Denver Athletic Club
The Denver Athletic Club, founded in 1884, is a private athletic and social club that is member-owned. Located in Downtown Denver, Colorado, USA. Residing in the historical 1325 Glenarm Place near the Colorado Convention Center, The DAC was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1979. History. The Denver Athletic Club is one of the oldest and largest private city clubs in the United States. Founded in 1884. The first home of The DAC was converted from the First Baptist Church on 18th near Curtis. It featured a gymnasium and a clubhouse with  a large, handsome Denver Athletic Club sign on the front and with the purpose of "encouraging all proper athletic sports and pastimes of any kind and nature whatsoever". William D. Rathvon, is regarded as its founding father. Additionally, John Elitch, who would later open Elitch Gardens, is credited as helping "inspire" and organize the club. In the fall of 1890, The DAC moved out of the small secondhand church into its new five-story building at the present location on the corner of 14th and Glenarm. On November 15, 1890, it opened an athletic field with a football game versus  the University of Colorado. In 1900, a library was started and grew to hold over 8,000 titles. An addition was completed in 1892 and the 70-foot structure was one of the tallest buildings in Denver for several years, visible from every corner of the city center.