The Alamo Placita neighborhood of Denver, is named after Alamo Placita Park which is located on the north side of Speer Boulevard between Ogden and Emerson Streets.

The neighborhood is bounded by Downing Street (east), Speer Boulevard (south), Pennsylvania Street (west), 6th Avenue (north) west of Clarkson Street and 7th Avenue (north) east of Clarkson Street.

The history of the Alamo Placita Historic District tells the story of 1860s prairie land along Cherry Creek just three miles southeast of the new town of Denver. Farsighted investor Moses Hallett, an attorney from Illinois, bought the land in 1864. Hallett’s quarter section of land became Arlington Park Addition, and later, Alamo Placita neighborhood. By 1887, Denver’s southern city limit was the northern border of Hallett’s claim (now East 6th Avenue). A road on the eastern edge of Hallett’s land, called Hallett Road, is now Downing Street. In 1889, Hallett sold his land to the Arlington Park Land and Improvement Company and became one of several investors in the company.

Alamo Placita Historic District has some homes built for some early prominent Denverites, but mainly recognizes the 1889 to 1942 environment of middle-income building trades and professional people, along with early clerks, Tramway workers, railroad men, and the like. The first district residents expressed their aspirations for success in part through building their neighborhood in important architectural styles of the day. Investors who built single- and multifamily residences followed this lead. Together they created an environment of lower-scale dwellings with streetscapes that respected visually pleasing setbacks accommodating gardens, lawns, and sidewalks. The gentle intermingling of architectural styles, building materials, and individual decoration remains clearly apparent despite more recent setback violations where a few demolished original structures have been replaced. Though the scale of a few newer buildings is too large, only one of the newer noncontributing structures is in serious height violation at 12 stories.

The earliest district residences were designed in Victorian-era styles. After 1893, when the Victorian-era influence began to wane, much of the district remained undeveloped.

Alamo Placita residents were quicker than wealthier citizens to embrace the Arts and Crafts Movement, interpreted mainly in Alamo Placita through Foursquares and Bungalows. Wealthier citizens tended to express their status through the Classical Revival-style architecture of their residences. Less wealthy citizens were more open to the perceived practicality of new designs. Over time, in tandem with the Arts and Crafts influence, came a sprinkling of the popular Tudor-style dwellings, Spanish Mission-style dwellings, and others that spoke to Denver’s tenuous southwestern U.S. identity. The physical context of the district includes the small commercial buildings that were built along district borders, E. 6th Avenue, Speer Boulevard, and Downing Street.

In 2000, the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously recommended designation of the Alamo Placita Historic District based on the significance of its history, architecture, and geography. The City Council agreed, unanimously voting to approve the designation on June 12, 2000.