City Park Fountain

Now that the DNC is over, we can thankfully look back on a very successful and historic convention for Denver. The city looked wonderful and conventioneers were treated to Denver at its best. While museums and other cultural attractions (including my work place) were not as busy as was projected, hopefully all visitors left Denver feeling they had come to a special place. For those who were able to venture out to City Park, a truly historic treat awaited them. Refurbished just in time for the 2008 Democratic Convention was the City Park Fountain. If you were unaware of there being a fountain at City Park, you're not alone. It has been out of commission for years. But it was originally put in place for the 1908 Democratic Convention. Read more about its rebirth here via the Denver Post.

City Park continues to bring joy to Denverites of all ages. Luckily, the city was able to eradicate the ugly green sludge that was plaguing Ferril Lake this summer. In the middle of this lake, named for Thomas Hornsby Ferril (Colorado's poet laureate and native Denverite who passed away in 1988), sits the fountain. The City Park Pavilion provides a dramatic backdrop as does the Denver skyline beyond.

While I've been busy with the convention, frequent blog visitor Bruce Quackenbush kindly provided historic post card images of the original fountain (below) as well as current photos from its recent re-unveiling, as seen above. I usually focus on changes to downtown Denver's built environment. However, I am not opposed to covering other areas of the city. And the historic fountain is certainly pertinent to this blog. If you haven't been out to see it yet, get there soon. It goes dark at the end of September. It will return to delight City Park visitors next May 2009.

This view shows the old portion of the then Colorado Museum of Natural History on the upper left side. The word Colorado was replaced by Denver about 1948. Today, after many additions, it is known as the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

As always, I appreciate all of the kind comments and blog suggestions that I receive. Thank you for reading.