Construction of the new parking garage at the Denver Botanic Gardens resumed Tuesday after the Denver coroner’s office discovered and removed bones and remnants of old caskets over the weekend.
Michelle Weiss-Samaras, Denver’s chief deputy coroner, and members of her staff were at the site Friday afternoon and all day Saturday carefully combing through the earth.
The gardens are on top of what was one of the city’s oldest cemeteries, begun in 1858.
Excavation for a new multistory parking garage at 1005 York St. came to an abrupt halt at noon Friday when the Denver coroner’s office announced that an old grave had been discovered.
During careful digging at the site Friday and Saturday, Weiss-Samaras said that her team uncovered many items from the old cemetery.
“Many grave sites were found, but the majority had already been removed and buried previously,” she said. “Some were discovered intact or partially intact and were removed for burial,” she said.
Will Jones, spokesman for the Denver Botanic Gardens, said that excavation for the new three-story parking structure, which will hold about 320 cars, began about three weeks ago.
Jones said Tuesday that the Denver coroner’s team did its work with extreme caution.
“They wanted to make sure that if any remains were at the site, they found everything,” Jones said. “They found bone fragments and remnants of coffins.”
All the remains are being removed to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, where they will receive a proper reburial, Jones said.
Jones said that if any more bones are found, construction will stop and the coroner’s office will be called.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
