Historic Walking Tour - 1890's Littleton

Karen Arras

When Karen Arras and her family moved to Colorado in 1975, they chose to live in Littleton because of the quaint and historical downtown. During the 1980s, Karen ran a business in the downtown area and witnessed a decline in the vibrancy of Main Street. To help turn the tide, in 1989 she became a charter member of a new group called the Second Century Fund, which was formed to help preserve and protect Downtown Littleton. In 1990, the group became Historic Littleton, Inc. Karen has been an active member for more than 30 years.

Molly Bolin

Molly Bolin grew up in the area and attended Littleton Public Schools, ultimately graduating from Heritage High School. Her first (and still favorite) job was at Libby Bortz Assisted Living on Curtis Street. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CU Denver and has worked in everything from politics to nonprofit government affairs, to land development. Board Member Being from a family with Colorado roots dating back to the early 1880s, she has grown up with a passion for Colorado history, with a particular affinity for downtown Littleton. She is looking forward to contributing to the work of the HLI in historic preservation and education.

Rick Cronenberger

Rick Cronenberger has been an active proponent of saving Littleton’s historic buildings since 1982. New to Littleton at that time, he frequently discussed the City’s history with Bob McQuarie, the first director of the Littleton Historical Museum. Rick began his career in historic architecture preservation in 1978 and is particularly passionate about Mid-Century Modern architecture.   He studied Architectural conservation at ICCROM:  the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome, Italy. Over the years, he has served on the Colorado Historic Preservation and State Register Review Board, the first Littleton Historical Preservation Board, and the Second Century Fund board. He rejoined the Historic Littleton, Inc., board in 2017 and served again on the City of Littleton Historical Preservation Board (2019-2023).  Rick is a retired National Park Service Historic Architect.

Katherine Roxborough

Katherine Roxborough created and launched Littleton’s first-ever honorary dog mayor election, to engage the community and bring awareness to historic preservation. In addition to managing the dog mayor program, she is focused on broader marketing and strategy initiatives to promote Historic Littleton, Inc. as an organization. A native of Silicon Valley, Katherine brings a commercial real estate background and nonprofit fundraising experience to her position on the Board of Directors.

Mike Massey

In 1989, Mike Massey, 1946-2022, was a member of Littleton’s Centennial Commission, which was charged with planning the official festivities to celebrate Littleton’s 100th birthday.Many fun events were planned, but Mike was concerned that nothing really focused on the heart of Littleton: Main Street. At the time, Mike was co-chair of the Littleton Leadership Retreat and developed the “do-able deal” concept: each group of attendees had to develop a project that was actually do-able.

To promote Main Street and prevent its deterioration, Mike presented the idea of the Second Century Fund at the retreat. A lawyer by profession, Mike drew up the necessary documents and the Second Century Fund became a reality. Mike served as its first president and continued as president of Historic Littleton, Inc., for a number of years. Mike enjoyed the new leadership and the new spirit of historic preservation in Littleton. Our founder passed away in January 2022 from COVID. His leadership will be greatly missed, his legacy will live on.

Gretchen Ricehill

Gretchen Ricehill, a Colorado native, was raised in Littleton. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and historic preservation from Colorado State University, and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Colorado. Putting her education to practice, Gretchen worked for the City of Sioux City, Iowa where she authored the city’s first historic preservation ordinance, established the city’s first historic district, and successfully lead efforts to preserve, restore, and rehabilitate several buildings in the city’s downtown area. She recently returned to her hometown of Littleton where she looks forward to working with HLI to help interpret and preserve the city’s history for future generations.

Darlee Whiting

Darlee Whiting moved from Castle Rock to Littleton in 1957, quite a big move at the time. Businesses on Main Street closed 5 p.m. every night, leaving the streets empty but for a few pedestrians and drivers hoping to get through town before the train interrupted east/west traffic for quite some time. Back then, Littleton had one high school, no junior high or middle school and four elementary schools. The fire department relied on volunteers and the siren on top of Town Hall alerted all about a fire.The same siren sounded off every day at noon and there is no doubt many sleeping babies had shorter naps. The nearest hospital was in Englewood, and the sheriff parked at Nevada and Main waiting for excitement to happen. Darlee shopped at the grocery store, the Montgomery Wards, and the local bakery, and she had a meat locker at the local meat market. All the stores were within walking distance of one another up and down Main Street. Darlee loves her history with Littleton and hopes you will, too.

Carrie Wheeler

Carrie Wheeler, a native of Lakewood, Colo., first became aware of Downtown Littleton when her junior high choir director recommended Penny-Robin Dancewear as a source for dance shoes. A few years later, Carrie and her high school friends spent many Saturday nights enjoying the Christmas lights on Main Street. Many years after that, Carrie became active in Littleton when her family joined the community in 2014.Carrie believes Littleton’s charm is a meaningful differentiator among cities in the Denver Metro area, and she is enthusiastic about promoting the characteristics that make Littleton an extraordinary place to call home.

Barbara Eaton

Barbara Eaton first became aware of Downtown Littleton as a student at Arapahoe Community College in the early 1980s. One day, she wandered into Art Gore’s Photography Studio on Curtice Street, where she and Mr. Gore talked at length about Littleton. Mr. Gore believed Littleton had great potential, but he shared his disappointment at how the City was losing its appeal. Soon after, the Second Century Fund was born. (The fund was formed to help preserve and protect Downtown Littleton.) Barbara has been an active member of the Historic Littleton, Inc., board since 1989, devoting time to special events and serving as membership chair.

Rebecca Kast

Rebecca Kast became interested in historic preservation after writing a series of articles about preservation for the Littleton Independent in 1991. In 1992, she developed the first Walking Tour of Historic Littleton brochure as her “do-able deal” for the Littleton Leadership Retreat. (The retreat featured the “do-able deal” concept, which tasked each group of attendees with developing a project that was actually do-able.) In 1993, she was elected to the Littleton City Council and was a strong advocate for preservation during her three four-year terms. Rebecca served on the Littleton Historical Museum board and the Second Century Fund board. She was president of Historic Littleton, Inc., for six years and wrote the newsletter for 15 years.

Margi Clute

Margi Clute made a career in homebuilding as vice president of sales and marketing with several local homebuilders. Her experience in designing new homes and her love of history led her to apply for the City of Littleton Historical Preservation Board after retirement. She served on the Historical Preservation Board for nine years, including two years as chair and several years as liaison to Historic Littleton, Inc. When she reached her term limit with the Historical Preservation Board in 2016, Margi was elected to the Historic Littleton, Inc., Board of Directors.

Gail Keeley

Gail Keeley is a historian who ran her own city planning and historic preservation consulting firm for 35 years. She performed historic surveys all over the state of Colorado for local municipalities, state and federal agencies. Gail specialized in evaluating and mitigating potential impacts to historic properties from transportation development projects.As a member of the first Historical Preservation Board, she worked on the City’s first Historic Preservation Code.Gail has presented many Historic Littleton, Inc., programs on structures and people, and she is an avid leader for the Littleton Main Street tours.

John Gerkin

John Gerkin has been an active HLI board member since 2012. He and his wife, Liz Eaton, were the creators and founders of the Historic Littleton Scavenger Hunt. It has been a highly successful event in downtown Littleton for many years. John lives in a historic home in the downtown area.

Sonya Ellingboe

Sonya Ellingboe participated in the Littleton Leadership Retreat in 1989 during which the need for a group to focus on Littleton’s history was identified. The Second Century Fund was formed, and she was hooked. Sonya brought a lifetime of interest in historic buildings and served as secretary for the organization. Her enthusiasm for Downtown Littleton continues. She hopes to expand interest in historic properties with related community programming and to expand membership in Historic Littleton, Inc.

Kimber Dempsey

Kimber Dempsey, a Colorado native, moved to Littleton in 2018. A devotee of Mid-Century Modern architecture, she spends much of her free time advocating for and educating people on the style. Kimber is a licensed Realtor who specializes in Mid-Century Modern and vintage homes. As a Littleton resident, she wanted to help Historic Littleton, Inc., with a focus on Mid-Century Modern buildings. Kimber is also a board member of the newly formed Docomomo US Colorado chapter and she helps with Denver Modernism Week.