A Neighborhood with Rural Roots
Applewood Hills is part of the larger Applewood community west of Denver, a place where the suburban landscape still carries traces of its agricultural past. Today, residents know the area for its mature trees, spacious lots, winding streets, mountain views, and easy access to Clear Creek, Golden, and the foothills. But before homes filled the hillsides, this was open farm country shaped by irrigation, orchards, reservoirs, and family-owned acreage.
For much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the area around present-day Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, and Golden remained largely agricultural. Farms and truck gardens supplied produce to Denver, while roads such as Youngfield Street, 20th Avenue, and 32nd Avenue connected rural properties with nearby communities. The land’s gentle slopes and access to water made it especially attractive for growing fruit and vegetables.
Applewood Hills emerged during the postwar era, when Denver and Jefferson County began expanding rapidly beyond the city’s traditional boundaries. New subdivisions transformed former farmland into residential neighborhoods, but many of the area’s original natural features remained.
How Applewood Got Its Name
The Applewood name is generally traced to Myron Bunger, who purchased approximately 80 acres near 26th Avenue and Youngfield Street in 1935. Bunger raised strawberries and apple trees on the property, and when he began subdividing the land in the 1950s, he called the new development Applewood Mesa. The name reflected both the agricultural character of the property and the vision of a leafy residential community.
Bunger’s development helped establish a naming tradition that would shape the entire area. As nearby properties were subdivided, names such as Applewood Hills, Applewood View, Applewood Valley, Applewood Glen, Applewood Grove, Applewood Heights, and Applewood Knolls appeared on maps and real-estate brochures. These were separate but connected developments, together forming the broad community people now refer to as Applewood.
Applewood Hills was developed in the mid-1950s by C. D. Wallace. Promotional materials described it as a suburban “paradise,” situated northeast of 20th Avenue and Youngfield Street with views toward Maple Grove Reservoir. The setting was a major selling point: families could enjoy quiet streets and generous yards while remaining close to Denver, Golden, and major transportation routes.
The Postwar Suburban Boom
The growth of Applewood Hills coincided with one of the most important changes in Colorado history: the post-World War II housing boom. Returning veterans, young families, and workers drawn by Denver’s expanding economy were looking for homes outside the older urban core. Jefferson County offered room to grow, and Applewood offered something especially appealing—larger lots, open views, and a country-like atmosphere within commuting distance of the city.
Many of the neighborhood’s homes date from the 1950s through the 1970s. Ranch-style houses, split-levels, and low-slung mid-century designs became common, often set back from the street behind mature lawns. Streets such as Youngfield Street, Quail Street, Ellis Street, and West 20th and 26th avenues help define the area’s geography, while nearby Applewood Drive and the neighborhood’s curving residential lanes reflect a planning style that favored informal suburban layouts over a rigid city grid.
At the time, Applewood was not a single incorporated municipality. The community developed across portions of unincorporated Jefferson County, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, and the Golden area. That overlapping identity remains part of the neighborhood’s character today. Depending on the exact address, residents may identify with Lakewood, Golden, Wheat Ridge, or the broader Applewood community.
Applewood Golf Course and the Community’s Green Heritage
One of Applewood’s most recognizable landmarks is Applewood Golf Course along West 32nd Avenue. The idea for the course began in the 1950s, when local residents and civic-minded businesspeople worked to create a recreational center for the growing community. A group purchased approximately 240 acres near 32nd Avenue, including water rights associated with Clear Creek, and began developing the course.
The course opened in 1961 and quickly became more than a place for golf. Its broad fairways, mature trees, and foothill views gave nearby residents a permanent green backdrop. Generations of families have used the course for recreation, gatherings, lessons, and celebrations. In many ways, it preserves the open landscape that preceded the neighborhood’s construction.
Applewood Golf Course also became a symbol of residents’ commitment to protecting the area’s character. In 2015, a proposed housing development raised concerns about losing the course’s open space. After significant public involvement, the Prospect Recreation & Park District acquired the property from Coors Brewing Company in December 2016. That effort demonstrated how strongly local residents value accessible green space and the historic landscape around Applewood.
Nearby Landmarks and Local Institutions
Applewood Hills’ heritage is not limited to one historic building. It is woven into the everyday places that have served residents over many decades.
- Maple Grove Reservoir helped define the setting for early Applewood Hills development and remains an important visual and recreational landmark.
- Clear Creek forms part of the area’s natural foundation, supplying water historically used for agriculture and shaping the green corridor north of the neighborhood.
- Applewood Golf Course preserves a large piece of open land and remains one of the community’s most familiar gathering places.
- West 32nd Avenue has long functioned as a neighborhood spine, connecting Applewood with Wheat Ridge, Golden, and the broader west metro area.
- South Table Mountain provides a dramatic western backdrop and a reminder that Applewood sits at the edge of both suburban development and foothill landscape.
- Nearby churches, schools, swimming clubs, and small commercial centers helped turn the original subdivisions into established communities rather than simple collections of houses.
The area’s older apple trees are another subtle but meaningful landmark. While most of the original orchards disappeared beneath streets and homes, remnants still survive in private yards and along older residential corridors. A mature fruit tree can be an unassuming reminder that the neighborhood’s name was once literal.
From New Subdivision to Established Community
Over the decades, Applewood Hills has changed in ways familiar to many postwar neighborhoods. Young families became longtime residents, children who once played in open fields returned as homeowners, and original ranch houses gained additions, renovations, and new landscaping. Some large lots have been divided, while others remain much as they were when first developed.
The community also became more connected to the surrounding region. Interstate 70 improved access to Denver and the mountains, while nearby Golden grew into a center for recreation, education, brewing, and outdoor culture. The Clear Creek corridor and regional trail systems now provide opportunities for walking and cycling that earlier residents could hardly have imagined.
Yet the essential feel of Applewood Hills has endured. It remains a neighborhood of mature shade trees, broad skies, quiet residential streets, and strong community memory. Its history is visible not through a single preserved main street, but through the pattern of the land: the orchard-inspired name, the spacious lots, the old trees, the golf course, the reservoir, and the foothills beyond.
For longtime residents, Applewood Hills is special because it never completely lost its connection to the countryside. It grew from farms into suburbia, but the landscape still tells the story of what came before—and why generations of families have chosen to call this corner of the Lakewood area home.