would not agree to this proposal, “I will not sell the land unless it is used for a park. It was a private park for our family years ago, and it can be a beautiful public park today.” Mabele also ensured that if South Suburban is dissolved, the property will be returned to the family.
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​ The 1926 Arapahoe County Land Books document the owners of Section 23 and Section 24 in
Township 5. The Euler and Eleerman properties are our neighborhood. At the time, the deKoevend's
236 acres were valued at $5,500. Courtesy of Colorado State Archives.
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