The Hidden Graves Under Denver's Bougie Park | The Cheesman Park Story скачать в хорошем качестве

The Hidden Graves Under Denver's Bougie Park | The Cheesman Park Story

#CheesmanPark #denver #PikeProductions Under one of the most popular parks in Denver is about 2,000 bodies. Cheesman Park was a graveyard in the 1800s, but many of the bodies were left behind when it was converted into a park. Follow on Twitter: @PikeYTOfficial SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL ✅ ► Patreon:   / apd23   (monthly support) All sources are made available to patrons or if requested via email. Gear that I use: Laptop: https://amzn.to/4ham329 External 4k Monitor: https://amzn.to/3C94mRq Microphone: https://amzn.to/40qQg7A Editing software: https://amzn.to/40qQg7A The best keyboard in the world: https://amzn.to/3WahZa3 Best Bang for your buck mouse: https://amzn.to/3Ptn0Xq Credits: Music- The Colonel by Zachariah Hickman -    / @drzachariah   Lazy Boy Blues by Unicorn Heads -    / @unicornheads   Videography - Drone of Cheesman Park -    • Cheesman Park Neighborhood by Air, Denver CO   Nighttime Driving Shot of Pavilion -    • I Explored Colorado's HAUNTED CHEESMAN PAR...   Full moon YouTuber -    • Guided Tour: Denver’s ‘Haunted’ Cheesman P...   Thank Denver Public Library for research help and digital archives. Abridged Script: This is Chessman Park. Located within one of Denver’s ritziest neighborhoods, the park covers 81 acres, and attracts typical park activities year-round. While it is a nice green escape from city life, there is nothing remarkable about Cheesman Park. At least on the surface, because beneath the surface, there are over one thousand bodies. This is the story of the graves hidden underneath the manicured landscape of Cheesman Park. In the 1850s, rumors of gold brought prospectors from all over the US to the Rocky Mountains. This was good news for William Larimer, who owned a large amount of land in the Kansas Territory. Larimer’s landholdings would later become the city of Denver. But for the miner’s camp to become a legitimate city, Larmier needed something that would add some elegance and permanence. One of the things that makes a city a city, is a graveyard. In the spring of 1859, Larimer, along with Undertaker William Clancey, opened the Mount Prospect Cemetery. The Cemetary was just outside of the main residential area, making it an ideal location; close enough to attend funerals, but not too close to where people lived. As Denver was a Wild West town inhabited by fortune hunters and desperados, most of the graveyards' first occupants didn’t die of natural causes. John Stoefel committed the first murder in Denver history after killing his brother-in-law. Why he did this, no one really knows for sure as his trial lasted only three days and that he barely spoke English. Not only was Stoefel Denver’s first murderer, but he would also be the first person in Colorado to receive the Death penalty. Both Stoefel and his victim were buried in the same grave in the new Mount Prospect Cemetery. In its first year, the cemetery’s first occupants had similar stories to Stoefel’s. Plus many more who died in mining accidents. Denverites started to call the cemetery Boothill; because most of the deceased often died, and were buried in, their work boots. The cemetery didn’t have any irrigation, which made the whole graveyard look very unkempt. By 1870, Larimer had moved from Denver and there was some dispute as to who actually owned the cemetery. Since Colorado was not yet a state, the people of Denver asked the Federal Government to sort out who actually owned the graveyard. The Feds decided that they actually owned the land, but would be happy to sell it to the City of Denver for about $1.25 an acre. The city reluctantly agreed, and it was renamed as Denver City Cemetery. While religious and social groups became more involved with the cemetery, it was still in poor shape. With no irrigation, there was no real control over what grew there. The Cemetery didn’t really have a caretaker, and gravestones and monuments would often topple over with no one taking the time to repair them. With poor record-keeping, it was common for undertakers to accidentally unearth an old grave when attempting to dig a new grave. If the recently deceased was a pauper with no next of kin, they often stacked the new body on the old one. In 1876, Riverside Cemetery opened on the banks of the South Platte River. With water access, Riverside was instantly a better option than the Denver City Cemetery, and became the preferred burial place. In 1890, Fairmount cemetery also opened. It seemed there was no longer a use for the Denver City Cemetery. This was fitting, as the Capitol Hill neighborhood started to grow around the ragged graveyard. Capitol Hill housed Denver’s affluent class, and they didn’t like having a derelict graveyard in their locality. They persuaded the city to convert it into a park.