Denver to experience remarkably quiet 150th anniversary

November 21, 1:44 AMDenver City Buzz ExaminerRichard Blake

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November 22, 2008 will be the 150th anniversary of the founding of the City of Denver.  On that date in 1858 General William Larimer of Kansas staked a claim on a hill overlooking the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River near what now is LoDo. 

Earlier that year gold had been found at that location, although Arvada boosters will claim that a party of Georgia prospectors made a gold find on Ralston Creek on their way to the California gold fields almost a decade earlier.  In all likelihood, Spanish miners discovered gold in South Park decades prior to that discovery.  Be that as it may it was the find near LoDo that was to lead to what has since become the 21st largest metropolitan area in the United States, the 'Queen City of the Plains." 

Oddly, however, the City of Denver has done relatively little to promote the 150th anniversary of the City save official proclamations, the adoption of the "Denver Daisy," a "wild" (more or less) native daisy, a two week "celebration" entitled "15 days 150 years" and the "Legacy Project" which will honor 150 prominent Denver residents in a Rocky Mountain News spread.  Had the nominations not been closed I would have chosen to nominate Mattie Silks, "infamous" gold rush era madam, whose Market Street establishment is still alive and kicking 150 years later, although it is not currently engaged in its original business. 

No doubt some will speculate that the apparent lack of enthusiasm for Denver's 150th stems from political correctness.  How, they might argue, can Denverites be proud of a history that included Territorial Governor Evans presiding over the infamous Sand Creek Massacre (less well known is the year-long siege of Denver by the Cheyenne dog soldiers as vengeance for Sand Creek) or the era of Klan control of the city under Mayor Stapleton.  Just as possible, however, is a collective burnout from the events of the summer and the DNC which focused the entire nation's attention on Denver.  The thinking may have been, that in light of the DNC, the 150th anniversary was much more of an afterthought than anything else. 

For more info: http://denver.org/150/Daisy.html