Our dear friend, Cliff Dougal, a board member of FHRC and former manager of Riverside Cemetery, passed away on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010.

As Riverside’s greatest advocate, Cliff gained the support of numerous individuals and groups – churches, veterans’ and historical organizations – in building awareness and appreciation for the cemetery. It was Cliff’s tireless and enthusiastic energies and leadership that restored Riverside to a state reminiscent of its original design and beauty.

After his retirement from Fairmount Cemetery Company, he remained as active on our Board as his health allowed. Many of you saw him last Halloween at our tour as the “Mayor of Riverside”. His enthusiasm for Riverside and its history never waned, despite his very active work at Senior Answers and charity work for homeless kids.

I will miss Cliff personally for his enthusiasm, his humor and his endless stories, and FORC will miss him for his support and as a font of knowledge about Riverside’s history.

-Sandy Marvin, President
Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery

Read a memorial to Cliff Dougal written by Eileen Doherty, Executive Director of Senior Answers, on the Senior Answers website.

Photo courtesy of OpenTheDoor, Roger Doherty. View on Flickr.

You are invited!
Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery
2010 Annual Members Meeting and Reception

When: Saturday, May 22nd, 2010, 10 a.m. ­– noon

Where: Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral, Community Hall

Address: 349 E 47th Ave, Denver, 80216
(map is available at bottom of this page)

You are invited to attend the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery annual meeting and election of new board members. Join us to meet the board of directors, hear about our initiatives, and find out how to get involved in supporting Denver’s oldest cemetery.

The annual meeting will include information on our monument archive program (Doc-A-Block) and our long-term planning initiative (Riverside 2020), a brief update from our Committee Chairs, and opportunities for volunteer involvement. We will also elect up to five new board members*.

Agenda:

10:00
Annual Meeting with Committee Updates
Annual Meeting and Election of Board Members Agenda

– Welcome and Acknowledgements
– Introduction of Current Board
– FHRC mission, history, and goals
– Program Updates (Walk-A-Bout, Doc-A-Block, and Riverside 2020)
– Request for Interest in Board Positions
– Election of New Directors*
– Member Comments and Questions
– Adjourn

Coffee, Juice, and Light Snacks will be served.

RSVP by sending an email to friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org

Note *Call for New Board Members: We are looking for up to five people to serve on the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery Board of Directors. The new board members will be elected to serve three year terms. New members will serve in an at large capacity, but will be encouraged to help with particular committees, including Preservation, Communications, History and Research, and Events.

If you are interested in serving on the board of the Friends of Historic Riverside, please contact Hugh Graham via email at hugh@hughgrahamcreative.com or by phone at 303-458-6077

Map to Holy Transfiguration Cathedral:

View Larger Map

The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery is a volunteer run 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to increasing awareness and preservation of Denver’s oldest and most historic cemetery.

Halloween Cemetery Tour and Spirits of Riverside Art Show

When the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery wanted to raise money to help restore Denver’s oldest cemetery to its former splendor, they brought a host of historical city figures back to life on Halloween. Period-clad reenactors revived such characters as Sand Creek Massacre good guy Silas Soule, turn-of-the-century temperance worker and police matron Sadie Likens, African-American social climbers Barney and Julia Ford, brewer Philip Zang and many others as tour participants trekked through the burial ground; afterward, an FHRC-sponsored Spirits of Riverside art show reception at the Wynkoop Brewing Company featured Riverside RIP Ale and Riverside-inspired works by local artists.

Truth be told, we weren’t doing the tour to raise money (it was a free tour, after all), but we did manage to raise awareness. Thanks again to everyone who made it such a memorable event, including all our volunteers, the actors, and the more than 600 people who attended.

Here’s the text of the proclamation:
Riverside Cemetery Day
October 31, 2009

WHEREAS, Riverside Cemetery was founded in 1876 and has the distinction
of being among the first cemeteries in the Rocky Mountain West; and

WHEREAS, in 1992, the cemetery was designated a National Historic
District and holds a fundamental place within Colorado history as the
longest continually operating cemetery within Denver city limits; and

WHEREAS, many of Colorado’s most famous pioneers found their final
resting place at Riverside, including Augusta Tabor, Barney and Julia Ford,
Silas Soule, three territorial governors – John Evans, Samuel Elbert, and
John Routt – and numerous mayors, entrepreneurs, and civic figures; and

WHEREAS, in 2008, Riverside Cemetery was listed as one of Colorado’s
“most endangered places” by Colorado Preservation Incorporated as it
faces irrigational and decay difficulties; and

WHEREAS, the State of Colorado encourages individuals to help raise
awareness in order to generate cooperative support and innovative solutions
to preserve this valuable asset to Colorado’s rich history;

Therefore, I, Bill Ritter, Jr., Governor of the State of Colorado, do hereby
proclaim October 31, 2009,

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY DAY

in the State of Colorado.

GIVEN under my hand and the
Executive Seal of the State of
Colorado, this twenty-eighth day
of October, 2009

Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor

October 2009 is Riverside Month

Governor John Evans Memorial at Riverside. Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Dept.

Halloween Cemetery Tour October 31st 2-4 pm:
The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery are presenting a tour of Riverside on Saturday, October 31st, from 2 to 4 pm. Join us for Colorado stories told by actors and experts about some Colorado’s most important historical figures, including John Evans, Augusta Tabor, Silas Soule, Clara Brown, and many others. This is an entertaining way to experience the environment at Riverside in a way the whole family will enjoy. Guided tours will leave every 15 minutes between 2 and 3:15pm; there is no charge, and all are encouraged to attend. *Dress for a chilly October hike*
Please let us know you’re coming by emailing us at events@friendsofriversidecemetery.org. We’ll do our best to accomodate everyone as efficiently as possible. There is no charge for the tours.

Art Reception at the Wynkoop October 31st, 5-7 pm
Following the tour, stop by the Wynkoop to warm-up and view exceptional artwork inspired by the landscape at Riverside. Read more about the “Spirits of Riverside” Art Show.

Wynkoop Beer: In conjunction with Riverside Month, the Wynkoop Brewing Company will be offering a special seasonal beer, Riverside RIP Pumpkin Ale.

The Wynkoop Brewing Company is located at 1634 18th Street at the corner of 18th and Wynkoop in lower downtown Denver. More info at wynkoop.com

Riverside Cemetery is located just two miles north of downtown Denver at 5201 Brighton Boulevard.

For more information and directions, visit friendsofriversidecemetery.org.

A unique monument at Riverside

Our group of volunteers are making great progress documenting the more than 35,000 monuments at Riverside, but we are still in need of others who want to ‘Doc-A-Block’. Through this program you will learn how to photograph the monuments, document the inscriptions, and analyze the condition of the materials (whether sandstone, limestone, marble, granite, or other), set GPS coordinates, and upload the information to the doc-a-block website.

Each volunteer will be given a section of the cemetery which they can document on their own schedule – at the end of the day we intend to have a comprehensive resource for the history and condition of Denver’s oldest and most historic cemetery.

To register for either of these training sessions please send an email to our Doc-A-Block guru, Kate Barnes, at kate@friendsofriversidecemetery.org.

Through this program, volunteers from the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery will create a digital archive of the more than 35,000 monuments at Riverside Cemetery. Volunteers are trained in how to photograph the monuments, document the inscriptions, and analyze the condition of the materials (whether sandstone, limestone, marble, granite, or other), set GPS coordinates, and upload the information to the doc-a-block website.

If you are interested in other upcoming volunteer activities, send your information to volunteers@friendsofriversidecemetery.org and we’ll let you know what’s coming up.

Special thanks to Sue Weatherman and Kate Barnes for their great efforts in making this training happen.

You are invited!
Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery
2009 Annual Members Meeting, Reception,
and Walking Tour

When: May 16th, 2009, 10 a.m. ­– noon

Where: Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral, Community Hall

Address: 349 E 47th Ave, Denver, 80216
(map is available at bottom of this page)

The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery is celebrating our first anniversary with our annual meeting, lemonade reception, and walking tour. Join us to meet the board of directors, hear about our initiatives, and find out how to get involved in supporting Denver’s oldest cemetery.

The annual meeting will include information on our monument archive program (Doc-A-Block) and our long-term planning initiative (Riverside 2020), a brief update from each of our Committee Chairs, and opportunities for volunteer involvement. We will also elect up to five new board members*.

Agenda:

10:00
Annual Meeting with Committee Updates
Election of New Directors*
Fundraiser: Prize Drawing for a Diamond Ring
($5.00 tickets, ring appraised at $2,250.00! Thanks to Stephen Dawson for his generous donation)

11:30
Lemonade & Sweet Reception
Argo Park (across from Transfiguration Cathedral)

12:00
Walking Tour of Riverside
(presented by Cliff Dougal – former caretaker of Riverside for 19 years – and heritage uber-volunteer Garry O’hara)

RSVP by sending an email to friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org

Note *Call for New Board Members: We are looking for up to five people to serve on the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery Board of Directors. The new board members will be elected to serve three year terms. We would prefer individuals who are interested in leading specific committees (at least for the first year of their term), as follows:
- Membership
- Fundraising and Partnerships
- Special Events
- Marketing and Communications
- History and Research
If you are interested in serving on the board of the Friends of Historic Riverside, please contact Hugh Graham via email at hugh@hughgrahamcreative.com or by phone at 303-458-6077

Current board members (beginning the second year of their terms) will serve in the following roles:
President, Hugh Graham
Vice President, Sandy Marvin
Treasurer, Cynthia Del Ponte
Secretary, Traci Stoffel
Preservation and Environment, Lane Ledbetter and Sue Weatherman
Outreach, Cliff Dougal
At Large: Kate Barnes, Jill Hadley Hooper, Stephen Dawson

Map to Holy Transfiguration Cathedral:

View Larger Map

The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to increasing awareness and preservation of Denver’s oldest and most historic cemetery.

17 March 2009
Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery Newsletter

Hello, and welcome to the March 2009 newsletter of the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery.

As many of you already know, this winter had been a tough one on the landscape at Riverside; most of the mature trees have died since watering was discontinued in 2002, and at this point the remaining trees pose a hazard to historical monuments and visitors.

Since November when we posted a story on The Leaning Trees of Riverside Cemetery, a number of trees have fallen over, causing damage to several monuments (including the Evans Mausoleum, among others).

Realizing the seriousness of the situation the owner of the cemetery, Fairmount Cemetery Company, has become much more proactive, and has removed many of the most precarious dead trees, including the one that was ‘leaning’ over the Archer monument.

We appreciate Fairmount’s attention to this situation; nonetheless, it points out that the current approach to managing Riverside is not sustainable.

The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery is dedicated to finding a long-term solution for preserving and maintaining Denver’s oldest, most historic, and most fascinating cemetery. Specifically, we are working on two initiatives:

1. Adopt a Block: A Comprehensive Assessment of Riverside
2. Riverside 2020: Vision for the Future, Respect for the Past

More information on these initiatives is included in this newsletter. As always, your membership, contributions, and volunteer efforts go directly to helping us build a better future for Riverside. You can always find more information and contact information on our website.

Best regards,

-Hugh Graham
President, Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery
friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org

Photo by Linda McConnell for the Rocky Mountain News

Adopt A Block
A Comprehensive Assessment of Riverside

n November of 2008, The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery (FHRC) announced a plan to conduct a comprehensive assessment of Riverside.

This assessment program will serve as the foundation for the future preservation and restoration of Riverside. Once the comprehensive audit is complete, we will build our set of priorities moving forward. The plan contains a number of elements, including the structures, monuments, trees, roses and horticulture.

We have named this program “Adopt A Block”, as we are looking for participation from the community in helping us to conduct this ambitious audit of the condition of Riverside.

We are pleased to report that we are making progress in building the framework for moving forward on this project. Specifically, our intention is to create a fully digital web-based resource center (including GPS mapping) for all our findings.

We’re planning to allow you to ‘adopt a block’ later this spring; please let us know if you would be interested in participating by sending an email to friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org.

Riverside 2020
Vision for the Future; Respect for the Past

Photo by Linda McConnell for the Rocky Mountain News

That’s the question that the Friends of Historic Riverside hopes to answer through a new, community-focused program to develop a vision for the future of Riverside.

Over the course of the past year, FHRC has been meeting with a number of groups, including the Trust for Public Lands and the Greenway Foundation, to discover opportunities for the preservation and restoration of Riverside.

Based on these initial conversations, we are now ready to move to the next level; through Riverside 2020, we hope to engage civic and government leaders, experts in historic preservation, planners, landscape architects, and members of the community in this conversation.

So, what’s it going to be? A Historical Park? Open Space? An operating cemetery with a focus on green burial? A combination of all three?

Look for more details about “Riverside 2020” on our website in the near future. In the mean time, if you’d like to be involved, please email us at friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org.

Upcoming Event: Book Talk by Annette Stott
Pioneer Cemeteries:
Sculpture Gardens of the Old West

Annette Stott, Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery Board member and co-chair of our history and research committee, will be holding a book talk and signing to benefit DU Art!

Annette is the Director of the School of Art and Art History at the University of Denver. Her book, Pioneer Cemeteries: Sculpture Gardens of the Old West, “offers an intriguing tour of the importance of cemeteries as havens of art and culture in a place and time where the living was rough, the dying frequent, and the embellishments few.”

Sunday, April 26 2:30-4 PM
Lindsey Auditorium, Sturm Hall
2000 E Asbury Ave., on the DU Campus

FREE to DU Art! members & students; $10 to others.
Free with purchase of book at the event.

More information on the book and how you can get a copy is available on our website.

Riverside tidbits:
News, Events, and Connections

Mark your Calendar: The Friends of Riverside Cemetery annual meeting will be held on May 16th at 10:00 am. We encourage all members, volunteers, potential board members, and interested parties to attend. We’ll be announcing more details soon…

Riverside in the News: The demise of the Rocky Mountain News was a sad day for all of us (after all, it was one of the few Colorado institutions older than Riverside), but before the final paper hit the presses they ran a terrific story on the plight of Riverside. If you missed it, you can still read it online.

Riverside Cemetery on Facebook. Facebook.com is a social networking site that allows people to find and cultivate connections with friends, neighbors, and to and to discover new ones. So, come join us, and tell your friends to become friends with the friends…

Get Involved:
Volunteer, Become a Member, or Make a Donation

Got a hankering to get involved? We have committees dedicated to History & Research and Preservation & Environment, and we’re also looking for people with internet communications and database skills. If you’re interested, send a note to friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org. Or, visit our get involved page for more information.

The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery is a volunteer-run and member-supported non-profit organization. Your donation goes directly promoting awareness and preservation of Denver’s oldest cemetery. Visit our membership and donations page for more information on how you can offer your financial support. You can donate online or print our membership brochure if you’d rather mail us a check.

Contact Information

If you have an idea or suggestion we encourage you to get in touch with us:

Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery
PO Box 16237
Denver CO 80216
friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org

The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness and promoting preservation of Denver’s oldest cemetery.

FHRC board members Sandy Marvin, Annette Stott, and Hugh Graham were all interviewed and quoted in the article, as was historian Stephen Leonard, chair of the history department at Metropolitan State College of Denver. Leonard is quotes as follows:

It is a shame that with all the millions spent on historic preservation in Colorado that it does not appear that anyone is interested in honoring the resting places of many of our great pioneers

The FHRC is committed to finding a sustainable long-term solution to restoring and maintaining Riverside. The truth is, however, that any solution will require a unique and unprecedented collaboration between governmental, community, and preservation groups, and the efforts of many, many individuals who share our concern.

The response from the article have been phenomenal; in one day we’ve had over 60 people join our email list. We encourage you to get involved as we move this process forward. Join our email list for updates on our efforts, become a member or volunteer, contact your local politicians, and generally just spread the word.

Many thanks to Julie for her terrific article, and to everyone who has offered their support. With your continued support, 2009 may be the year we turn the corner on preserving Riverside!

Angel at Riverside, Photo by Linda McConnell for the RMN

Riverside Cemetery is Denver’s oldest and most historic, and its condition is a cause of concern for many in the community, including historic preservationists, western and art historians, and those with family members buried there. As Denver celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding in November of 1858, we believe it is important to develop a plan for the resting place of so many of the city’s pioneers.

This assessment program is the first step in a long-term initiative; we see it serving as the foundation for the future preservation and restoration of Riverside. Once the comprehensive audit is complete, we will build our set of priorities moving forward. The plan will continue a number of elements, including structures, monuments, trees, roses and horticulture.

A major component of this project is the monument documentation project. Picking up on what a team from the Heritage Foundation started (thank you Sue, Maria, and Jayne!), we are planning to have all the grave markers documented and photographed by the end of 2009.

The program officially kicked off on Saturday, October 25th, (in conjunction with the Fairmount Heritage Foundation) with a program organized by an enterprising Eagle Scout candidate, Michael Funk, who organized over 20 volunteers to inventory block 26. Michael and his volunteers were given two hours of orientation and training before going into the field to begin. Riverside is thankful to have access to the talent, energy and knowledge of Jayne Uhlir and her years of experience training volunteers.

Once the training was complete, the volunteers will broke into teams who documented the text on each stone, measured its dimensions, noted the material and its overall condition. Many of the stones at Riverside are quickly losing detail from natural weathering and pollution, which is one reason why creating a digital record is so important.

We are going to be putting together more training sessions in the future; we’ll also be looking to assemble some volunteers to document and map the viable and the not-so-viable trees, roses, and other horticulture. Please let us know if you would be interested in participating by sending an email to friends@friendsofriversidecemetery.org.

Michael Funk help a teammate find the GPS coordinates of a monument at Riverside.