"Red Rocks Park and the camp that housed the men who built its world-famous amphitheater have been awarded national historic landmark status.
Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps Camp sits just south of Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Morrison. The camp is comprised of 18 buildings where men came from around the country to live and work as part of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps program.
"The outstanding architecture and landscape architecture of Red Rocks Park and Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps Camp illustrate the principles and practices of New Deal-era naturalistic park design and master planning in a metropolitan park as well as the use of Civilian Conservation Corps labor to develop such a park," the National Park Service said in a news release.
The designation is part of a 14-year effort led by the local nonprofit Friends of Red Rock, which compiled research and gathered endorsements from music legends, politicians and historians from around the country as part of the application process. Final approval of the designation is given by the Secretary of the Interior.
National Park Service historian Christy Dickinson worked on the application.
"It represents that Red Rocks isn't a place that has significance (just) locally or regionally," she said in February. "It's reflective of American history, not just Colorado history and not just Denver history."
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper agreed.
Red Rocks is "renowned as the only naturally occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheater in the world, and the diverse landscape attracts thousands of outdoor enthusiasts and even dinosaur fans," he said in a statement. "The Mount Morrison CCC camp is another historical treasure in the park, and one of the few surviving camps in the nation."
While Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre sees thousands of visitors annually, the camp is not seen by the public as often.
The site is managed by Denver Mountain Parks, which uses the buildings for its offices and storage. Some of the buildings were refurbished in the 1980s and '90s by a CCC alumni group, and their museum remains in an old mess hall.
Denver Parks and Recreation still hosts youth corps camp crews there and gives tours by appointment only.
The site is one of four new places in the U.S. to earn the elite historic designation. The other new National Historic Landmarks are First Peoples Buffalo Jump in Cascade County, Mont.; the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Va.; and Lafayette Park in Detroit.
Red Rocks becomes the 25th national historic landmark in Colorado." (from (
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"MORRISON —Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre is on its way to becoming a National Historic Landmark along with a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Morrison.
"It highlights the workers who built the amphitheater — the craftsmanship, the workmanship," National Park Service historian Christy Dickinson said of the nomination. "It helps tell a more complete story of the park, where young men lived and worked during the (Great) Depression."
The 14-year effort to give the designation to the sites was spearheaded by the nonprofit Friends of Red Rocks and has attracted endorsements from music legends, politicians and historians from around the country.
Work crews are pictured at the Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps camp circa 1936. Photo is courtesy of Barbara Forrest Teyssier, daughter of
Work crews are pictured at the Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps camp circa 1936. Photo is courtesy of Barbara Forrest Teyssier, daughter of Edward Teyssier, the superintendent of construction for the Red Rocks Amphitheatre project. (Courtesy Barbara Forrest Teyssier)
The sites are already on the National Register of Historic Places, but National Historic Landmarks — of which there are only about 2,500 in the entire country, 24 in Colorado — represent the "cream of the crop" of historic sites, Dickinson said.
"It represents that Red Rocks isn't a place that has significance (just) locally or regionally," she said. "It's reflective of American history, not just Colorado history and not just Denver history."
The nomination passed its biggest hurdle Feb. 11, when the National Parks Service's Landmarks Committee gave its approval. It is now in line for approval from the park system's advisory board in May, then to the secretary of U.S. Department of the Interior for final approval, which could take up to a year, Dickinson said.
Friends of Red Rocks started in 1999 after citizens successfully thwarted renovations to the amphitheater by the city of Denver that would have included heavy commercialization. Now the group organizes cleanup days and has stayed the course on pursuing the national landmark status.
Founding member Russ Alaimo said the group's mission has always been to preserve the "magic," and believes visitors to Red Rocks have been stewards of the music venue's significance.
"But we can't always say the same for the park and the CCC camp," he said.
The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, was a program designed to put Americans to work during the Great Depression. Camps were built throughout the country to house workers. The Mount Morrison CCC camp — a collection of 18 buildings directly south of Red Rocks Park — is one of few that remain.
In addition to building Red Rocks Amphitheatre between 1936 and 1941, the Morrison crews built structures in many Denver Mountain Parks in Bear Creek Canyon and Evergreen, including the warming hut that is now the boathouse and nature center at Evergreen Lake.
Dennis Brown is a Denver park ranger supervisor who oversees the care and maintenance of Red Rocks Park. He calls the camp the "unheralded part of Red Rocks."
"At Red Rocks, you really don't begin to feel the sense of history until you encompass the whole camp and really understand the role of the CCC, the untold stories," Brown said.
Today, the camp's buildings house Denver Mountain Parks offices and serve as storage. They are are open to tours by appointment. Denver Parks and Recreation also hosts youth corps crews there.
A CCC alumni group that met in the 1980s and '90s refurbished some of the buildings.
Sally White is a local historian with Denver Mountain Parks and gives tours of the camp, including the mess hall where the alumni group compiled a museum of camp history and items from daily camp living. She has lost touch with any remaining members of the group but says when she knew them, they were proud of their part in their country's history.
She added: "They just came to appreciate what they had accomplished by being in the CCC and the magnitude of the program they were in."
Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JosieKlemaier" (from (
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