Denver Harbor, Houston, Texas

Denver Harbor is a historic community located in eastern Houston, Texas, United States near the Houston Ship Channel. The community, bounded by Wallisville Road, the Houston Belt and Terminal Railroad, the Southern Pacific Railroad, the Port Authority Railroad, was first settled in the 1890s and platted in 1911 and 1913. The community includes many historic bungalow and cottage homes.

Denver Harbor is a mostly Hispanic community.

Denver Harbor was first settled in the 1890s and platted in 1911 and 1913. The four original subdivisions were: Denver, Harbor, Harbordale, and Liberty Heights. The names "Denver" and "Harbor" merged and became the name "Denver Harbor," which describes the entire community. Many early residents of Denver Harbor were Texans who left farms for the city neighborhood to make a better life for themselves and their families. These residents found work on the railroads and industrial companies that were established along the Houston Ship Channel.Greeks, Italians, and Poles settled Denver Harbor. The City of Houston annexed the Denver Harbor and Houston Harbor communities in 1929, adding 885 acres (358 ha) of land to the city limits.

On June 1, 1939, the word "Podunk" was mysteriously written on the side of the local water tower. The city tried repeatedly to cover over the word, however the name would always reappear within days. Inspired by the defiance of the sign's unknown painter, area residents soon began to identify as Podunkers. The names was adopted by a local youth basketball team known as the Podunk Skunks. The names, used in the 1930s and 1940s, was in reference to how Denver Harbor was considered to be "out-of-the-way." The slang became known after area children painted the word on a water tower. Jay Grady, an area resident, stated in a 2007 Houston Chronicle article that residents felt proud of the nickname since back then Denver Harbor was barely in the eastern city limits of Houston and that "it was kind of like living in the country rather than being in the city." Grady added that the community was "always been kind of a stepchild to the city of Houston, kind of a hardscrabble community, mostly blue-collar workers on the eastern edge of the city limits. We felt like we lived in the country rather than in town." As the population transitioned from working-class White Americans to Hispanic Americans the nickname was no longer used.

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