One of the great pleasures of living in Denver, as we all know, is the year-round agreeable weather.
Like many Denverites, I scoop up the offspring on weekends and head to places like Bible Park.
Unlike many Denverites, however, I struggle to enjoy these family excursions. Nagging questions – and my neuroses – take hold. I need to know. Who the heck is James A. Bible, and why is there a city park named after the guy?
In fact, I often wonder, what’s with these crazy names? Where are the cities of Cuernavaca, Potenza and Takayama? And why do we have their parks?
Who was Bible? Ben Bezoff? Frances Wisebart Jacobs?
The answers, I find out, though they occasionally leave you scratching your head, are most often worthwhile stories.
Bible, for instance, was a Denver parks employee, supervisor and consultant for more than 50 years. Bezoff was a state representative, and Jacobs helped found Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
Boring? I find it refreshing that in our city, not every morsel of public land honors a senator, mayor or founding father.
And if you believe McNichols Park is named after the former mayor of Denver, William McNichols, you’d be mistaken, as it’s in honor of his father, a city auditor from 1931 to 1955.
Why does Denver have such quirky and unique park names?
“Sometimes when a park comes online and it’s been developed and then added, we engage the neighborhood in the process of naming them,” explains Tiffiany Moehring, spokeswoman for Denver parks. “We have a citizen advisory board that reviews requests for naming – and renaming – parks. If a community comes together, they can become part of the naming process.”
For example, the oldest park in Denver is Mestizo Curtis Park. Developed in 1868 and originally named after the postmaster Samuel Curtis, the title was later amended to add “Mestizo” in recognition of the cultural diversity of the city.
Yet, there is that other niggling mystery out there. What’s with all the “City of” parks? City of Axum Park? City of Madras Park?
Well, Axum happens to be an ancient Ethiopian city, reportedly the capital city of the Queen of Sheba, a biblical character who ruled a kingdom in Africa.
Madras happens to be the fourth largest city in India.
In total, Denver has 10 sister-city parks. Brest, France, the first, has been a sister city since 1948.
Each of the cities has a “City of Denver Park” in its town. So, should you be visiting downtown Takayama, Japan, or
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, any time soon, look for it.
Yet, the most appealing park names, for me, at least, are those with a history lesson attached.
In 1970, the Denver City Council dedicated Babi-Yar Park. It was named after a ravine outside Kiev, Ukraine, where Nazis murdered about 100,000 Jews and other locals, dumping their bodies in a mass grave. Of the murdered, tens of thousands were children. So yes, Denver has a park named after the largest mass children’s grave in the world.
Then again, we also have the Magna Carta Park, named after the historical document that began the idea of constitutional law.
My favorite park, however – notwithstanding its comparatively small size – is the Hungarian Freedom Park off Speer Boulevard.
The park was the first monument in North America erected to honor the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which was, in turn, the first spontaneous uprising against Soviet oppression in Eastern Europe after WWII. It was one of the first places I was drawn to in Denver.
So, what some see as eccentric names only add to the uniqueness of the city.
“For Denver, if someone comes to the city, one of the top five places you’re going to take them is a park,” says Moehr ing. “And so, I think the parks are ingrained in our culture, and that’s why we’re so very proud of them.”
Now, hopefully, I can concentrate on helping my kids down the slide.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
