Remember a time when you could pick up dry cleaning without worrying about parking tickets? Hanneck Dry Cleaners remembers.
The longtime business at 606 East Sixth Avenue was open before bubble gum, parking meters and penicillin were invented, according to the Von Feldt family, which purchased the business in the 1950s. But after tackling stains, wrinkles and odd smells since 1923, Hanneck Dry Cleaners quietly closed for good on June 29.
"After 101 years in business, we will be closing June 29," a letter taped on Hanneck's window reads. "Thank you for your patronage! Clothes remaining will be donated. The Von Feldt Family."
According to the Department of Excise & Licenses, the earliest dry-cleaning permit for Hanneck dates back to 2001. But locals were going there long before that.
The cleaning business opened in 1923 and was purchased by Herbert Von Feldt and his brother, Alfred, in 1955, according to the Von Feldt family. Alfred died in 2005 and Herbert passed in 2011; the business was also owned and operated by Herbert's wife, Mary, who passed away in 2023, and Herbert and Mary's son, Joe, a co-founder of Mile High Spirits distillery.
Archives at the Denver Public Library back up the Von Feldt's claim. According to a 1926 Denver Householders' Directory and Street and Avenue Guide, residents in Capitol Hill could find a "clothes cleaner" named Anna C. Hanneck on the corner of East Sixth Avenue and Pearl Street, where the Hanneck building sits. The library's archive doesn't have a householder's directory for 1923, but a city directory from that year lists a Denver resident by the name of Anna C. Hanneck.
The Von Feldts could not be reached for comment, but Joe's bio with Mile High Spirits mentions his time managing "the family business, Hanneck Cleaners on 6th Avenue," before setting "out on his own to follow a passion for brewing and distilling."
Although Sixth Avenue has lost a piece of history, you don't have to travel far for classic establishments. Don's Club Tavern has been serving affordable drinks at 723 East Sixth for over 77 years, and Oliver's Meats has been a fixture at East Sixth and Williams Street since 1923, the same year Hanneck's was reportedly founded.
Hanneck Dry Cleaners was in business for over 100 years, according to the Von Feldt family.
Thomas Mitchell
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