Colorado Experience: Hidden History of Cheesman Park

“It went by various names Mount Prospect, the city cemetery, Boot Hill, Jack O'Neill's ranch. But it was the main burial site for people in Denver between 1860 and 1892,” said Shaun Boyd, the curator of archives, politics and government at History Colorado. 

Built originally two miles outside of town, the cemetery never had the reputation of being well-maintained. By 1890, it had truly become an eye-sore and the city had grown close to the cemetery. So the city decided to turn the cemetery into a park.

During removal of the bodies, some sort of drama ensued. One politically-motivated newspaper, The Denver Republican, claimed the crew were stealing jewelry, splitting bodies into multiple caskets, and generally creating more of a mess. However, another newspaper, The Rocky Mountain News, claimed that everything was going according to the book with a health inspector overseeing everything. Regardless of the truth, the city stopped moving the bodies and ultimately covered the graves with dirt and called it good. 

“They were still finding bodies there. I mean, they still find things there occasionally when they're expanding an irrigation line or something,” said Boyd. 

Officially becoming Cheesman Park in the early 20th century, the 80 acres of land played a central role in the lives of many Denverites since then. In particular, the park became a safe haven and meeting place for the LGBTQ community. 

“Cheesman Park has become and was very important to the community for many reasons — where it is in town to Denver's very first pride event that took place there in 1974,” said Aaron Marcus, an associate curator of LGBTQ+ history at History Colorado. 

 

To this day, the annual Denver pride parade starts at Cheesman Park.

Learn more about the unique history and watch Colorado Experience: Hidden History of Cheesman Park on Thursday, Oct. 30 on Rocky Mountain PBS and stream the same day on RMPBS+. 

Watch a trailer for the episode below.