Living Littleton

Starting in early November, Littleton will be getting a new restaurant at the west end of downtown.  Merle’s, a former garage, is in the process of being remade into a restaurant and bar, with meeting rooms and a rooftop patio.  This new incarnation is the brain child of Mark Teets and David Svenson.

Svenson was the person responsible for creating Cafe Terra Cotta, which is also in downtown Littleton.  Svenson has hired a chef from North Carolina who will be creating a southern syle of cooking that Svenson calls “progressive comfort food”.  Merle’s will feature hamburger that’s freshly ground on site along with fresh cut french fries.  The owners have tried to maintain the style of the original garage by having overhead doors that they can open in good weather to give the diners the feeling of dining Al Fresco.  I know I can’t wait for next spring to try out the rooftop patio and enjoy the views.

    

     When I get an inquiry from someone out of state asking me to send them information about Littleton, I always end up asking them, “which Littleton do you mean?” 

We have the City of Littleton and the unincorporated parts of south Jefferson County, which also goes by Littleton.  If you’re reading this, live outside of Colorado, and you don’t really know where Littleton is or what Littleton is about, then this post may help you. 

   

  The Littleton area was settled in the 1860’s by a man named Richard Little.  Later when the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad came to this area south of Denver, developement started to take off.  Originally, this area was know for agriculture but as the rail road

came, and Colorado gained statehood, the economy began to diversify and prosper.  An easy way to find Littleton from Denver, is to follow the South Platte River, or US 85 (Santa Fe Drive) south, as both of them run right pass the west side of the downtown area.  Today, Littleton is a flourishing suburban city that hasn’t lost it’s small town feel.  It’s location gives it’s residents easy access to the rest of metro Denver, especially with the completion of the southwest light rail line.  This line will have even more benefits as the rest of the system gets completed in the coming years.  Currently, the downtown area is experiencing a rennasiance as more restaurants continue to open their doors.  Presently, it’s become an evening and weekend destination for diners looking for a diversity of menu choices.

   

  The actual city of forty thousand plus, has meandering borders, however, it’s mainly defined by Belleview to the north and County Line Road to the south.  Broadway, which divides Denver’s street numbers between east and west, is usually the eastern end of Littleton.  The west border isn’t as straight and can best be defined as Sheridan on the north side and Platte Canyon Road on the southwest.  Just about all of Littleton  can be found in Arapahoe County.

   

  The other Littleton is located to the west, in what is southern, unincorporated Jefferson County.  These residents have no connection to the City of Littleton, but have

 Littleton as their mailing address.  Having said that, if you were to ask any of these residents where they lived, they would answer “Littleton”.  This other Littleton, is larger in area and population, plus it has a larger retail and commercial base.  Even though it’s larger it doesn’t have a designated city core.  In spite of that, area is blanketed with many small retail pockets, but is anchored by the Southwest Plaza Mall and the Wadsworth Boulevard shopping corridor.  It contains several planned communities, like Governors Ranch, Grant Ranch, and Ken-Caryl Ranch, Colorado’s oldest planned community.  Like the City of Littleton, this area is also covered with parks and a multitude of hiking and biking trails.  The western boundries of Jefferson County contains the beginning of the Rocky Mountain foothills, so one can find trails for all kinds of skill levels. To the South

part of Jefferson County, and that’s the community of Trailmark.  To secure a source of water, prior to it’s development, it agreed to be annexed by the City of Littleton.  In Trailmark you will find a mix of single family homes and condos that were built mostly in the last ten years or less.  The rest of the unincorporated part of Jefferson County, began to be built in the 1970’s right up until the present time.  In both areas, land available for new home construction is becoming harder to obtain, as these areas are approaching build out. 

Chatfield State Park, which was created for flood control by damning the South Platte River, giving us Chatfield Reservoir; This area is a huge draw;for all the water activities a large body of water can provide.  Jefferson County is quite large, however, the part that calls itself Littleton, ends with Hampden Avenue (US 285) to the north. The northwest corner of this unincorporated area is served by the Morrison Post Office, so they don’t consider themselves to be Littleton residents;The types of homes available in these two locals will differ. Since the City of Littleton is much older, the majority of homes there consist of homes that were built throughout the 20th Century, with all the various styles you could imagine. There are pockets of newer homes to the west and south that were built in the last twenty five years or less. One exception is located in the unincorporatedTrailmark

     

Now that I’ve given you a general idea of these two Littletons, hopefully that will allow you to better focus on which area your really desire information on.  If you would like to look at the type of homes available in each location go to my website at www.jerrybecker.myhomecards.com and set up your own password protected searches.