Riverside Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)

Riverside Cemetery occupies a {{convert|77|acre|m2|adj=on}} site between Brighton Boulevard and the east bank of the South Platte River, approximately four miles downstream from downtown Denver, Colorado. The majority of Riverside Cemetery lies within Adams County, Colorado; however, the rest of the cemetery, the cemetery's original entrance and administration building, are within the City and County of Denver.{{cite web

| last = Histopolist

| authorlink = | title = Riverside Cemetery, Commerce City, Adams County, Colorado, United States

| publisher =

| url = http://www.histopolis.com/Place/US/CO/Adams_County/Riverside_Cemetery

| doi =

| access-date = September 28, 2010}}

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 the foundation staff the Riverside Cemetery Office on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays (during the summer months) and Saturdays. They have numerous events and preservation and cleanup projects for the cemetery. Information may be found at www.fairmountheritagefoundation.org

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.{{cite news|work=Denver Post|url=http://extras.denverpost.com/life/race0716.htm|title=Brighton Boulevard|last=Briggs|first=Bill|access-date=2007-11-29|date=2000-07-16}} 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.{{cite book|last=Hardesty|first=Donald J.|author2=Barbara J. Little|title=Assessing Site Significance: A Guide for Archaeologists and Historians|publisher=Rowan Altamira|page=[https://archive.org/details/assessingsitesig0000hard/page/39 39]|year=2000|isbn=074250316X|url=https://archive.org/details/assessingsitesig0000hard/page/39}} 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.

The cemetery's final grave site was assigned in July 2005; the management company, Fairmount Cemetery Inc., indicated that they would not accept further burials after that, because they were losing money on each sale.{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=RM&p_theme=rm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10B5E8BA4FA441D8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|newspaper=Rocky Mountain News|title=Historic Riverside Cemetery Parcels Out Final Resting Place|last=Sheeler|first=Jim|date=2005-07-09|access-date=2007-11-28}} They have also stopped watering and cut back drastically on services, claiming that their $2.1 million endowment, which generated roughly $62,000 per year in interest, was not enough to water the property and properly maintain all the graves; their records show that they lost $159,000 in 2003. They still employ two groundskeepers to pick up trash, but have had to refuse offers of maintenance help from volunteers due to liability issues. In 2005, Fairmount approached the city government and requested they take over operation of the cemetery; however, the city was forced to decline due to lack of funds. Local residents, concerned by the dying trees and grass and generally poor state of the cemetery, formed a group, Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery, to bring public attention to the issue. They requested the assistance of a Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral whose founders are buried there; Fairmount indicated that they would be willing to transfer the endowment and operations of the cemetery to a group that could provide an additional trust of $1 million to cover operating expenses.{{cite news |url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/spotlight_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23962_5081589,00.html |newspaper=Rocky Mountain News |title=Pioneer Cemetery Fading |date=2006-10-20 |access-date=2007-11-28 |last=Noel |first=Tom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825105010/http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/spotlight_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23962_5081589,00.html |archive-date=2007-08-25 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news|url=http://www.denverpost.com/denver/ci_7308034|work=Denver Post|title=Group hopes to bring new life to cemetery|date=2007-10-29|access-date=2007-11-28|last=McGhee|first=Tom}}

File:Grave of Silas S. Soule.jpg]]

File:JohnEvansGraveRiversideCemetery.jpg' grave marker]]

Being Denver's oldest operating cemetery, Riverside serves as the final resting place for hundreds of local historical figures. There are three Medal of Honor recipients (Day, Hasting, and Kelley) buried there.

• John Bass (1848–1888), an early baseball pioneer, who was part of the first major league baseball season in 1871{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}
• James B. Belford (1837–1910), U.S. Congressman and lawyer{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|title=Belford, James B.|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000326|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=2007-11-28}}
• Thomas Belt (1832–1878), English naturalist{{cite book|title=The Naturalist in Nicaragua|last=Belt|first=Thomas|page=xxii|publisher=Cosimo|year=2005|isbn=1596052171}}
• Hiram Pitt Bennet (1826–1914), U.S. Congressman{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|title=Bennet, Hiram Pitt|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000369|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=2007-11-28}}
• Henry P. H. Bromwell (1823–1903), U.S. Congressman from Illinois, prominent Freemason, Grand Master of Illinois, and delegate to the Colorado constitutional convention{{cite book|last1=Mackey|first1=Albert G.|author-link =Albert Mackey|last2=Clegg|first2=Robert I.|title=Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry|year=1929|publisher=The Masonic History Company}}{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|title=BROMWELL, Henry P. H.|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000865|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=2007-11-28}}
• Clara Brown (c. 1803–1885), freed slave, first black woman in Colorado, and one of the founders of the St. James Methodist Church{{cite encyclopedia|title=Brown, 'Aunt' Clara|pages=12|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|last=Noel|first=Thomas J.|editor=David J. Wishart|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=0803247877|year=2004}}
• Chin Lin Sou (1837–1894), railroad foreman and early Chinese American community leader{{cite encyclopedia|title=Sou, Chin Lin|pages=146|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|last=Monnett|first=John H.|editor1-link=David J. Wishart|editor=David J. Wishart|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=0803247877|year=2004}}
• David Day (1847–1914), Medal of Honor recipient during the American Civil War
• Elizabeth Piper Ensley (1847–1919), suffragist{{cite web |url=https://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/ensley_full.html |title=WOW Museum: Western Women's Suffrage–Colorado |publisher=Theautry.org |access-date=2015-10-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150812102551/https://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/ensley_full.html |archive-date=2015-08-12 }}
• John Evans (1814–1897), former Territory of Colorado governor{{cite web|url=http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/govs/evans.html|publisher=Colorado State Archives|title=Colorado Governor John Evans|access-date=2007-12-02}}
• Barney Ford (1822–1902), Business person
• George V. Kelley (1843–1905), received a Medal of Honor for capturing a Confederate flag during the American Civil War
• Oliver Marcelle (c. 1890–1949), first black baseball player in Colorado, buried in an unmarked grave{{cite book|last=Wommack|first=Linda|title=From the Grave: A Roadside Guide to Colorado's Pioneer Cemeteries|pages=92–97|publisher=Caxton Press|year=1998|isbn=0870043862}}
• Miguel Antonio Otero (1829–1882), prominent New Mexico politician{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|title=Otero, Miguel Antonio|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000125|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=2007-11-29}}
• Park Hee Byung (1871–1907), Korean independence activist and "founding father" of the state's Korean American community, grave unmarked until 2007{{cite web|url=http://narasarang.mpva.go.kr/blind/building/out_buld_con.asp?idx=567&name=&place=&build=&content=|publisher=Ministry of Patriots' and Veterans' Affairs, Republic of Korea|title=국외독립운동시설: 박희병 묘소 (Overseas independence activities: grave of Bak Hui-byeong)|access-date=2007-11-28|last=Gang|first=Man-hui|language=Korean|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122021311/http://narasarang.mpva.go.kr/blind/building/out_buld_con.asp?idx=567&name=&place=&build=&content=|archive-date=2016-01-22}}{{cite news|url=http://denver.koreadaily.com/Asp/Article.asp?sv=denver&src=metr&cont=202&typ=1&aid=20071015135730200201|work=Korea Daily|date=2007-10-15|access-date=2007-11-28|last=Nam|first=Gi-tae|title=덴버광역한인회-박희병 지사 묘비 제막식 (Denver metropolitan area Korean association holds grave unveiling ceremony for Bak Hui-byeong)|language=Korean}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}
• John Long Routt (1826–1907), last territorial governor of Colorado, first state governor of Colorado, Denver mayor{{cite web|publisher=Colorado State Archives|title=John L. Routt, Governor, Colorado|access-date=2007-12-02|url=http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/govs/routt.html}}
• Jacob Schueler (1835–1918), co-founder of the Coors BreweryColorado Transcript. 1918-4-18.
• Richard Sopris (1813–1893), mayor of Denver (1878–1881){{cite book | first= Maria Davies | last=McGrath | title = The Real Pioneers of Colorado | publisher = The Denver Museum | year = 1934 | access-date = April 30, 2014 | url=http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16079coll15/id/1400/rec/19 |pages=478–479, 480, 485}}{{cite web|url=https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Genealogical_Index_to_the_Records_of_the_Society_of_Colorado_Pioneers.pdf|title=Genealogical Index to the Records of the Society of Colorado Pioneers|publisher=Denver Public Library|page=271|access-date=July 8, 2018}}
• Silas Soule (1838–1865), soldier in the Colorado Cavalry who disobeyed Colonel John Chivington's orders to fire on defenseless Indians,{{cite news |url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5169472,00.html |newspaper=Rocky Mountain News |title=Runners remember victims at Sand Creek |last=Gutierrez |first=Hector |date=2006-11-25 |access-date=2007-11-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012083617/http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5169472,00.html |archive-date=2008-10-12 }} and Silas's widow, Thersa A. "Hersa" Coberly Soule Lea (1846–1879).
• Andrew Stritmatter (1847–1880), American missionary with the Methodist Episcopal Church in China
• Augusta Tabor (1833–1895), Colorado pioneer and first wife of Horace Tabor.

File:RiversideCemeteryOffice.jpg|The cemetery office, c. 1935

File:Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C.jpg|Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 1

File:Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 2.jpg|Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 2

File:Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 3.jpg|Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 3

File:Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 4.jpg|Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 4

File:Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 5.jpg|Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 5

File:Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 10.jpg|Edbrooke, Frank E.; Lowrie, Harvey C. 10

File:Civil war memorials.jpg|Civil war memorials

File:Civil war memorials 2 Riverside.jpg|Civil war memorials 2 Riverside

File:Stone house Riverside.jpg|Stone house Riverside

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Adams County, Colorado
• Fairmount-cemetery.com [http://fairmount-cemetery.com/our-grounds/riverside-cemetery/]
• Fairmount Heritage Foundation [http://fairmount-cemetery.com/fairmount-heritage-foundation]

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Student|first=Annette L.|author2=Thomas J. Noel |authorlink2=Thomas Noel (historian) |title=Denver's Riverside Cemetery: Where History Lies|isbn=1593522274|publisher=Christian Service Network|year= 2006}}

{{Commons category|Riverside Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)}}

• [http://www.fairmount-cemetery.com/ Fairmount Cemetery Company – owner/operator of Riverside Cemetery]
• [http://fairmount-cemetery.com/fairmount-heritage-foundation// Fairmount Heritage Foundation]
• {{Find a Grave cemetery}}

{{Colorado}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

Category:1876 establishments in Colorado

Category:Cemeteries in Denver

Category:Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Denver

Category:Protected areas of Adams County, Colorado

Category:Protected areas of Denver

Category:Cemeteries established in the 1870s

Category:Buildings and structures in Adams County, Colorado