Elitch Gardens was a family-owned seasonal amusement park, theater, and botanic garden in the West Highland neighborhood in northwest Denver, Colorado, United States, at 38th and Tennyson streets. For more than a century Elitch's was one of the most popular entertainment destinations in Colorado. It was nationally known for its luscious gardens, the Elitch Theatre, the Trocadero Ballroom, and the premier wooden roller coaster, Mister Twister. The park moved to downtown Denver in 1994 and later in November 1998 became Six Flags Elitch Gardens. The former location has been redeveloped.
Poster for Elitch's Zoological Gardens (c. 1900)
Elitch Zoological Gardens Gate, 1890
Elitch Gardens Theatre, 1923.
Flowerbed displaying the "Not to See Elitch's is Not to See Denver" slogan, c. 1916-1920.
The Historic Elitch Theatre is located at the original Elitch Gardens site in northwest Denver, Colorado. Opened in 1890, it was centerpiece of the park that was the first zoo west of Chicago. The theatre was Denver's first professional theatre, serving as home to America's first and oldest summer-stock theatre company from 1893 until the 1960s. The first films in the western US were shown there in 1896. Cecil B. DeMille sent yearly telegrams wishing the theatre another successful season, calling it "one of the cradles of American drama."
Elitch Theatre
Elitch Theatre, as it appeared in 1923
Interior of the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre, June 2010
Elitch's Zoological Gardens poster (cir.1900)