The Denver Botanic Gardens is a sacred place. Gardens are referenced as holy ground regularly in the Christian Scriptures. The genesis of Creation and humanity’s first steps are in a garden. It is in a garden that Jesus prays and also where he is betrayed. Mary is in a garden when she encounters Jesus after the resurrection and mistakes him to be a gardener among the graves. Denver Botanic Gardens is a fascinating story of gardens and graves.

The land the Denver Botanic Gardens is located on was first purchased in 1872 by William Larimer. He purchased 160 acres, at $1.25 an acre, to establish Mount Prospect as Denver’s first organized city cemetery. Larimer sold 40 of the acres to Bishop Machebeuf to establish Calvary as the Catholic cemetery. There are two places the Catholic Church consecrates and considers holy ground, a church and a cemetery. It is recognized as sacred for all time.

By 1890 there was a desire to relocate cemeteries away from the growing neighborhoods of Denver. Mount Prospect was repurposed to become Cheesman Park. In 1950, 40 years after burials at Calvary had ceased, the Catholic Diocese sold the remaining 18 acres to the City of Denver with the condition it would remove the remaining 6,000 bodies and only be developed as a park for public use.

The desire for Denver to have a botanical garden grew through the 40’s and 50’s. A botanic gardens signified both cultural and economic progress for a city. Denver Botanic Gardens Foundationwas established in 1951. In a 1954 edition of Green Thumb, the Denver Botanic Gardens Foundation newsletter, the editor wrote about the need for a botanic garden because the people of Denver had become, “notoriously rootless, restless and even irreligious.”

In 1958 local philanthropists, Dr. and Mrs. James Waring, bought the house at 909 York Street and gifted it to be the headquarters of the Denver Botanic Gardens Foundation. After 2 years of negotiations, the city of Denver leased the vacant land that was once Calvary Cemetery to Denver Botanic Gardens. By 1961 the Denver Botanic Gardens had 1,700 members with $5 annual dues.

The Boettcher Conservatory, dedicated in 1966, cost almost $950,000 to complete. It is the only conservatory in America made entirely of concrete and plexiglass. “Even before its completion the building had won international recognition for its unique design and unusual structure,” wrote Bernice Peterson in her book, Cemetery to Conservatory. Programs at the Botanic Gardens developed through the decades. Summer concerts began in 1980, and lighting the trees for Christmas, a slow period for the Gardens, began in 1989. The Denver Botanic Gardens now has over 1 million visitors each year and over 50,000 faithful members. 

A city’s botanic gardens were once recognized for their collection of plants from around the world. The challenge for the Denver Botanic Gardens was to discover what plants would survive late frost, summer winds, and freezing winter storms. Over the decades the celebration of native plants has grown. The Steppe Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens cultivates knowledge on the plants that exist in some of the harshest climates in the world. The desire is no longer the classical control of nature, but the preservation and appreciation of it.

The Denver Botanic Gardens land began as wild prairie grasslands, became a graveyard for a new and growing city, then a botanic garden for education and enjoyment. It is a place to admire the artistry and diversity of plants. It is a place to ponder the beautiful mystery of death to life. The Denver Botanic Gardens is a sacred place.