A Neighborhood with Agricultural Roots
Applewood Knolls may feel thoroughly suburban today, with ranch homes, mature trees, quiet cul-de-sacs, and views toward the foothills, but its story began long before the first sidewalks were poured. The neighborhood occupies land that was once part of a productive agricultural landscape west of Denver, where farms, irrigation ditches, orchards, and open fields shaped daily life.
The larger Applewood area takes its name from the apple orchards established by Myron Bunger. In 1935, Bunger purchased approximately 80 acres near 26th Avenue and Youngfield Street. He raised strawberries and apple trees there, eventually naming his residential development Applewood Mesa. When homebuilding began in the 1950s, many of Bunger’s apple trees were preserved through protective covenants, giving the emerging community a name—and a distinctive sense of place.
Applewood Knolls was one of several developments that grew from this broader identity. Applewood Mesa was followed by Applewood Hills, Applewood View, Applewood Valley, Applewood Glen, Applewood Grove, Applewood Heights, and eventually Applewood Knolls. Together, these neighborhoods created the leafy residential district residents now recognize as Applewood.
The O’Hayre Land and the Beginning of Applewood Knolls
Before development, much of the Applewood Knolls site was associated with the O’Hayre family, who continued farming portions of the property even as houses began appearing. Family photographs and local histories recall alfalfa fields, horses, open land, and the working rural character of the area.
The transition from farmland to neighborhood began in earnest in 1959. Developer Michael A. Leprino envisioned Applewood Knolls as a carefully planned community rather than a collection of unrelated streets. His plan included large homesites, curving roads, protective covenants, underground utilities in later sections, recreation facilities, and connections across the Rocky Mountain Ditch. The first filing was recorded on February 27, 1959.
That date is an important milestone because it marks the beginning of the neighborhood’s transformation. Instead of erasing the land’s character entirely, the development incorporated many features of the existing landscape. The ditch remained a defining waterway, mature trees were retained where possible, and the street plan followed the rolling terrain rather than imposing a rigid grid.
Building the Knolls, One Filing at a Time
Applewood Knolls grew gradually over nearly two decades. The subdivision was organized through a series of filings, each adding new homes and extending the neighborhood’s network of streets.
- The first filing included approximately 95 homes between West 32nd Avenue, Simms Street, and Taft Street.
- The second filing, recorded in March 1960, added roughly 100 houses, the Applewood Knolls Swim and Tennis Club, and space associated with Applewood Baptist Church.
- The third filing followed in March 1961 and was planned for 132 homes.
- The fourth filing, between 26th Avenue and 27th Place, included approximately 152 homes, protective covenants, and Taft Park.
- Later filings expanded the neighborhood toward Oak Street, Quail Street, West 29th Avenue, and West 32nd Avenue.
- The final filing was signed in 1976, completing a community planned for approximately 765 homes.
Walking or driving through Applewood Knolls today, it is easy to see the design logic behind those early plans. Applewood Knolls Drive and the surrounding streets bend gently through the neighborhood. Cul-de-sacs create quieter pockets, while streets such as Quail, Oak, Taft, Simms, and West 32nd Avenue provide the larger framework. The result feels more like a landscape neighborhood than a conventional subdivision.
Taft Park and the Rocky Mountain Ditch
One of Applewood Knolls’ most meaningful features is Taft Park, located near Applewood Knolls Drive and the neighborhood’s western sections. The park includes open space, a picnic area, and room for informal play. It is the sort of modest neighborhood park that may not appear in regional guidebooks but becomes part of family memory: a place for birthday gatherings, afternoon games, and summer conversations.
The Rocky Mountain Ditch is equally important to the neighborhood’s character. Footbridges cross the ditch in two locations, linking sections of Applewood Knolls and creating pleasant walking routes. The ditch is a reminder that the community grew from an irrigated agricultural landscape. Long before it became a suburban amenity, water management made farming possible and helped shape the entire western edge of the Denver metropolitan area.
Today, the ditch also contributes to the neighborhood’s mature, green appearance. Cottonwoods and other established trees soften the streetscape, while the open drainage corridor provides glimpses of the land’s earlier form.
The Swim and Tennis Club Tradition
The Applewood Knolls Swim and Tennis Club is another institution closely tied to the neighborhood’s history. Created as part of the original community plan, the club reflected the postwar ideal of family-centered suburban living: children could walk or bike to summer swimming, neighbors could meet on the tennis courts, and residents could build friendships close to home.
The club remains a private, member-supported organization and has expanded and adapted over time. Its continued presence speaks to the strength of the neighborhood’s original social design. Applewood Knolls was not planned simply as a place to own a house; it was intended as a community with shared gathering spaces and traditions.
Nearby Applewood Baptist Church also became an important landmark. Included in the early development plans, the church served as more than a place of worship. Like many neighborhood churches of its era, it offered meeting space, children’s activities, and a familiar point of orientation along West 32nd Avenue.
A Changing but Recognizable Community
By the 1970s, Applewood Knolls had largely reached the form residents know today. The new homes were no longer surrounded by working farms, but the neighborhood retained generous lots, mature landscaping, mountain views, and a sense of separation from the busier parts of the metro area.
The surrounding community continued to evolve. Applewood Golf Course, established in the 1950s and developed during the early 1960s, became a major recreational landmark nearby. The course’s creation reflected the same westward growth that produced Applewood Knolls: residents wanted open space, outdoor recreation, and a community identity connected to the foothills.
Schools, churches, parks, and transportation links gradually made the area more connected. West 32nd Avenue and Simms Street provided access toward Wheat Ridge, Golden, Interstate 70, and the rest of Lakewood, while nearby Prospect Valley Elementary became part of the landscape of family life.
What Makes Applewood Knolls Special
The history of Applewood Knolls is not preserved in one grand historic building. Instead, it lives in layers: an old apple tree in a backyard, the path beside the Rocky Mountain Ditch, the curve of Applewood Knolls Drive, the familiar summer rhythm of the swim club, and the mature trees lining streets first platted more than sixty years ago.
Applewood Knolls has changed from farm fields to a settled residential neighborhood, but it has not lost its original character. Its spacious homesites, informal gathering places, and carefully shaped streets still reflect the vision of its early planners. For longtime residents, that continuity is the neighborhood’s greatest heritage: Applewood Knolls feels established without feeling frozen, and modern without forgetting the orchards, farms, and families that came before.