After 111 years, Cherry Hills Village leaders finally scrubbed the city’s maps of Swastika Acres, the name of a 56-lot subdivision that has bewildered new homeowners and served as an uncomfortable relic of the city’s past.
Starting this week, Swastika Acres will officially be known as Old Cherry Hills.
“I think it’s important for our community to bring some closure to this issue,” said Councilman Dan Sheldon, who spearheaded the renaming effort. “The community has cried out for this to be changed.”
On Tuesday night, city council unanimously passed a measure to rename the subdivision.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Mayor Russell Stewart said.
RELATED: Swastika Acres may finally change its name after 111 years
The Swastika Acres subdivision was named in 1908 by the Denver Swastika Land Co., well before the Nazis co-opted the symbol and forever changed its meaning. At the time, the swastika remained a common sight across the Southwest, used by Native Americans for centuries.
The name “Swastika Acres” doesn’t appear on any signs in Cherry Hills Village, and realtors haven’t flaunted the name to prospective buyers.
But over a century after its creation, the name has remained on the deeds of a few dozen homes, despite some side-eyed looks by new homeowners as they signed on the dotted line.
Brady O’Donnell first learned of the Swastika Acres name in 2014 when he closed on his house.
“It caught you by surprise that this name would still be in existence today,” he said.
After city council decided to make Swastika Acres a priority this year, O’Donnell volunteered to do the grunt work needed to change the name: He collected signatures from plot owners, filed paperwork with the city and shelled out money for the application.
“In light of some of the things going on in Denver and across the country with the swastika symbol,” O’Donnell said, “this was something I thought was good for the neighborhood and good for the community.”
He was overwhelmed by support.
“I’ve been stopped on the street in the neighborhood,” O’Donnell said. “People saying, ‘thanks for taking this on.'”
The subdivision’s new name, Old Cherry Hills, was a natural choice, he said.
“People have loosely referred to this part of town as that anyway,” O’Donnell said.
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A Cherry Hills Village subdivision called Swastika Acres may finally change its name after 111 years.
While the name-change garnered near-universal backing in Cherry Hills Village, one resident believed Swastika Acres should stay.
“I don’t think you should erase history,” said Susan Cooper, who comes from a family of Holocaust survivors and who sent a letter stating her opposition to Council. “What would it be like if people denied the Holocaust? You have to get the facts of history.”
For the rest, it’s time to say good riddance to Swastika Acres.
“This will just reflect the neighborhood in a more positive light,” O’Donnell said.
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