Riverside Preservation Presentation

Official stewards for the preservation
of Riverside and Fairmount Cemeteries.

© 2011 Fairmount Heritage Foundation

History of Riverside
MYTH:
This was Riverside
Cemetery in 1876.

(ca. 1940)


FACT:
The first office was in the
caretaker’s cottage

(ca. 1895)

The second office, and some time
chapel, was the “old stone house”.
•Unknown who designed/built it, the
cost, exactly what type of stone was
used, and when it was completed.
•It also served as a holding tomb.

(ca. 1990)


Fact:
After Riverside and Fairmount
merged, renowned architect Frank
Edbrooke, was commissioned to
design an office, chapel and
crematorium. Construction on the
mission prairie style building began
in 1903 and it became operational in
1904. Without electricity, heat or
plumbing, the site was chosen to be
near the existing green house built
by Riverside Cemetery Association
about 1893 (again no accurate
records) which had a well.


(ca. 1910)

MYTH:
Landscape architect H.C.
Lowrie planted trees, shrubs
and flowers including a
central rose garden creating
a park-like cemetery.

H.C. Lowrie was civil
engineer, hired by the Riverside
Cemetery Association in 1876, to
survey the cemetery laying out the
blocks, lots, and plots. He also
designed and oversaw
construction of the intricately
patterned roads still used today.
He elected Denver City Engineer
and designed the city’s sewer
system.

SOURCE: http://files.usgwarchives.org/co/denver/directories/den76ab.txt


FACT:
Riverside like all of Denver was a beautiful
prairie, which was changed over 135 years
to a non-native landscape.
(ca. 1888)
“There is no more difficult work or
enterprise, in such a country as
that surrounding Denver than the
selection and creation of an
attractive and desirable cemetery.
The naked prairie, treeless and
almost verdureless, with but slight
inequalities of surface, and total
absence of rocks or ridges, would
seem to present about as
hopeless a basis for an attractive
cemetery as one could well
imagine.”

(ca. 1900)

—Rocky Mountain News March 29, 1879


The changing landscape at
Riverside has been part of
its history for 135 years,
with water being one of the
major issues, either too
much due to flooding or not
enough due to drought.
Most recently:
• Denver flood of 1965
• Drought early last decade
But water has not been the only cause for landscape change:
• In early cemeteries without endowments, such as Riverside, the families
landscaped their own plots. Families of means hired gardeners; others
did it themselves. If the family died out or moved on, that care stopped
leaving the plantings to fend for themselves and eventually dying out.
• Plant disease—Dutch elm 1960’s.

MYTH:
Riverside is the oldest
operating cemetery
in the state.

FACT: No, there are several
others including Evergreen
Cemetery in Colorado
Springs was established
shortly after the town was
founded in 1871, and
deeded to the City of
Colorado Springs in 1875 by
city founder, General
William Jackson Palmer.

SOURCE: http://www.springsgov.com/sectionindex.aspx?sectionid=70



Fact:
Those buried at Riverside reads
like a Who’s Who of Colorado
history and reflects the ethnic
diversity of the early pioneers—
• Clara Brown
• Capt. Silas Soule
•MatsudairaTadaatsu
• Miguel Antonio Otero
• The four territorial governors
John Evans
A. Cameron Hunt
Samuel H. Elbert
John L. Routt
• Over 1,200 Civil War Veteran’s,
including three Medal of Honor
recipients.


Fact:
Riverside is home to a
collection of rare and unique
monuments including—
• The Baker Horse
• Lester Drake Cabin
• Wise Monument
• Largest collection of
zinc monuments
In the U.S.


Riverside Today

Fairmount Heritage Foundation, a registered 501 (c) 3,
was founded in 2000, by local historians,
horticulturists, cemetery family members and
Fairmount Cemetery Company. FHF is fully compliant
with all state and federal requirements for non-profits.


Riverside Today
Mission Statement
To preserve the rich, diverse historical and horticultural assets of
Riverside and Fairmount Cemeteries; educating the community as
fellow guardians to pass on those resources to future generations.


Riverside Today
A volunteer driven organization with one paid staff member
through collaboration and partnership FHF has made a significant
impact in cemetery preservation in Colorado including:
• Increasing awareness of the need to preserve these heritage
treasures through our outreach programs.
• Founding member of the Colorado Historic Cemetery Association
• The only monument preservation program in the Denver area
working in partnership with cemeteries throughout Colorado.
• Published a series of walking tour books for each of our cemeteries;
“The Civil War at Riverside Cemetery” in 2011.
• Educational programs for all ages including:
 History
 Horticulture
 Monument Preservation
 Archival Conservation and Research
 Wildlife
• Unique events to involve the community in the preservation of Riverside such as:
 Doors Open Denver—over 900 visitors in just 2 days
 History & Mystery Tours—876 visitors
 FHF Photo Club started at Riverside in 2010 by a group of local photographers

In 2010, we logged over 4,500 visitors to Riverside during FHF
events and tours; this does not include the self-guided tours and
individual explorers that pass through the gates.

Riverside Today
Monument Preservation
Since 2004, Fairmount Heritage Foundation has been
working to preserve the unique and rare collection of
monuments at Riverside. Our volunteers have been
trained by professional preservationist’s to
document, assess and perform simple preservation
tasks, such as resets and cleaning. Accomplishments to
date include:
• The most significant restoration project thus far has
been the Wise monument; completed in 2008 and
rededicated in a reenactment of the original dedication
ceremony held in 1888.
• In 2010, completing documentation of Riverside’s
entire collection of zinc monuments—largest in North
America in collaboration with Denver University.
• Documentation and assessment of monuments
completed in 50% of the Blocks at Riverside.

Riverside Today
Tour Program
People will not preserve something they don’t know about or
understand. Sharing the history and heritage of Riverside in an
accurate and respectful way is the only way to preserve Riverside
for future generations. FHF volunteers spend hours researching
the history of Riverside and the people buried here.
• Since 2003, Fairmount Heritage Foundation has been offering
tours at Riverside covering a wide range of topics:
 Horticulture
 Architecture & Symbolism
 Wildlife
 History
• In 2008, FHF volunteers started the Heritage Speakers Bureau;
offering a variety of programs throughout the community at:
 Public Libraries
 Senior Centers
 Schools
 Civic Organization Meetings
• In 2010, Riverside was nominated for Doors Open Denver;
FHF volunteers developed a new tour in keeping with the
theme of the event “Pioneers Re-invented— How the
Move West Changed More than the Landscape”.

Riverside Today
Wildlife
• The Colorado Division of Wildlife
designated Riverside an Urban Wildlife
Watching area in 2006.
• Since 2008, in collaboration with Colorado
Field Ornithologists, FHF has hosted
Birding Field Trips. The most recent trip
with Denver Field Ornithologists spotted
and recorded 57 species in 4 hours.
• In 2009, FHF established a Nestbox Trail
on the west side of the cemetery; a
collaboration with the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology NestWatch, Colorado
Bluebird Project and Denver Boy Scouts.
Data on the birds nesting in the boxes
(species, # of eggs, etc.) is collected by
the Boy Scouts and reported to Cornell
and the Bluebird Project.


Riverside Today
Education=Preservation
Recognizing that education is the key to
preservation and the young they are the more
they’ll learn, so in 2008 we launched the
Education=Preservation Initiative offering
FREE educational program to schools KUniversity on a variety of subjects.
• Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Colorado History
programs meet Colorado Educational Standards.
• In 2010 we hosted over 1,400 students at
Riverside; on one day we had 270 students at
the same time: 120 3rd graders from Park Hill
Elementary and 150 sophomores from
Columbine High School
• 2011 school tours surpass that number by far.
• Riverside was chosen as the service project
site for the 2011 Colorado Preserve America
Youth Summit

Riverside Today
Riverside Revival
In 2008 a collaborative effort was launched to develop an environmentally
sustainable landscape at Riverside, restoring the native beauty while
preserving the heritage plants. A native landscape at Riverside reduces
maintenance costs and the need for water thereby bringing the operating
costs in line with the endowment. The partnership, led by the Fairmount
Heritage Foundation, includes:
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Riverside Family members
Colorado Assoc. for Lawn Care Professionals
Hardy Boy Plants
Front Range Community College
Denver Botanic Gardens
Colorado Green Growers Association
Colorado State Forest Service
Colorado State University Master Gardeners
Colorado State University Plant Select
Metro State College
Iris Colorado
Denver Rose Society
Denver Boy Scouts
Colorado Preservation Inc.

Riverside Today
FHF—Riverside Volunteers have:
• Replanted 8 acres of native grasses
• Planted four Colorado State University Plant
Select Demonstration Gardens
• Replanted over 100 native trees and shrubs
• Installed a drip system to establish the trees
and shrubs
• Developed a Heritage Iris Garden using iris
at gravesites that had not bloomed in
decades (they needed to be divided)
• Planted 30,000 tulip bulbs
• Removed and recycled dead trees (the wood
is chipped and used for mulch at Riverside)
• Pruned and mulched heritage trees
• Completed a landscape survey of
the entire 77 acres in 2010
• Currently surveying native plants
• Hand watered the Riverside roses
since 2003


Riverside Today

2009


2011

Riverside Today

2009

2011


Riverside Today
Plant Select Gardens

Early-Season Garden

Late-Season Garden

Mid-Season Garden

Riverside Today
Old Stone House
Planted in August 2009 as an
Eagle Scout project—
• Same seed as the other plots,
Blue Grama and Buffalo Grass
• Seed application was 3 times
higher than the
recommended rate.
• Planted Iris and other
blooming plants at the same
• Has not received any
supplemental water


Riverside Today
And now a word about the WATER…
In recent years, most of the
talk about
Riverside, accurate or
not, has been about WATER;
where it went, when its
coming back, who has
it, and how much it will
cost. As previously
discussed, the landscape at
Riverside has died out and
come back numerous
times, proving that the
landscape can be replaced.
The rare monuments we
have looked at today cannot
and no one ever talks about
the effect water has had on
Riverside’s monument
collection,
so let’s
take a look…

This DAMAGE cannot be reversed; these monuments are gone forever.

“Reinventing” Riverside

The Historic Riverside Center for
Education and Preservation
By expanding the already existing
programs, the Fairmount Heritage
Foundation envisions Riverside as a
center for education and preservation.

Plans Include:
Restoration of the existing office/chapel (building already
assessment completed through funding from the State
Historical Fund) would increase revenue possibilities—
• The original headhouse of the old greenhouse still
exists (attached to the back of the office building)
and would be renovated as a monument
preservation studio. Trainings and classes on
preservation techniques and landscape
reclamation for western climates and conditions.
• The chapel offers meeting/lecture space
• The room behind the crematorium offers
additional space for programs.

Riverside Wetlands Nature Center
Development of a low
impact, accessible, education center in
the wetlands area would include:
• Pathways
• Interpretative Signage
• Education Center (the old pump house)
• An outdoor science lab


Old Stone House
Restoration of the
Old Stone House as a
meeting/event center


Fairmount Heritage Foundation seeks additional
partnership opportunities to realize Riverside’s
full potential for future generations.


Riverside Preservation Presentation

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