6 JUNE 20-26, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Get to the Points DEVELOPERS HAVE PLANS FOR THE ROSSONIAN HOTEL. AGAIN. BY CATIE C HESHIRE Welton Street lit up for the annual Juneteenth Music Festival, but the lights are still off at the 112-year-old Rossonian Hotel. The property at 2650 Welton Street is one of the most iconic buildings in the Five Points neighborhood. But since the 1960s, it has been the focus of a series of failed development projects designed to revive this landmark of Denver’s historic Black community and jazz scene. “District 9, I think it’s the heart of Den- ver,” says Denver City Councilman Darrell Watson, who represents the area. “Walking those streets is an important part of my role. … I continue to elevate the Black community and our culture and why Five Points was re- ferred to as the ‘Harlem of the West,’ and why it’s so important to the future of Denver.” A century ago, the Rossonian was one of the only hotels in Denver that welcomed Black performers traveling the country; it stood at the center of one of the only neigh- borhoods where Black residents could buy homes in what was then a segregated city. According to Watson, the Rossonian is key to the economic health of Five Points, which the city has pushed to redevelop over the years through various loans and incentive programs. The latest to take on the task of reviving the Rossonian is Palisade Partners, a Colorado development company that has owned the building since 2017. On July 9, a public hearing is scheduled at Denver’s Landmark Preservation Com- mission, which will vote on whether the hotel’s roof, which is in bad shape, can be demolished. “The roof demolition is part of the pro- posed redevelopment of the building as a hotel and restaurant with an eight-story addition to the south of the existing build- ing,” says Alexandra Foster, communications program manager with Denver Community Planning & Development. The commission will also review the plans for that addition. It’s been a long road to get to this point, one that reveals some of Denver’s best his- tory — and its worst. The Rossonian Was a Key Part of the “Harlem of the West” Built in 1912 at the heart of Five Points, the triangular building was originally known as the Baxter Hotel, named after Robert Baxter, who owned the Baxter Cigar Com- pany. Baxter hired George Louis Bettcher to design the hotel, a prime example of Beaux Arts architecture. The hotel wasn’t called the Rossonian until 1929, when it was renamed for its man- ager, A.H.W. Ross, an attorney and newspaper publisher. By the time the Rossonian got that name, it was already a landmark in Five Points. While some of Denver’s earli- est settlers were Black — including legendary hotelier Barney Ford — a group called the Exodusters came up from the South in 1879 and built homes northeast of downtown near 26th Avenue and Welton Street and 27th and Washington streets. In 1881, the Denver City Railway Company came to the area; because it couldn’t fi t all the street names on streetcar signs at the intersection, the neigh- borhood was dubbed Five Points. In the 1920s, 90 percent of Den- ver’s Black population lived inside the 2.3 miles of east Five Points and west Whittier; because of redlining, they could not buy homes elsewhere. That’s when Five Points became known as the “Harlem of the West”: It reportedly had more Black-owned businesses than any American neigh- borhood other than Harlem itself. Many of those businesses were jazz clubs and hotels, which catered to visiting stars who weren’t allowed to stay in downtown establishments. Mary Baxter took over the Rossonian in 1932, then sold it in 1937 to the Metro- politan Real Estate & Investment Company, where A.H.W. Ross was an attorney. The company renovated much of the interior during the 1940s. By then, the biggest names in jazz were playing and staying at the Rossonian, includ- ing Duke Ellington, who spent an entire summer in residence at the hotel. Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong also stayed there during the hotel’s heyday. Former Denver mayor Wellington Webb often snuck in before he was of legal age to listen to the music, though he says he was never served any alcohol. He remembers seeing Sarah Vaughan, Leroy Smith and James Brown perform there. Jack Kerouac wrote about the Ros- sonian in On the Road, commenting on the spot’s “life, joy, kicks, darkness [and] music.” In 1957, Elvin Caldwell, then a Denver city councilman, purchased the Rossonian with his wife for around $100,000, intending to make the hotel more of a luxury property. But by then, laws were being passed to prevent racial discrimina- tion in real estate and end segrega- tion. Black entertainers could stay in other hotels, and Black residents could buy homes in places other than Five Points. By the ’60s, the hotel’s heyday was over. The Rossonian, and Five Points, Lose Prominence in Denver The Caldwells had to sell the Rossonian in 1960 over delinquent taxes, though they soon regained the title. But in 1964, the hotel had its li- quor license suspended for ten days for selling alcohol to minors; there were also arrests at the Rossonian for solicitation and prostitution. In 1965, the Caldwells again put the Rossonian up for sale, asking $47,000 for the lounge and restaurant and $85,000 for the hotel. “It attracts little else but trouble,” Elvin Caldwell told the Denver Post at the time. They couldn’t fi nd NEWS KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS Families were out in force on Juneteenth, and this one posed in front of the Rossonian. BRANDON JOHNSON continued on page 8 The Rossonian hosted jazz greats from across the country. HISTORY COLORADO
