The Denver assessor’s office lists the build date for 1615 E. 22nd Avenue as 1896, but no building permit could be located. The building is one of four residential buildings (three single family homes and a duplex) facing E. 22nd Avenue built sometime between 1893 and 1899 by owner Eugene B. Lemmon. In 1889, long before construction of the home began, Lemmon purchased lots 13 to 15 in block 37 of Schinner's Addition which contained a two-story frame residence facing Franklin Street. It appears that Lemmon demolished the frame building to construct the four new residential buildings.
Eugene Lemmon was born in Illinois in 1847 to Isaiah and Mary Lemmon. The family moved to Weld County in 1866, where Eugene married Elizabeth "Libbie" Devotie in 1874. The couple moved to Denver in the late 1880s, where Eugene worked as a commercial merchant. They had five children, Zenaida, Mary, Evan, Edwin, and Alpharetta. Libbie died in 1898. The 1900 Census shows Eugene and his children living at 811 22nd Avenue (today's 1611 E. 22nd Avenue), in half of the duplex he built. The other three of Lemmon's properties are all shown as rentals.
