It's no secret in Denver that Cheesman Park and the Denver Botanic Gardens sit on land that once served as cemetery grounds.
Mount Prospect Cemetery opened on the 160-acre site in 1858. In 1865, 40 acres of the cemetery became Mount Calvary, a burial place for Catholics. In 1872, Congress decreed that the site of Mount Prospect was technically federal land. The land was sold to the City of Denver with the provision that it always serve as a cemetery. In 1873, the cemetery became known as Denver City Cemetery.
By the 1880s, the City of Denver was pleading with Congress to change the status of the land from cemetery to park land. On January 25, 1890, Congress acceded to their demands, and Denver City Cemetery became Congress Park.
In 1893, the task of moving 5,000 graves began under the management of undertaker E. P. McGovern. Due to mishandling of the project (including allegations of dismembering corpses so they could be placed in child-sized coffins), McGovern was famously dismissed before all of the graves could be relocated.
Denver Mayor Robert W. Speer, a proponent of the City Beautiful movement of the early 1900s, looked to beautify Congress Park, but claimed the City did not have the funds to do so. He encouraged benefactors to donate, but didn't have any success until the widow and children of Walter Scott Cheesman (1838-1907) came forward with $100,000 for a park pavilion. Hence, the park became known as Cheesman Park.
In 1950, the City of Denver successfully persuaded the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver to deed the Mount Calvary land back to the City. While a city botanic garden was originally planned for construction in City Park, it was relocated on the Mount Calvary site. The Denver Botanic Garden was dedicated in 1966.
Want to learn more? May we suggest the following from DPL's Western History/Genealogy Department:
Comments
I neglected to mention the name of the article; You're Never Alone in Cheesman Park.If I recall, the author was Dennis O'Donnell Dunn. If you like, Contact me, tom.martin727@gmail.com
Thanks, Thomas! We'll have to check out that article. Do you happen to know when it was published in Empire?
I have beautiful pics we took on trip to ski in Aspen (from Calif) at the memorial pavillion ...Beautiful place and lots of interesting history. Thank You to Denver CO.and all involved to preserve a piece of distant family history..
Kendal Mark Cheesman
I have beautiful pics we took on trip to ski in Aspen (from Calif) at the memorial pavillion ...Beautiful place and lots of interesting history. Thank You to Denver CO.and all involved to preserve a piece of distant family history..
Kendal Mark Cheesman
Thanks for commenting, Kendal! I'm glad you had the opportunity to visit a site so connected to your family's history.
Turns out, I grew up down the block from the Hebrew section that was turned into a reservoir, then a big grass area. When I was a kid it was B.B Hill, back in the 70s.
I had no idea of the history till I was older.
We did have strange this happen in our house. My sister, and a friend, woke up and saw a woman in her bedroom standing near them, she then disappeared.
I once had a friend over, we were in the basement looking around in my brothers room. I had locked the door at the bottom of the stairs. We heard the door unlock and open, we looked out of my bros room, and saw a huge moth flying across, and then we heard the door slam and lock. We stepped out of my bros room, and there was no one there. The door in the laundry room area had been unlocked, and then locked itself from our side. We opened the door, and saw my cat at the top of the stairs looking freaked out. My cat ran away for a couple days. I didn't go in the basement for a while.
I grew up playing,swimming and roller skating all over those unknown graves. It's sad how those grave sites were treated.
Thanks for sharing your very scary story, Bonnie Jean! I'm officially sleeping with the lights on tonight:)
Congress and White Xenephobic Racists Fake historical facts. Truth is time lines are not exact and Hitler connection to Park.
As well the Corporation that calls it self a government shut the door, Criminals!
A recent RMPBS show about the Botanic Gardens history had a young female filmographer from Colorado Springs making a joke about the fertility of the site. Pretty sick joke. May she share the fate of having some nucklehead come along after she's deceased and desecrate her grave too!.
I’m trying to find an old map that shows just how large the cemetery was and what the streets surrounding it were. Was it confined to the perimeter of Cheesman Park and Botanic Gardens or did it also occupy surrounding streets?
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