A Newer Neighborhood with Deep Arvada Roots
Highgate may feel like a modern Arvada neighborhood, but its story is connected to a much older landscape—one shaped by farms, irrigation ditches, railroads, and the steady growth of a small agricultural settlement into a thriving suburban city.
Unlike Olde Town Arvada or the Stocke-Walter Addition, Highgate is not generally recognized as one of Arvada’s historic districts. Its homes and streets reflect a later chapter in the city’s development, when former agricultural land was gradually transformed into residential neighborhoods. Still, the heritage of Highgate is very much an Arvada story: a story of land, water, transportation, and neighbors building a place to call home.
Today, Highgate’s appeal comes from that blend of quiet residential living and easy access to the larger community. Its streets are part of a city that preserves reminders of its nineteenth-century origins while continuing to grow and change.
From Indigenous Homelands to Agricultural Valley
Long before Highgate was built, the broader Arvada area was part of the traditional homeland of Indigenous peoples who lived along the waterways of the Front Range. Ralston Creek and Clear Creek provided water, wildlife, and natural travel routes through the region.
Arvada’s documented modern history begins with the arrival of gold seekers. In 1850, Lewis Ralston found gold near the creek that now bears his name. Although the gold rush did not turn the area into a mining town, the valley proved especially well suited to farming. By the 1860s, settlers were filing land claims, planting crops, and developing irrigation systems.
The agricultural character of Arvada lasted for generations. Wheat, corn, oats, celery, fruit, berries, and vegetables were grown in the fertile valley and sold in Denver and nearby mining camps. Arvada eventually became known as the “celery capital of the world,” a nickname that captures just how important farming was to the community’s identity. The land where later neighborhoods such as Highgate would emerge was once part of this broader rural landscape.
How Arvada Got Its Name
The name “Highgate” appears to be a neighborhood-era name rather than one tied to an early farmstead or nineteenth-century civic landmark. Publicly available local histories do not identify a single historic gate, homestead, or founding family that definitively explains the name. That is not unusual for a later suburban neighborhood, where names were often selected by developers to suggest character, setting, or tradition.
The name Arvada, by contrast, has a well-documented origin. In the 1860s, settler Benjamin Franklin Wadsworth worked to establish a town on his land. His wife, Mary Ann Wadsworth, named the community after her brother-in-law, Hiram Arvada Haskins. The town’s formal notice was posted on December 1, 1870. ([arvadaco.gov](https://www.arvadaco.gov/589/The-Founding-of-Our-Community?utm_source=openai))
Highgate’s name therefore belongs to a newer layer of local history, while its setting remains tied to the older Arvada landscape—a place first defined by water, agriculture, and views toward the foothills.
Railroads, Roads, and the Growth of Arvada
Transportation changed Arvada dramatically. The Colorado Central Railroad reached the area in 1870, linking local farmers with Denver and markets farther east. Later, electric interurban service made it easier for residents to travel between Arvada and Denver.
The railroad helped establish Olde Town as the city’s historic center, while roads such as Wadsworth Boulevard became important north-south routes. Over time, improved roads and automobile ownership encouraged Arvada to expand beyond its original townsite.
That expansion accelerated after World War II. Denver’s growing population, new highway construction, and demand for single-family housing pushed development westward. Former fields and large rural parcels were divided into subdivisions, schools, shopping areas, and parks. Highgate belongs to this suburban era of Arvada’s history.
The neighborhood’s streets may not have the century-old storefronts found along Grandview Avenue, but they reflect the postwar transformation that helped make Arvada one of the most desirable communities west of Denver.
Nearby Historic Landmarks
One of the best ways to understand Highgate’s heritage is to visit the historic places around it.
Olde Town Arvada remains the community’s most recognizable historic district. Its boundaries include Ralston Road, Teller Street, Grandview Avenue, and Yukon Street. The district preserves commercial buildings, residences, and civic spaces associated with Arvada’s early development. Walking through Olde Town offers a sense of the compact town that existed before suburban expansion reshaped the region.
Just east of Olde Town is the Stocke-Walter Addition Historic District, a residential area with homes dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The district includes examples of Queen Anne, bungalow, cottage, and vernacular architecture. Its history is closely connected to the railroad and to prominent early residents, including members of the Stocke family and Reverend William White. ([arvadaco.gov](https://www.arvadaco.gov/430/Stocke-Walter-Addition-Historic-District?utm_source=openai))
Other nearby reminders of Arvada’s past include historic homes along Grandview Avenue, the old railroad corridor, and the civic buildings and gathering spaces associated with Olde Town. These places help connect newer neighborhoods such as Highgate to the people and families who established Arvada more than 150 years ago.
Parks, Trails, and the Modern Neighborhood
Highgate’s heritage is also expressed through the way modern Arvada neighborhoods connect to parks and open space. The city now maintains an extensive system of parks, trails, and natural areas, with more than 100 park sites and roughly 150 miles of trails. City information notes that approximately 96 percent of Arvada residents live within a ten-minute walk of a park. ([arvadaco.gov](https://www.arvadaco.gov/1039/Park-Inventory-and-Amenities?utm_source=openai))
That emphasis on access to green space reflects an important change from the old farming era. Early residents depended on open land for crops and livestock; today, residents value open land for walking, recreation, shade, wildlife, and community life.
From Highgate, residents can enjoy the broader network of Arvada parks and trails, including routes associated with Ralston Creek and the regional trail system. These corridors preserve the same waterways that supported the first farms, even though their role has changed from irrigation and agriculture to recreation and conservation.
Highgate’s Heritage Today
Over the decades, Highgate has evolved from an idea on a development plan into a lived-in neighborhood shaped by its residents. Children have grown up here, families have remodeled homes, and longtime neighbors have watched Arvada change around them.
The neighborhood’s story is not one of grand historic buildings or famous events. It is a quieter heritage, measured in ordinary routines: front-yard conversations, familiar walks, changing trees, school-day traffic, and the way residents recognize one another over the years.
That is what makes Highgate special. It represents the continuing life of Arvada—a community that began with a creekside gold discovery, became an agricultural center, grew around railroads and roads, and eventually made room for neighborhoods designed for modern family life.
When residents look beyond Highgate’s streets toward Olde Town, Ralston Creek, Wadsworth Boulevard, or the foothills, they are seeing more than scenery. They are seeing the layers of history that made this part of Colorado home.