Named after the schools in the area, Cory-Merrill was once part of the Town of South Denver. It was founded in 1858 to be a dry town because its citizens didn’t like the saloons that had taken over Denver. By the 1920’s, the future Cory-Merrill neighborhood had been annexed by Denver. It was dotted with farms, orchards and cattle, area kids caught snakes in an area called The Swamp (now Interstate-25)., and Colorado Boulevard had nurseries. In the late 1940s, Mr. Armstrong (who lived on Steele Street) donated his farm land to Denver Public Schools to replace the aging Coronado School. The school district built Cory Elementary and Merrill Junior High, named after John J. Cory and Louise A. Merrill, two influential Denver educators. At the same time, developer Les Tremblay purchased plots around the schools to build tract homes for World War II soldiers coming home. These houses were called Les Tremblay Small Houses. These single-story Les Tremblay houses became the Cory-Merrill neighborhood.