Genuine original vintage POSTCARD circa 1920
Denver, Colorado, features Civic Center Park with natural snow &
Christmas tree, Santa Claus & reindeer atop archway, "Peace on
Earth" among other holiday decorations. Further in background is E.J.
Johnson auto dealer. Some signage on
dealership includes: "Bargains in rebuilt cars", Willys, Chalmers,
Wills Sainte Claire etc. There
was an E.J. Johnson used car dealership at 633 Van Ness Avenue in
Fresno, California as early as 1937, possibly the same auto dealer, but a new location?
From Wikipedia: Civic Center is
a neighborhood and park in Denver, Colorado. The area is known as the
center of the civic life in the city, with numerous institutions of
arts, government, and culture as well as numerous festivals, parades,
and protests throughout the year. The park is home to many fountains,
statues, and formal gardens, and includes a Greek amphitheater, a war
memorial, and the Voorhies Memorial Seal Pond. It is well known for its
symmetrical Neoclassical design.
Civic Center is located in central Denver just south of the Central
Business District. The park is located at the intersection of Colfax
Avenue and Broadway, perhaps the best-known and most important streets
in Denver. The park borders are defined as Bannock Street on the west,
Lincoln Street on the east, Colfax Avenue on the north, and 14th Avenue
on the south. The institutions surrounding the civic center are
generally thought of as part of the Civic Center area, and future plans
for the civic center would extend the area further west all the way to
Speer Boulevard.
Civic Center is also a neighborhood defined by the Denver city
government, but is probably identified in the minds of Denverites as the
"Golden Triangle." The borders of this neighborhood are Speer Boulevard
on the west and south, Broadway on the east, and Colfax Avenue on the
north.
Civic Center was an idea that originated with former Denver mayor Robert
W. Speer. In 1904, Speer proposed a series of civic improvements based
on the City Beautiful Ideas shown to him at the 1893 World Columbian
Exposition in Chicago.
Speer hired Charles Mulford Robinson among others to develop plans for
the area. Robinson proposed extending 16th Street to the Colorado State
Capitol and to group other municipal buildings around a central park
area. However, the plan was defeated in a 1907 election.
Undaunted, Speer gathered business leaders who brought in new ideas for
the Civic Center including the creation of an east-west axial between
the Colorado State Capitol, and swinging the north and south borders of
the park into the city grid system.
These plans were stalled when in 1912, Speer was replaced as mayor. The
new mayor brought in Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. who was developing plans
for Denver's mountain parks. His ideas include an informal grove of
trees on the eastern edge of the park, and a lighted concert area.
When Speer was reelected in 1916, he re-pursued his ideas about the
Civic Center, hiring Chicago planner and architect Edward H. Bennett, a
protégé of Daniel Burnham. Bennett combined the ideas of all of the
previous plans, adding the Greek amphitheater, theColonnade, the seal
pond, and the realignment of Colfax Avenue and 14th Ave., around the
park. The park officially opened in 1919.
Civic Center has long been the government, arts, history, and learning
nexus of both the state of Colorado and the Denver Metropolitan Area.
Among the institutions in the Civic Center areDenver Art Museum, and
the Denver Public Library's Central Library along the parks south side,
the Colorado State Capitoland the City and County Building of
Denver along the east and west axis of the park, the Wellington E. Webb
Municipal Office Building on the park's north side, and the Colorado
History Museum and the Colorado State Judicial Building towards the
southeast of the park. The Denver Mint lies immediately west of the
Civic Center Park across the street from the City and County Building.
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