Riverside Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)
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Riverside Cemetery
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The cemetery chapel, c. 1905
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| Location | 5201 Brighton Blvd., Denver, Colorado |
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| Coordinates | 39°47′39″N 104°57′33″W / 39.79417°N 104.95917°WCoordinates: 39°47′39″N 104°57′33″W / 39.79417°N 104.95917°W |
| Architect | Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. |
| Architectural style | Romanesque, Bungalow/Craftsman |
| NRHP Reference # | 94001253 |
| CSRHP # | 5AM.125 |
| Added to NRHP | October 28, 1994 |
Riverside Cemetery, established in 1876, is Denver, Colorado's oldest operating cemetery. More than 67,000 people are buried there, including 1,000 veterans.
Riverside Cemetery occupies a 77-acre (310,000 m2) site between Brighton Boulevard and the east bank of the South Platte River, approximately 4 miles down stream from downtown Denver, Colorado. The majority of Riverside Cemetery lies within Adams County, Colorado, however the rest of the cemetery, the cemeteries' entrance and administration building, are within the City and County of Denver.
Riverside Cemetery originally was the property of the Riverside Cemetery Association from its founding in 1876 until 1900 when the association's assets were transferred to the Fairmount Cemetery Association (presently known as Fairmount Cemetery Company). In late 2000, Fairmount Cemetery Company along with members of the community founded the Fairmount Heritage Foundation to be an educational resource for the community and to protect and preserve the heritage of both the company's properties: Riverside Cemetery and Fairmount Cemetery. The volunteers of this foundation staff the Riverside Cemetery Office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and organize events and preservation projects for the cemeteries.
When first opened, the graveyard's secluded location on the banks of the South Platte River and the surrounding greenery made it a popular choice for wealthy families; the opening of the Burlington Railroad in the 1890s changed this, spurring industrial growth in the neighborhood, and some families chose to have their relatives' remains exhumed and reburied elsewhere. Prominent people continued to be interred there, with ornate headstones to mark their graves; however, the proportion of unmarked graves rose dramatically, as counties from all over the state sent the bodies of their impoverished dead citizens there. Riverside remained the area's most significant cemetery until the mid-20th century, and retains importance for scholars studying in the early history of Denver, as the city kept no systematic death records until 1910. Today, the neighborhood has become a largely industrial area, surrounded by a gas station, smokestacks, train tracks, and an industrial park, a few blocks from Interstate 70. It remains a minor tourist attraction; in 2001, 3,000 people went on walking tours of the site.
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Wikipedia