EDGEWATER, Colo. — The City of Edgewater is known for its small town feel and its views of downtown Denver.
Edgewater, named for its proximity to Sloan’s Lake, was founded in 1881 when less than 300 residents called it home.
“Edgewater had really grown since the late 1800s. There was an amusement park across the street. There was Sloan's lake. And this was an area that was kind of growing at that point in time, and growing was not huge numbers then, but they wanted to have that government,” Steve Conklin, the mayor of Edgewater, said.
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In 1901, about 300 residents voted to incorporate this area as a city and in 1904, the State of Colorado began recognizing Edgewater as its own municipality, giving the community the right to govern itself.
“They wanted to have self-governance. And they wanted to... clean up the image of this being kind of a red light district," Conklin said. "Back in the day, men would drop their wives and kids off at the amusement park and cross the street and carouse with what later became Edgewater. But when Edgewater was incorporated, some of the first things they did were work to kind of clean up that image."
Conklin said radio also played an important role in Edgewater's history.
“In the '30s, we had a radio station. One of the first radio stations was based in a home in Edgewater. And then in 1954, a radio station called KFEL, moved to Edgewater, renamed itself KIMN, and for 30 years was in Edgewater. It was the number one radio station at the time," Conklin told Denver7 | Your Voice. "That radio station brought the Beatles to Red Rocks. Joe Namath visited the station here in Edgewater, as did a number of celebrities. And still, some people oftentimes talk about how if they've lived here a long time, going and staring through the glass window at the radio station and watching the disc jockey play the records,” Conklin said.
Today, Edgewater is home to about 5,000 residents.
“Edgewater is a place where we have a diverse population. We have a lot of people that really love this community. Our average age is about 33 but we have people that have lived here all their lives, in some cases, in their grandparents homes, and then we have new families,” Conklin said. “I'm a Colorado native, and left for a decade, came back and was looking for a place to live and found a home in Edgewater. I thought I'd be here just a couple of years and 28 years later, I'm mayor.”
Conklin said Edgewater is a beautiful place to live and is a tight-knit community while also being welcoming to newcomers.
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