Denver was growing. A precious element of growth was water. The City Lateral Canal brought water to the Hilltop area in 1885 and the “East Capitol Hill” subdivision was platted in 1886. One-third of the subdivision was sold to a group of real estate developers. The subdivisions were mapped independent of each other explaining why many Hilltop streets fail to connect with neighboring existing streets today. The subdivisions were combined and annexed to the City of Denver in 1893.

Development in Hilltop was slow with only 6-houses in the 1900 census and 24 by 1910. George Cranmer built a Jules Jacques Benois Benedict designed mansion in Hilltop in 1917. The Mountain View Park, designed in 1919 and opened in 1923, was later rename Cranmer Park. George Cranmer would go on to become Denver’s Manager of Improvement and Parks and was responsible for developing Red Rocks Park and purchasing Winter Park ski area as part of Denver’s park system.

By 1928, Hilltop still had only 42-houses. Development picked-up with the arrival of the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the northern edge of Hilltop. By 1950, there were 728-houses in Hilltop and today there are over 1,600-houses.  

Hilltop remains a quiet low-traffic neighborhood with tree-lined streets. Cranmer Park sits on the highest part of the hill that gives the neighborhood its name with its centerpiece large stone sundial resting on a field of flagstone decking.