DENVER (KDVR) — The Regional Transportation District Board of Directors voted on Tuesday to rename the Civic Center Station in honor of a disability rights advocate who helped spark historic changes in public transit both locally and across the U.S.
Starting in 2026, RTD will implement the new name “Wade Blank Civic Center Station” on digital platforms and station signage as part of regularly scheduled service changes in January.
The decision comes after a yearlong process of encouraging the community to propose honorary names for RTD properties based on historical contributions, public support and alignment with RTD’s mission, the agency said in a press release.
The station will be named after Rev. Wade Blank, who advocated for disability rights and was an important organizer of the disability rights and independent living movement, according to an RTD article.
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Free MallRide buses at the Regional Transportation District’s Civic Center Station in Denver. -
Free MallRide buses at the Regional Transportation District’s Civic Center Station in Denver. -
Regional Transportation District’s Civic Center Station in Denver.
Who is Wade Blank?
After seeing how disabled residents were mistreated while working at a nursing home in Denver in 1971, Blank co-founded the non-profit Atlantis Community Inc., a place where people with severe disabilities could live semi-independently. He moved people out of the nursing home by himself, according to the RTD article.
Blank then co-founded a political offshoot of Atlantis, advocating for disability rights, called American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, or ADAPT. At the time, people with disabilities were often institutionalized, and everyday things like public transportation were not accessible.
The Civil Rights movement was the foundation of what became the disability rights movement. Blank was a founder of ADAPT and helped to organize a protest with a group of 19 members, which became known as the “Gang of 19.”
How Wade Blank changed history
The “Gang of 19” protestors gathered at Broadway and Colfax Avenue, steps away from where Civic Center Station is today, and surrounded RTD buses on July 5 and 6, 1978, demanding accessible transportation in Denver. They held signs saying things like “access is a civil right,” and “taxation without transportation.” The protest came after RTD had just ordered 250 new buses without wheelchair lifts.
Change sparked locally with RTD updating a third of its fleet to include wheelchair lifts, and seven years later, RTD became the first metropolitan agency in the U.S. to have wheelchair access on all local buses.
Blank’s advocacy sparked widespread impacts across the nation. RTD said his work with national transit agencies and the American Public Transportation Association was the basis for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which protects against disability-based discrimination.
Blank died while trying to save his son on Feb. 15, 1993. According to an article on the ADAPT Museum website, Blank’s son, Lincoln, got caught in an ocean undertow during a trip to Mexico. Wade swam out and tried to save him, but both drowned.
“Ironically, Wade died in the same way he lived — swimming out into the face of hostile undercurrents, and giving his life to help others fight for theirs,” the death announcement article reads.
“Disability rights were championed here in Denver, steps from Civic Center Station, as a direct result of the Rev. Blank’s leadership and care,” RTD Board of Directors Chair Julien Bouquet said in a press release. “As was shared in a call to action after Blank’s death, he understood that love is a passionate, lifelong action to preserve and enlarge the joy, dignity and quality of every human life. With this meaningful and important change to one of our most visible stations, RTD is honoring the life and work of a man who aspired toward a more human society that affords access and justice to all.”
RTD said that the change is estimated to cost a total of $98,000, and that will be paid for through the RTD General Manager and CEO’s contingency fund.
The public will also be invited to an event to unveil the new signs sometime in early 2026.
Additionally, on Friday, RTD will host an event at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Denver Downtown-Convention Center to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. RTD will unveil a special ADA-themed bus wrap, a historical exhibit exploring Denver’s history related to the disabled community and a panel discussion about the ADA’s impact.
