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Platt Park is a south Denver neighborhood named for its most prominent landmark, the Sarah Platt Decker Library, 1501 S. Logan St. A nationally prominent Denver club woman, she presided over the Colorado Board of Charities and Corrections and the National Federation of Club Women. She championed causes ranging from the creation of Mesa Verde and Rocky Mountain National Parks to women's suffrage to branch libraries.
Platte is the name of the river. Long ago in 1739, two French trappers, the brothers Paul and Pierre Mallet, explored the river westward. They named it Platte, the French word for "flat" or "shallow" or "dull" or "spiritless." The Mallets did not follow the Platte into the mountains where it is anything but flat.
- Courtesy “Dr. Colorado” Tom Noel. Image: South Platte River. Credit: Tom Noel Collection. Image: Sarah Platte Decker. Credit: Denver Public Library