Historic Littleton, Inc. Advocacy
1990-2001

• The Second Century Fund (now Historic Littleton, Inc.), obtained more than $200,000 in grant money for Littleton from the State Historic Fund (1990–1999)
• Advocated for saving Geneva Lodge (1995)
• Developed a Strategic Plan for Downtown Littleton along with the Historic Downtown Littleton Merchants Association (1995)

• Held two auctions to raise money for preservation(1995, 1996)
• Helped fund the survey to place the Littleton Main Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places (1998)
• Held six Renewal Dinners to foster interest in historic preservation (1997–2001, 2004)

Historic Littleton, Inc. Advocacy
2001-2019

• Lobbied for passage of the Historic Preservation Ordinance (2001)

Advocacy 2020 to the present

• Increased our virtual presence during the Covid years by setting up Facebook and Instagram accounts; Rick Cronenberger led a year-long re-design of our website; Rebecca Kast presented a zoom lecture on “Little Known Stories about Littleton” (2021); and Cronenberger participated on many zoom meetings to update Littleton’s Uniform Land Use Code, focusing on the Historic Preservation Chapters (2020-21)
• Created the first-ever Dog Mayor of Littleton election, to raise awareness of HLI. Katherine Roxborough promoted this contest on Facebook and Instagram. Ten canine candidates were photographed in front of a historic Littleton building; 6000 people voted, with Murdoch, a basset hound, elected Dog Mayor, and Netty a French bulldog, elected Dog Mayor Pro Tem. The two dogs served as canine ambassadors at HLI events, led the Halloween Costume Parades at Bemis Library, and participated in dog-friendly walking tours. (2021-2025)
• Led walking tours of historic Main Street on the first Fridays of the summer months and during Western Welcome Week with an average of 20 people/ tour; Guides were Gail Keeley, Margi Clute, Paul Malinowski, and Lisa Hendry (2021-2025)
• Wrote letters to the State Historical Fund in support of a grant to restore the windows and exterior of Geneva Lodge; $250,000 was awarded to the City of Littleton, with a stipulation that the building be kept open to the public. (2023)
• Advocated to preserve the historic alignment and flumes of the 1861 City Ditch, which provides drinking water to Englewood and is being piped underground. Gail Keeley, Rick Cronenberger and Larry Borger attended negotiation sessions with the City of Englewood, meet with City of Littleton, attended public meetings to discuss ways to mitigate the piping project impacts on this historic ditch. (2022-2024)
• A Preservation Celebration party drew over 100 people to the beautiful Shift Workspace in downtown Littleton for an evening of cocktails and appetizers, a photographic tribute to HLI’s founder Mike Massey, and a talk by Barbara Pahl of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was funded in part with a Grant from the City of Littleton (May 18, 2023)
• HLI celebrated the 2023 city landmarking of the Knight House (Ca 1890) at 56870 S. Curtice Street. The house is owned by HLi board Member John Gerkin, and was previously owned by HLI founding member Sonya Ellingboe, who ran a bookstore there. It was also the office of the1990’s Littleton Times newspaper. (May 2024)

• Gail Keeley, Rick Cronenberger, Rebecca Kast, Jean Selders, Margi Clute, Darlee Whiting, Carrie Wheeler, and John Gerkin spoke before the Littleton City Council in support of designating a Downtown Historic District that includes 71 properties on Main Street and Alamo Avenue; it was approved 6-1 (2021)
• Rebecca Kast and Rick Cronenberger participated in meetings to draft Littleton’s COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (CEDS) successfully getting historic preservation language in the Final Document. February 2024. (2023-2024)
• Led many walking tours along the City Ditch Alignment with HLI’s Honorary Dog Mayor Murdoch and Mayor Pro Tem Netty, enlightening City residents of the significance of the historic ditch. (2022-2024)
• Spoke in support of preserving the Eugene Sternberg buildings of Geneva Village; the Littleton city council voted against preserving the entire complex, but the Sternberg planning and design principles and 3 to 4 structures will be preserved during redevelopment. (2023)
• Gail Keeley spent five years advocating for the preservation of one of the last barns in Littleton: the 100-year-old Canary Barn on 7951 South Santa Fe Drive. After many meetings and negotiations, Gail and HLI agreed not to pursue landmark designation for the barn in exchange for Toll Brothers saving the barn and moving it to a new location on the property. The barn’s roof was repaired, the structure was stabilized, put on a trailer and moved to its permanent site on July 23, 2024 (2019-2024)
• Darlee Whiting led an effort to address the poor condition of the entrance doors at the Littleton Post Office; she met with P.O. staff, wrote letters and contacted our congressional representatives. Rebecca Kast met with an aide to Congressman Jason Crow; the original oak doors were restored and rehung to work properly. (2023-2024)
• Rick Cronenberger and Margi Clute gave a presentation and tour of Downtown Littleton to the 2024 Littleton Leadership Academy class Arts and Culture Day sponsored by Arapahoe Community College. (September 2024)

Education 2020 to present

• Joined with Vita Littleton to present History Happy Hour lectures at Vita senior apartments several times a year; Gail Keeley spoke on Littleton’s trains and street cars and Rick Cronenberger gave a virtual tour of Littleton Boulevard’s Mid-century Modern Commercial Architecture; its architects and its styles.
• Gave several tours of Littleton’s MidModMile (the mid-century buildings on Littleton Boulevard) led by Kimber Dempsey and Rick Cronenberger; the 2022 tour was part of Denver Modernism Week ( 2021-2024)
• Presentation of the 1867 City Ditch History was given by Former City Manager Larry Borger and former Director of Public works Charlie Blosten as it runs through the Littleton City Limits. They spoke about the Number 1 water right on the South Platte River, and possible ways to save parts of the ditch for future generations to enjoy. (March 9, 2022
• Joined with DOCOMOMO, a Mid-Century Modernist group, to present a lecture and tour about the Community Architecture of Eugene Sternberg at Geneva Village. ( June 24, 2024)

• Former Mayor and Council Member, Pat Cronenberger, Presented a talk “ What is our Littleton culture? What does it mean to do things the “Littleton way”? Her presentation focused on a specific period of Littleton’s history from 1950’s-1980’s that contributed to shaping Littleton’s current culture and astonishing community accomplishments. She presented this talk in May 2023 to a very large enthusiastic group of HLI members and at Vita Apartments in September 2023.
• Presented a lecture by Lisa Hendry on the Beers Sisters of Littleton, who ran a female-owned dairy in the early 1900’s (February 2022)
• Celebrated the 150th birthday of the 1872 J.D. Hill General Store outdoors under the shade in downtown Littleton with speeches, tours and a birthday cake. ( July 20, 2022)
• Presented lectures by Gail Keeley on the Agricultural History of Littleton an on the Canary Barn – Littleton’s Oldest and Largest Barn