Civic Center, Denver
Encyclopedia
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
in Denver, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. The area is known as the center of the civic life in the city, with numerous institutions of arts, government, and culture as well as numerous festivals, parades, and protests throughout the year. The park is home to many fountains, statues, and formal gardens, and includes a Greek amphitheater, a war memorial, and the Voorhees Memorial Seal Pond. It is well known for its symmetrical Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
design.
Geography
Civic Center is located in central Denver just south of the Central Business DistrictDowntown Denver
Downtown Denver is the main financial, commercial, and entertainment district in Denver, Colorado. There is over of office space in downtown Denver, with 130,000 workers....
. The park is located at the intersection of Colfax Avenue
Colfax Avenue
Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local street system, it lies 15 blocks north of the zero...
and Broadway, perhaps the best-known and most important streets in Denver. The park borders are defined as Bannock Street on the west, Lincoln Street on the east, Colfax Avenue on the north, and 14th Avenue on the south. The institutions surrounding the civic center are generally thought of as part of the Civic Center area, and future plans for the civic center would extend the area further west all the way to Speer Boulevard.
Civic Center is also a neighborhood defined by the Denver city government, but is probably identified in the minds of Denverites as the "Golden Triangle." The borders of this neighborhood are Speer Boulevard on the west and south, Broadway on the east, and Colfax Avenue on the north.
History
Robert W. Speer
Robert Walter Speer was elected the mayor of Denver, Colorado three times. He served two four-year terms in office from 1904 to 1912. He died from pneumonia in 1918 while halfway through a third term in office that had started in 1916.-Biography:...
. In 1904, Speer proposed a series of civic improvements based on the City Beautiful Ideas shown to him at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Speer hired Charles Mulford Robinson
Charles Mulford Robinson
Charles Mulford Robinson was a journalist and a writer who became famous as a pioneering Urban Planning theorist. He was the first Professor for Civic Design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was only one of two universities offering courses in Urban Planning at the time, the...
among others to develop plans for the area. Robinson proposed extending 16th Street to the Colorado State Capitol
Colorado State Capitol
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed...
and to group other municipal buildings around a central park area. However, the plan was defeated in a 1907 election.
Undaunted, Speer gathered business leaders who brought in new ideas for the Civic Center including the creation of an east-west axial between the Colorado State Capitol
Colorado State Capitol
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed...
, and swinging the north and south borders of the park into the city grid system.
These plans were stalled when in 1912, Speer was replaced as mayor. The new mayor brought in Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. was an American landscape architect best known for his wildlife conservation efforts. He had a lifetime commitment to national parks, and worked on projects in Acadia, the Everglades and Yosemite National Park. Olmsted Point in Yosemite and Olmsted Island at Great Falls...
who was developing plans for Denver's mountain parks
Denver Mountain Parks
The Denver Mountain Parks system contains more than 14,000 acres of parklands in the mountains and foothills of Jefferson, Clear Creek, Douglas,and Grand counties in Colorado, west and south of Denver....
. His ideas include an informal grove of trees on the eastern edge of the park, and a lighted concert area.
When Speer was reelected in 1917, he re-pursued his ideas about the Civic Center, hiring Chicago planner and architect Edward H. Bennett
Edward H. Bennett
Edward Herbert Bennett was an architect and city planner best known for his co-authorship of the 1909 Plan of Chicago.-Biography:Bennett was born in Bristol, England in 1874, and later moved to San Francisco with his family...
, a protege of Daniel Burnham
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA was an American architect and urban planner. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington DC...
. Bennett combined the ideas of all of the previous plans, adding the Greek amphitheater, the Colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
, the seal pond, and the realignment of Colfax Avenue and 14th Ave., around the park. The park officially opened in 1919.
Institutions
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and the Denver Metropolitan Area.
Among the institutions in the Civic Center are Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....
, and the Denver Public Library
Denver Public Library
The Denver Public Library is the public library of the city of Denver, Colorado in the United States. Its administrative headquarters is on the 7th floor of the Central Library in Downtown Denver. , the library system had 2,519,977 items in its collection, and a library card base of 417,616 local...
's Central Library along the parks south side, the Colorado State Capitol
Colorado State Capitol
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed...
and the City and County Building of Denver along the east and west axis of the park, the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building on the park's north side, and the Colorado History Museum
Colorado History Museum
The Colorado History Museum was a museum on the history the US state of Colorado in central Denver, Colorado, USA. The museum was administered by the Colorado Historical Society, now known as History Colorado. It closed in 2010 and a new History Colorado Center building is under construction close...
and the Colorado State Judicial Building towards the southeast of the park. The Denver Mint
Denver Mint
The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets and commemorative coins. Coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark...
lies immediately west of the Civic Center Park across the street from the City and County Building.
The future
Civic Center has issues related with crimeCrime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
. Though much of the stereotypes imposed on the Civic Center regarding crime and homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
have been found largely media-fueled, there continues to be concerns expressed over keeping the park drug-free and housing the homeless.
In 2003 Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper
John Wright Hickenlooper is an American politician and current Governor of Colorado. A Democrat, he was previously the Mayor of Denver, Colorado from 2003 to 2011.-Early life, education and career:...
began an initiative to reduce the homeless population with a program that included the first "Ten year plan to end homeless" in the United States. A crackdown on drug-dealing and crime in the area has also been started lately.
Recently, City and County officials have proposed changes to make the area more accessible to the downtown population in the north and the museums towards the south. Some of these changes include adding newer pedestrian crossings, bus areas and kiosks. One proposal would put Colfax Avenue underground with a pedestrian plaza on top of the former street.
The area has seen a lot of new civic development, including the Denver Newspaper Agency (northeast of the park), the home of The Denver Post
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
. Voters in 2004 approved a new Denver Justice Center, two blocks away from Civic Center Park. These new buildings will change the dynamic of the area with some people worrying that the architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
of the two buildings, especially the Justice Center, (which will have the city jail) will disrupt the historic design of the park. Denver hopes to alleviate these concerns by incorporating the buildings into the future Civic Center plan.
Events
Civic Center is known throughout the state as the rendezvous for the largest and most important cultural and civic events. Being at the center of the state and local government institutions, Civic Center has become the place for political statement for various groups and individuals representing a variety of causes. It was Civic Center where the public held a vigil for the victims of Columbine High School massacreColumbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
, and 9/11. Former presidential candidate and Denver native John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
made a 2004 campaign stop at Civic Center, and 2008 Democratic nominee Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
gave a speech there on October 26, 2008 to more than 120,000 supporters.
Civic Center is also the location for many annual events. These include:
- January - The City and County Building has a ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
lights display up until the National Western Stock ShowNational Western Stock ShowThe National Western Stock Show is held every January at the National Western Complex in Denver, Colorado. First held in 1906, it is the world's largest stock show by number of animals and offers the world’s only carload and pen cattle show in the historic Denver Union Stockyards.The stock show is...
ends in mid January. - March – Civic Center is at the end of one of the longest St. Patrick's Day parades in the nation.
- April - An annual pro-cannabisCannabisCannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
rally/ cannabis culture gathering is held in Civic Center every year on April 20, otherwise known as 4/20420 (cannabis culture)420, 4:20 or 4/20 refers to consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture. The notable day for these is April 20.- Origins of terms :...
. - May - Denver has a large Cinco de MayoCinco de MayoCinco de Mayo is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla...
festival, held at Civic Center. - June - Civic Center is host to the People's FairPeople's Fair, Denver, ColoradoThe People's Fair is an annual event, held in early June, in Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. It is sponsored by Capitol Hill United Neighbors ....
, a bohemian festival with various music, art, political booths, and other happenings; PrideFestPrideFest (Denver)PrideFest is an annual Gay pride event held each June in Denver, Colorado. PrideFest honors the culture and heritage of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the State of Colorado. The annual event draws an estimated 200,000 spectators to downtown Denver and is presented by the...
, the annual gay prideGay prideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
festival is held at Civic Center, which is also the endpoint of the parade. - Summer - There are various theatre and music events held throughout the summer at the Greek amphitheater.
- September - A Taste of Colorado is a food and music festival held during Labor DayLabor DayLabor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
weekend at the park. - October - The park is the end point for a Columbus DayColumbus DayMany countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...
parade that often brings protests from American IndianNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
groups. - December - The Parade of Lights ends at the City and County Building which has holiday lights from the beginning of the parade until the National Western Stock ShowNational Western Stock ShowThe National Western Stock Show is held every January at the National Western Complex in Denver, Colorado. First held in 1906, it is the world's largest stock show by number of animals and offers the world’s only carload and pen cattle show in the historic Denver Union Stockyards.The stock show is...
. - In 1990 and 1991, the Civic Center was the location of the CARTChamp CarChamp Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
Grand Prix of Denver.
External links
- Denver Civic Center
- http://www.civiccenterfriends.blogspot.com