Welcome to the Lowry Neighborhood in Denver, Colorado.
The following is a brief history of the Lowry area: the place we now call home.
The Lowry neighborhood sits on what was once Lowry Air Force Base. The base operated for 57 years by training and preparing military personnel from all branches of the U.S. and Allied Forces.
The main focus for Lowry Air Force Base was technical training, including aerial photography. During World War II, the base population reached 20,000 and Lowry became so critical to the military training program that personnel operated in three shifts, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day! The Lowry Air Force Base motto, Sustineo Alas (I Sustain the Wings), may be seen on many of the remaining historical buildings that exist in Lowry today.
During the 1950’s Lowry became the Summer White House of President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie Doud Eisenhower. The First Lady’s family lived in Denver at the time. The First couple would attend services at Chapel No. 1 on the base. The United States Air Force Academy was established and located at Lowry from 1955 to 1958 while the permanent campus was being constructed in Colorado Springs.
More interesting Lowry history:
In the 1840's and 1850's the Arapahoe Indians would set up camp along Westerly Creek, which flows through Lowry.
From 1888 to 1901, Lowry’s northwest neighborhood was home to a Christian military school named Jarvis Hall, which burned down in 1901 due to a chemistry project accident and was never rebuilt.
From 1904-1932, the Agnes C. Phipps Memorial Sanatorium, a 150-bed facility, called Lowry home. Its oldest structure is still standing and has been converted to a private residence at 7400 E. 6th Ave.
Lowry is named after Lt. Francis B. Lowry who was killed during aerial combat while serving as an aerial photographer in the U.S. Army Air Service over France in 1918. He was laid to rest in Fairmount Cemetery just south of Lowry at Alameda and Quebec.
On August 31,1927 Charles Lindbergh landed at Lowry Field for a publicity tour after his historic cross-Atlantic flight.
Lowry Air Force Base closed in 1994 after training more than a million military graduates. The base has since been redeveloped and is a fantastic example of a master-planned community. Some of the original Lowry Air Force Base structures, including some of the aircraft hangars, offices and personnel housing were creatively re-purposed and are in use today, contributing to the story and history that makes Lowry so unique.
The Lowry neighborhood is centrally located in Denver, Colorado and is bordered by the Montclair neighborhood to the north; Washington and Virginia Vale neighborhoods to the south; the Hilltop neighborhood to the west and Aurora to the east.
