• Denver, Colorado. Whittier Neighborhood.

• 39.753224, -104.967172

• Reading Time: 0 min 38 sec

The historic Denver neighborhood of Whittier is northeast of the rapidly growing downtown. By standards of cities in the American West, it’s old. The first residential housing was built around 1890 and borrows the name from Whittier Elementary School, the original building now mostly demolished, rebuilt, and redesigned in 1970.

In honor of John Greenleaf Whittier, an abolitionist poet and founding member of the Republican Party, the school takes his name. It was Whittier's philosophy that helped focus the ethnic integration of the neighborhood from the beginning.

The neighborhood, which celebrates ethnic diversity, can also celebrate the fact that Whittier Elementary welcomed the first African-American teacher hired by the Denver Public School system in 1938. Marie Anderson Greenwood was hired on a three-year probational period to teach first grade. The Denver school system stipulated they would “not hire another black until she passed her probation.” She passed, opening the door for the first black teachers to work throughout the city and county.