Park History - City and County of Denver

Cheesman Park 

Cheesman Park History 

Cheesman Park’s history is a story of the evolution 

of urban green space. Between the years of 

1858 and 1910, the future Cheesman Park evolved 

from an undeveloped landscape to the fi nal resting 

place for many of the City’s Protestant, Catholic, 

and Jewish community members, and then into a 

renowned public park. 

It is a story of the commitment of the people 

of Denver to a quality of life that required action 

by elected offi cials, landowners, the federal government 

and the City and County of Denver. It is the 

story of the early development of Denver where 

the foresight of visionary City leaders formulated 

plans for the City’s development that were holistic 

and focused on an interconnected system of parks 

and parkways. 

Key to the story is the involvement of master 

landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze who designed 

Cheesman Park between 1898 and 1904 and 

who oversaw its construction from 1900 until his 

death in 1910. 

Period of Signifi cance 

The period of signifi cance for Cheesman Park 

recognizes its development as a historic designed 

landscape and extends from 1898 until 1948. The 

period of signifi cance includes Reinhard Schuetze’s 

1898 master plan as well as his design and implementation 

between 1900 and 1910. Later design 

work by landscape architect S. R. DeBoer in the 

1920s and 1930s is also included. 

A series of fi ve distinct periods document the 

historical development of Cheesman Park from 

1858 through 1995. Each period relates to key 

physical changes and defi ning landscape characteristics 

that remain. 

• Pre-Park: 1858 to 1895 

• Congress Park: 1898 to 1910 

• Cheesman Park and Esplanade: 1912 to 1948 

• Playgrounds, Roads, and Denver Botanic Gar- 

dens: 1949 to 1973 

• Cheesman Memorial: 1974 to 1995 

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Mundus Bishop Design, Inc. 

HISTORIC landscape ASSESSMENT AND Master Plan 

Mt. Calvary Cemetery, circa 1903, courtesy DPL-WHC 

The period of signifi cance ends in 1948 when the 

park was substantially complete and before removal 

of park features began. 

Pre-Park: 1858 to 1895 

Cheesman Park’s early history is primarily associated 

with land acquisition and development 

of the City cemetery, followed by the transition of 

a portion of the cemetery grounds to park land. 

Between 1858 and 1890, the extensive hillside with 

a panoramic mountain view served as Mt. Prospect 

Cemetery, Mt. Calvary Cemetery (serving Denver’s 

Roman Catholic population), and Hebrew Burying 

& Prayer Ground (serving the Jewish community). 

Denver Union Water Works, where the City was 

beginning to store water for the growing City, was 

also located on the hillside. 

The site that would eventually become Cheesman 

Park was hotly contested from its earliest days. 

In 1865, John Walley secured a Certifi cate of Preemption 

for the land, and then sold 40 acres of Mt. 

Prospect Cemetery to the Denver Catholics. This 

would be short-lived, lasting only until 1870 when 

the United States lands offi ce became involved in an 

effort to convert the land to a City cemetery, annulling 

all private claims to Prospect Hill Cemetery. 

The desire to claim the land as a City cemetery 

expanded with the involvement of Jerome 

B. Chaffee, Colorado’s Territorial Delegate to the 

United States Congress. Chaffee persuaded Congress 

to declare that the cemetery land was Federal 

land by right of an 1860 Indian treaty. In 1872, 

ownership of the land was granted to the City of


Denver in the form of a land patent that was issued 

to Denver Mayor Joseph E. Bates for 160 acres of 

land at $1.25 an acre ($200 total) for cemetery uses 

‘in perpetuity.’ 

During these early years, City planning in Denver 

was also well underway. Three notable comprehensive 

City plans were developed between 1858 

and 1895, including the 1859 Surveyors Block Plan 

and the 1878 Sopris Lee Plan. 

The most comprehensive plan was created by 

John Evans, Colorado’s second territorial governor, 

with the help of Edward Rollandet, Chief Draftsman 

for Denver’s Department of Public Works. 

Evans’ remarkable 1894 plan proposed a Capitol 

Hill Park encompassing the entire 160-acre site 

of the cemetery grounds and the Denver Union 

Water Works land. The park was to be connected 

to the greater park system by a series of boulevards 

including York Street on the east (that would have 

run north-south through the park), 10th Avenue to 

the west and Franklin Street to the north that connected 

to Park Avenue. 

Evans’ plan was the fi rst comprehensive framework 

for a City-wide parks and boulevards system, 


predating Mayor Speer’s City Beautiful plan by more 

than ten years. Evans’ proposal was the subject of 

great opposition and controversy, but was eventually 

adopted by Denver’s City Council. A few components 

of the plan were built—Park Avenue being 

the most signifi cant. However, the plan raised 

awareness about the importance of a comprehensive 

park system, including the proposal for a City 

park on the former cemetery grounds. 

During the 1880s, the City of Denver was rapidly 

growing, particularly along its eastern edges. In 

the late 1880s, streets and alleys were laid out north 

of the cemetery grounds and residential lots were 

sold. As residents began to populate the surrounding 

neighborhood, the desire for public open space 

grew. Lack of irrigation water and the poor, unsightly 

appearance of the cemetery led neighbors 

and landowners to champion moving the cemetery 

to newly opened Riverside Cemetery, on the Platte 

River north of downtown Denver. In 1890, Congress 

assisted again at the recommendation of 

Colorado Senator Henry Teller, decreeing that City 

Cemetery be converted to City parkland. 

Pre-Park: 1858 to 1895 

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Congress Park: 1898 to 1910


Congress Park: 1898 to 1910 

As the land acquisition was completed and the 

task of moving the graves began, efforts turned to 

designing the new City park. The park was initially 

known as Congress Park, named in recognition of 

the efforts by the United States Congress in deeding 

the land to Denver. The design and construction 

of the park and the majority of its features 

occurred between the years of 1898 and 1910 

under the direction of the City’s landscape architect 

Reinhard Schuetze. Two plans by Schuetze were 

instrumental in setting the design direction for 

Congress Park: one plan completed in 1898 and the 

other developed between 1898 and 1902. 

Schuetze’s initial park design is documented 

as the “Plan for Congress Park 1898.” Schuetze 

was a master in the design of public space having 

designed the grounds of Fairmount Cemetery in 

1893 and the Colorado State Capitol Grounds in 

1895. Schuetze was also in the process of designing 

Washington Park in 1899, and was modifying 

the design of City Park with his proposal for Ferril 

Lake. 

Schuetze’s 1898 park plan proposed a series of 

open lawns and enclosed spaces organized along an 


Schuetze’s original 1898 park plan, courtesy DPL-WHC 

Schuetze’s 1902 park plan, courtesy DPL-WHC 



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Park Composition Analysis - 1898 to 1910 

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hourglass-shaped park road. The park road connected 

to surrounding neighborhood streets and to 

Franklin Street, which defi ned the park’s western 

edge. Schuetze’s original proposal was to create 

a park fronted on all four sides by neighborhood 

streets. Key elements in the plan included a large 

formal pavilion situated on the east on the hilltop 

and a smaller more informal park space on the 

west. 

Between 1898 and 1902, Schuetze continued 

to refi ne this earlier vision, retaining a very similar 

park composition but enlarging the park plan as 

the boundaries of the site had broadened. The 

1902 Plan set the park boundaries that remain today—between 

East 8th Avenue to almost East 13th 

Avenue, and from the alley between Humboldt and 

Franklin Streets to the alley between High and Race 

Street. This arrangement differs from Schuetze’s 

original design for a four-sided park, as the northern, 

western and eastern edges of the park were 

residential lots that would eventually accommodate 

large prestigious homes. 

Schuetze organized the park composition along 

an axis line that extended from the northeast to the 

southwest. He chose to slightly skew the orientation 

of the park along this axis line, rather than 

along the City grid, to create an illusion of a larger 

open space. The park is further articulated by the 

sinuous, hourglass-shaped interior park road that 

defi ned two expansive open lawns and two smaller 

park spaces. 

Construction under Schuetze’s direction began 

in 1900 with the grading of the park road, repairing 

of fences, and the opening of High Street and 12th 

Avenue through Congress Park. 

As construction continued, Franklin Street became 

the western park edge, extending from East 

13th Avenue to East 8th Avenue. Franklin Street 

was lined with four rows of American Linden trees, 

allegedly ordered planted by Mayor Speer in 1907. 

The distinct double allee of shade trees was patterned 

after Berlin’s Unter den Linden translated as, 

“under the Linden trees.” The park was connected 

to the surrounding growing neighborhood by nine 

vehicular entries and six pedestrian only paths.


Schuetze crafted the park topography to articulate 

these key landscape spaces. The smaller more 

detailed spaces are sited symmetrically across from 

one another along the axis line, one to the southeast 

and the other to the northwest. On the east, 

Schuetze used the naturally high ground, accentuating 

the topography to create a platform in which he 

could position a formal garden and a commanding 

‘viewpoint’ to serve as both visual icon for the park 

and to provide an expansive view of the Rocky 

Mountains. 

The park space to the west was designed in 

an informal manner with a naturalistic lily pond, 

built as “an excavation. . .for a shallow lake covering 1½ 

acres to be fi lled with water lilies” as its focus. A fl uid 

system of paths and trails moved throughout the 

park. Groves of evergreen and deciduous shade 

trees dotted the park road, noting small intimate 

park spaces and providing shade. Plantings along 

the park edges defi ned the open space, separating 

it from the adjacent residences. Schuetze’s original 

composition remained generally intact until the late 

1940s and early 1950s, when park features and elements 

began to be removed from the park. 

Planting began in earnest in 1902, when shrubs 

were planted and preparations for seeding the north 

half of park were made, including fi lling coffi n 

holes from the earlier cemetery. Notes on the 1902 

plan indicate that “2,000 trees and shrubs will be set out 

and some grass sown. Next year it is hoped that the board 

will be in better fi nancial shape and a greater portion of the 

ambitious plans will be executed.” 

By 1905, more plants were ordered, and in 

1906 the Rustic Shelter, the Park’s fi rst structure, 

was built. Schuetze designed the Rustic Shelter 

in the naturalistic rustic style. It is a small, round 

wooden structure with a broad overhanging roof 

and a wood bench that encircles most of the entire 

structure. It was built of hand- turned elm logs 

with detailed railings and sited in the northern half 

of the park. The Rustic Shelter was restored to its 

original form and condition in April 2006. 


Park view, circa 1909, courtesy DPL-WHC 

Rustic shelter designed by Reinhard Schuetze, circa 1907, 

courtesy Denver Municipal Facts 



Aerial Views, circa 1910, courtesy DPL -WHC 

10 Mundus Bishop Design, Inc. 

HISTORIC landscape ASSESSMENT AND Master Plan


A distinctive and iconic pavilion, envisioned as 

early as 1898 by Reinhard Schuetze, became a reality 

after Mayor Speer secured private funding in the 

amount of $100,000 from the Walter Cheesman 

family to commemorate Mr. Cheesman who passed 

away in 1907. To acknowledge the family’s generous 

gift, Mayor Speer with the approval of City Council 

renamed Congress Park to Cheesman Park and 

named the future pavilion the Cheesman Memorial. 

With funding in place in 1907, Mayor Speer commissioned 

the renowned landscape architect George 

Kessler from Kansas City to design the formal 

gardens, and the architectural fi rm of Marean and 

Norton to design a neoclassical pavilion. 

At the time, Kessler was working with Speer on 

the creation of the Denver parks and parkway system 

that included Cheesman Park as a key element. 

Kessler connected the park to the overall system 

by a series of parkways. To the north, he identifi ed 

Franklin Street as a parkway, connecting to the existing 

Park Avenue at Colfax Avenue. Using the 

interior road of Cheesman Park as a parkway, Kessler 

connected to the parkway system to the south 

along Williams Street, twisting it through the newly 

developed Country Club subdivision to connect to 

Washington Park. 

Following the tradition of the City Beautiful principles 

of symmetry, beauty and grace, Marean and 

Norton Architects designed a neoclassical outdoor 

pavilion as an icon set on the highest point in the 

park, to be experienced from below as an object in 

space with blue sky behind. Completed in 1910, the 

Cheesman Memorial overlooked the park and most 

of the City to the north, south and west. It was 

silhouetted on the east by a backdrop of evergreen 

trees. Today, the Memorial remains visible from 

most points in the park and continues to serve as a 

reference point and a beacon at night. 

By 1910, the alignment, length and role of 

Franklin Street changed dramatically. The straight 

north-south route along Franklin Street was eliminated 

and the road was realigned to connect to the 

interior park road. The Franklin Street roadway that 

had once been a City street and a key connection in 

the Denver parks and parkway was converted into 

a green lawn that extended for most of the park’s 

length. 


Kessler Plan, circa 1907, courtesy Denver Municipal Facts 

Cheesman Memorial, circa 1910, courtesy DPL-WHC 





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Cheesman Park: 1912 to 1948


Cheesman Park and Esplanade: 1912 to 1948 

Reinhard Schuetze’s death in 1910 ended an era 

of creative and thoughtful park design in Denver. 

Fortunately, Cheesman Park was substantially 

complete and for the next 36 years would remain as 

Scheutze intended with only minor changes. This 

same year, S.R. DeBoer was hired by the City as a 

park employee. 

S. R. DeBoer eventually took over the duties of 

City landscape architect. For Cheesman Park, De- 

Boer oversaw the conversion of Franklin Street to 

a pedestrian space and referred to Cheesman Park’s 

western edge as the ‘pedestrian mall.’ The site and 

planting design of this space is DeBoer’s primary 

contribution to the design of Cheesman Park. 

Thought to have occurred before 1920, DeBoer’s 

design of plantings and walkways at both the north 

and south ends transformed the Franklin Street 

alignment into a clearly defi ned park space. 

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On the north, DeBoer created an entry space 

along the Franklin Street road by adding new 

trees that transformed the existing American 

Linden allee into a grove. 

To the south, he created a small park space 

using a pedestrian path and an open lawn, eras- 

ing the southern portion of the original road 

way. DeBoer planted groves of trees and 

shrub masses at the southern end of the 

pedestrian mall. This established both spaces, 

the pedestrian mall and the small landscape 

space, as credible park elements. 

DeBoer’s plantings on the park’s western edge created 

a frame for the larger open lawns and provided 

a clear sense of entry into the park at East 12th and 

East 9th Avenues. His understory plantings provided 

a soft edge to the park’s boundary. 

Additional park improvements occurred after 

1912, including the addition of wading pools at the 

Cheesman Memorial at its western stairs and garden 

beds on its east side. The garden beds were removed 

at a later time. The Portland Cement Company 

donated drinking fountains that were placed at 


the northern and southern ends of the Pavilion. 

Grass was planted to East 8th Avenue, trees 

were planted on the north, south, and southeast 

sides of the park, and the pedestrian path at 

East 10th Avenue was extended. 

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Parade, circa 1920, courtesy DPL-WHC 

Cheesman Park vista, circa 1920, courtesy DPL-WHC 

Cheesman Memorial, circa 1910, courtesy DPL-WHC 



In 1912, Cheesman Park served as a temporary 

shelter for victims of the major Cherry Creek fl ood 

that inundated neighborhoods along the river and 

displaced residents including some from the nearby 

Country Club area. The Cheesman Memorial 

served a similar purpose 21 years later in August of 

1933 when Cherry Creek fl ooded once again after 

the collapse of the Castlewood Canyon dam. 

In 1913, the Colorado Mountain Club donated 

the Mountain Index. It is placed on the west terrace 

of the Cheesman Memorial. 

Beginning in 1911, the Olmsted Brothers landscape 

architectural fi rm of Brookline, Massachusetts, 

was commissioned to design Denver’s parks, 

parkways, and the City’s Denver Mountain Parks 

system. Their commission included the Cheesman 

Esplanade, also known as Little Cheesman, to the 

south of Cheesman Park as part of their design for 

the Williams Street Parkway. 

Completed in 1914, the Cheesman Esplanade 

was a formal design. Its key element was a symmetrical 

space, arranged in a linear pattern in alignment 

with the center line of the Cheesman Memorial. 

The Cheeseman Esplanade consisted of three 

distinct areas—two enclosed terraces, on the north 

and south ends, connected by a linear walkway lined 

by Downy Hawthorne trees. The two terraces were 

enclosed by dense evergreen tree plantings with 

a small ‘window’ opening to the north to visually 

connect with the Memorial. The space was also 

arranged symmetrically along a secondary axis in 

the center of the Esplanade that was oriented east 

to west. The western two-thirds of the Esplanade 

consisted of a broad, sloping lawn. 

Between 1929 and 1935, Cheesman Park served 

as an outdoor venue for lectures and concerts. The 

Denver Post’s outdoor university brought Denverites 

to the park for summer lectures. By 1934, 

the Denver Post had expanded its lecture series to 

include the Post Opera, using the Pavilion as their 

stage and the south lawn for seating. The project 

was made possible by the efforts of Helen Bonfi ls. 

It enjoyed a two week run and attracted an audience 

totaling 20,000 people. The last summer of the 

outdoor university was 1935.


Aerial View of Cheesman Memorial, 1912, courtesy DPL-WHC 

Aerial View of Cheesman Memorial, 1912, courtesy DPL-WHC 

View of Mt Evans, from Cheesman Memorial, circa 1912, 

courtesy DPL-WHC 


Olmsted Brothers’ Esplanade Plan, 1914, courtesy DPL-WHC 

“The eastern portion of the block should be treated in a formal way, the treatment 

should be balanced about an axis in effect is a continuation of the axis of the Cheesman 

Memorial, although not an exact continuation of the center line of the building. Upon this 

axis we have proposed a series of three terraces: a square near 8th Avenue, to be kept high; 

a long narrow panel in the center to slope parallel to High Street; and a square near 7th 

Avenue, to be practically on a level with High Street at the center, but considerably above 

the level of 7th Avenue.” Correspondence from Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. to 

Park Superintendent. Courtesy library of congress. 



Parade, circa 1920 



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Playgrounds, Roads, 

and Denver Botanic Gardens: 1949 to 1973 

Cheesman Park was generally complete by 1914 

when construction of the Esplanade was fi nished. 

The park composition and its key contributing features 

remained intact until the late 1940s and early 

1950s. 

Beginning in 1949 and continuing into the 1970s, 

many modifi cations were made to the park road 

and many trails were removed. In 1949, street 

lighting was added to the edges of the park road 

to improve safety and security. Although, the light 

pole and fi xture were utilitarian in design and were 

not necessarily intended to be aesthetic improvements, 

they were compatible with the park’s character. 

Several original street lights remain in the park. 

Changes to the park road also included widening, 

and the addition of a concrete curb, mow strips and 

street washers. In 1958, a row of head-in parking 

for 29 cars was added to the west edge of the park 

road immediately in front of the Pavilion and the 

roadway was widened to 32 feet. On the east side, 

small parking areas on each side of the garden were 

expanded and paved in asphalt, resulting in an additional 

39 parking spaces that extended from end 

to end of the terrace. 

By 1958, most of the interior park trails had been 

removed. Only one of the linear paths in the Unter 

den Linden, paths around the pavilion, paths leading 

into the park from East 8th Avenue, and paths 

around the playground on the west side remained. 

The path to the Rustic Shelter was removed, making 

it seem out of place in the broad lawn. All of 

the paths and the two terraces in the Cheesman 

Esplanade were removed by this time as well. 

The park’s fi rst play areas were added in the early 

1950s, including the initial playground of 1950 on 

the west side of the park near the East 10th Avenue 

pedestrian entrance and set near the eastern edge of 

the Unter den Linden. The playground was designed 

by S. R. DeBoer in a free-form arrangement 

that was popular at the time. 

DeBoer sited the playground within a shady grove 

of trees with its eastern boundary defi ned by a row 

of evergreens. It included two types of swings, 


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a Miracle Wheel (merry-go-round), a ten foot 

tall Climb Around, teeter-totters, a 12-foot tall 

metal slide and several sand pits, one of which 

encircled an American Elm. The playground 

appears to have been surrounded by a fence. 

In 1952, DeBoer designed a Tot Lot, which 

he intended to be built just to the west of the 

Unter den Linden and adjacent to the park’s 

western border. It was larger than the original 

playground and more interesting in design as it 

included a series of small spaces separated by 

hedges and lawn. Each space accommodated a 

piece of play equipment and benches for observation. 

The Tot Lot was never built. 



Signifi cant changes occurred east of Cheesman 

Park in the mid to late 1950s when the City 

acquired the land occupied by the Mount Calvary 

Cemetery to develop the Denver Botanic Gardens. 

The grounds were designed in 1958 and were 

laid out as a series of varied gardens along a path 

oriented along the center axis of the Cheesman 

Memorial, visually connecting the new gardens with 

Cheesman Park. 

Ruth Waring donated her home at East 9th 

Avenue and York Street in 1959 for use as offi ces 

for the Botanic Gardens headquarters. In 1963, the 

Boettcher family awarded the Botanic Gardens a 

grant of $600,000 for a new conservatory, designed 

by renowned architects Victor Hornbein and Ed 

White, and dedicated in 1966. 

Road and parking changes at Cheesman Memorial, 1958 Plan, courtesy Denver Parks & Recreation


The development of the gardens continued with 

the construction of the Education Building in 1969, 

also designed by Victor Hornbein and funded by a 

$500,000 grant from the Boettcher family. In 1970, 

the landscape architectural fi rm of EDAW was 

commissioned to design a master plan to further 

the development of the grounds. The EDAW plan 

expanded upon the original grounds, retaining the 

alignment of the main path along the center axis of 

the Pavilion. 

The mountain views from the Cheesman 

Memorial were key elements of the Pavilion’s 

original design, and continue to be loved by park 

users, especially for sunset viewing. In the mid- 

1960s these mountain views were threatened by the 

proposed development of a high-rise apartment 

building on the park’s western edge. The developer 

and local residents disagreed over the building of 

Cheesman Gardens at East 10th Avenue, ultimately 

engaging the City in a legal battle with the developer. 

The City had issued a foundation permit, 

which the developer argued indicated City approval 

to build the high-rise building. In 1968, the court 

upheld the developer’s right to construct the building. 

That same year, the residents, including the 

founder of the Denver Landmark Preservation 

Commission Helen Arndt; Dana Crawford; and 

architect James Sudler worked to secure a view 

plane ordinance to prevent any further construction 

on the park’s western edge. Ordinance No. 260, 

protecting the views from the Cheesman Memorial, 

received City Council approval in 1968. 


Cheesman Park, aerial view circa 1958, 

courtesy Denver Parks & Recreation 





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Cheesman Memorial: 1974 to 1995 

Beginning in the mid-1970s, several major 

changes were made to Cheesman Park to remediate 

deterioration of park features, to solve confl icts, 

and to bring the park into a modern aesthetic. It is 

likely that the intent of these modifi cations were to 

enhance and improve the park, but ultimately these 

changes would have a long lasting effect that would 

damage its historic integrity and be hard to reverse. 

These Modifi cations included major site and 

building changes at the Cheesman Memorial, and 

the removal of the central segment of the hourglass 

road. Park design in the 1970s was changing as 

well. The trend was toward less formal and more 

organic spaces. Open sloping lawns and geometric 

patterns were popular. 

At the time, the Cheesman Memorial was in poor 

condition. Its balustrade, staircases, water fountains, 

and building walls were deteriorating and its 

roof needed repair. The Pavilion’s historic marble 

and concrete elements, particularly those outside 

the walls of the building, such as the balustrade 

with its carved posts and cap rail, were considered 

too expensive to be repaired and replaced. 

To renovate the Pavilion, the City along with 

its non-profi t partner, The Park People, chose to 

remove the balustrade in its entirety. They also 

removed the formal staircases, a portion of the 

lower garden, and the terrace fountains. In place of 

the balustrade, a sloping lawn was laid against (and 

obscured) the original Pavilion walls. The roof was 

repaired, the marble was washed, and the site was 

planted with a variety of trees to ‘soften’ the pavilion. 

The restrooms were closed. 

The road in front of the Pavilion was narrowed 

to 24 feet and the parking was removed. The parking 

and the drive behind the Pavilion were also 

removed. The drive was replaced by an eight foot 

wide bicycle trail that did not connect to the park 

trail system. Two new parking lots, located to the 

north and south of the Pavilion, were added to 


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Park Composition Analysis: 1974-1995


serve the Pavilion. The northern lot held 24 

spaces and the southern lot had 39 spaces. Concrete 

retaining walls were added to the terraces 

at both the northern and southern ends of the 

Pavilion. 

East of the Pavilion, a new gatehouse structure 

for the Denver Botanic Gardens was built, 

intentionally sited slightly off-center to allow for 

a clear and unobstructed view between the two 

spaces. This view did not last. Soon after, the 

Denver Botanic Garden’s Japanese Garden was 

installed and blocked the view. 

In Cheesman Park, a new walkway, memorial 

tree monument and annual fl ower gardens 

connected the park and the Botanic Gardens. 

Dense plantings of trees were set around the 

Th e main path aligns with the centerline of the Cheesman Pavilion, 

Denver Botanic Gardens master plan 1971, courtesy Denver Botanic Gardens 



Pavilion. Two trees were planted immediately west 

of the road in front of the Pavilion and placed 

symmetrically on its center axis. A new garden was 

added to the west side of the water pools. 

In 1978, the City removed the central segment 

in the park drive in an attempt to solve vehicular 

traffi c in the park. The loop had originally created 

the park’s hourglass arrangement. The loss of this 

connecting road resulted in a dramatic change to 

the park’s original composition. The original two 

distinct open lawns were now undefi ned and visually 

read as one space. 

In 1992, the High Street entrance was abandoned 

to allow for the construction of the Highgate 

Condominiums. This is now a private vehicular 

entrance into the condominiums.



Cheesman Memorial rehabilitation plans, 1971, courtesy Denver Parks & Recreation

Park History - City and County of Denver

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