The Denver Civic Center is a

civic center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains of one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, ...

area that includes two parks surrounded by government and cultural buildings and spaces. Civic Center is located in central

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, on the south side of

Downtown Denver Downtown Denver is the main financial, commercial, business, and entertainment district in Denver, Colorado, United States. There is over of office space in downtown Denver, with 132,000 workers. The downtown area consists mostly of the neigh ...

. Much of the area is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1974 (boundaries clarified 1988). A somewhat smaller area was designated a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 2012 as one of the nation's finest examples of the City Beautiful movement of civic design. Denver Civic Center lies partially within the north end of an official Denver neighborhood also named

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains of one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, ...

. It includes the Colorado State Capitol building, in the west end of Denver's official

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

neighborhood, and it includes a few buildings in the south end of Denver's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. The Civic Center area is known as the center of the civic life in the city, with numerous institutions of arts, government, and culture as well as festivals, parades, and protests throughout the year.

Parks

Civic Center Park is part of the City and County of Denver park system, located at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway, perhaps the best-known and most important streets in Denver. The park is bordered by Bannock Street on the west, Broadway on the east, Colfax Avenue on the north, and 14th Avenue on the south. The park is home to a fountain, several statues, and formal gardens, and includes a Greek

amphitheater An amphitheatre ( U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meaning "place for vie ...

, a war memorial, and the Voorhies Memorial Seal Pond. It is well known for its symmetrical Neoclassical design. Lincoln Park, immediately east of Civic Center Park, is operated by the State of Colorado. It holds a replica of the

Liberty Bell The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American Revolution, American independence located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of Pennsylvania State House, now know ...

and several memorials.

History

Civic Center was an idea that originated with former Denver mayor Robert W. Speer. In 1904, Speer proposed a series of civic improvements based on the City Beautiful Ideas shown to him at the 1893

World Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The c ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Speer hired Charles Mulford Robinson among others to develop plans for the area. Robinson proposed extending 16th Street to the

Colorado State Capitol The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, United States, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, and the Co ...

and to group other municipal buildings around a central park area. Such a plan was expensive however. Voter approval was necessary to acquire the funds, but the measure was defeated in a 1906 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

, 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. who was developing plans for Denver's mountain parks. His ideas included an informal grove of trees on the eastern edge of the park, and a lighted concert area. When Speer was reelected in 1916, he went against Olmsted's designs. Speer instead hired Chicago planner and architect Edward H. Bennett, a protégé of

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...

. Bennett combined the ideas of all of the previous plans, adding the Greek amphitheater, the

Colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

, the seal pond, and the realignment of Colfax Avenue and 14th Ave., around the park. The park officially opened in 1919. The City and County Building was finished in 1932.

Institutions and development

Civic Center has long been the government, arts, history, and learning nexus of both the state of

and the

Denver Metropolitan Area Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver regi ...

. Among the institutions in the Civic Center are

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

and the Denver Central Library along the park's south side, the

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 History Colorado Center and the Ralph Carr Colorado Judicial Center to the southeast of the park. The Denver Mint lies immediately west of the Civic Center Park across the street from the City and County Building. The area has seen expanded civic uses in recent decades. Voters in 2004 approved a new Denver Justice Center, two blocks west of Civic Center Park. This project was completed in 2010. The McNichols Civic Center Building, within the park at its northwest corner, was Denver's first public library and in 2012 was renovated to serve the Denver Arts and Venues agency. Plans have been floated to use the building as a museum of Denver history. In 2024 Denver purchased the former headquarters of the Denver Post, north of the park, to serve the courts and legal services.

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. In 1990 and 1991, the Civic Center was the location of the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

Grand Prix of Denver. It was Civic Center where the public held a vigil for the victims of

Columbine High School massacre A school shooting and attempted bombing occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teach ...

, and 9/11. Former presidential candidate and Denver native

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

made a 2004 campaign stop at Civic Center, and 2008 Democratic nominee

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

gave a speech there on October 26, 2008 to an estimated 100,000 supporters. On October 11, 2019, a

School strike for climate Fridays for Future (FFF), also known as the School Strike for Climate ( ), is an international movement of school students who skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations to demand climate change mitigation, action from political le ...

protest was held in Civic Center Park with

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...

. Civic Center is also the location for many annual events. These include: * January - The City and County Building has a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

lights display up until the National Western Stock Show 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 - Flyhi 420 Festival an annual pro-

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

rally/ cannabis culture gathering is held in Civic Center every year on April 20, otherwise known as 420. * May - Denver has a large

Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo (; ) is an annual celebration held on May 5 to celebrate Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza. Zaragoza died months after the battle from an illness, ho ...

festival, held at Civic Center. * June - Civic Center is host to the People's Fair, a bohemian festival with various music, art, political booths, and other happenings; PrideFest, the annual

gay pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, Social equality, equality, and increas ...

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

. * Summer - Each Wednesday night, the Denver Cruiser Ride stops at the Greek amphitheater, which riders refer to as the "Circle of Death." * September - A Taste of Colorado is a food and music festival held during

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

weekend at the park. * October - The park is the end point for a

Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. He went ashore at ...

parade that often brings protests from American Indian 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 Show.

References

External links