Harcourt Arms Apartments

Denver was founded in 1858 during the Colorado Gold Rush and was chosen as the territorial capital in 1867. Denver had a roughly 7 to 1 male to female ratio until about 1900, when the incorporation of the larger towns around the city gave Denver a highly “homosocial” (or same-sex oriented) culture. In addition, visits by known gay men like Walt Whitman in the 1870s or Oscar Wilde in 1882 noted the same homosocial culture. Most accounts of men who had sex with men, cross-dressing people, or arrests for such behavior occurred along the red light district of Market Street.

As Denver grew, large apartment buildings began to appear in the early 20th century, offering privacy and safety and attracting many queer people. During the Great Depression, many mansions and houses in Capitol Hill were transformed into multi-apartment buildings, resulting in Denver’s population and density doubling. Nationally, this trend led to the creation of the first “gayborhoods” in the US. In Denver, the area along Sherman Street became known colloquially as “Bachelor’s Row,” today known as “Poet’s Row,” because of the high number of single men living in this area.

Between WWII and the Vietnam era, Capitol Hill became synonymous with Bohemians and LGBTQ+ people.

R-0 zoning, which made it illegal for any non-related people to live together, excluded Capitol Hill, effectively concentrating LGBTQ+ people to one section of the city.

Additional Resources

Watch an interview with Harry Hay, the radical gay activist, who describes life in the 1930s.