History

The 1912 completion of Downing Street Parkway was simply an extension of Marion Street Parkway. As a component of S.R. DeBoer's Flower Trail, the parkway exhibits many typical DeBoer planting schemes. Ornamental trees with a backdrop of evergreens provided spring color at the intersections. A narrow tree lawn on the east left only enough room for a row of American elms, which occupied both sides of the parkway.

One block north of Speer Boulevard and Cherry Creek, the parkway presents a formal edge of street trees, mostly elms. The main Downing Street roadway is to the west of the median until the intersection of East 3rd Avenue where the median forms a small island which divides traffic. The "Park Club Place" entry monuments at the intersections are within the Country Club Historic District. The s treet to the east of the main median provided local access only for the few homes which front onto the parkway. This is an interesting and, in Denver, a unique use of a parkway median. The median has informal plantings of mature evergreen, mostly White Pine. At the Speer Boulevard crossing, flowering Hawthorne were planted in front of two huge Red Cedars. The eastern U.S. species in this median and the similarity of the palette to that of the Olmstead segment of East 17th Avenue Parkway lend credence to the suggestion that Olmstead had a hand in the planting design of this parkway.

Historical Evolution

The integrity of the parkway is diminished just south of Speer Boulevard. Tree maintenance along the tree lawn is shabby and vines which cover the chain link fence totally screen out the amenity of the Country Club's Golf Course. Missing from the original plan are many of the street trees which once lined the parkway. Tree replacements have occurred haphazardly, causing variations in tree species to diminish the character of parkway design.