Lest We Forget

Memorial Day in 2021 will be commemorated with wreath, flower and flag ceremonies at cemeteries in Denver and across Colorado. Car parades, picnics, concerts, fireworks and activities for veterans are also planned. 

The Globeville Veteran's Club, which was organized in 1947, didn't want a parade or even recognition for their recent service, but to honor and commemorate those from Globeville who had died serving their country. In their meetings, it was suggested that a memorial honoring veterans be erected in Argo Park and the idea grew from there. The club's 200 members, former servicemen of both World War I and II, spoke to neighbors, businesses, fraternal organizations and churches to raise funds for the project. The 12-foot-high granite monument was dedicated in Argo Park on August 25, 1948, with Denver Mayor Quigg Newton, Governor Henry Knous, Councilman Ernest Marranzino and Congressman John Carroll in attendance. The Denver Post reported, "It is believed to be the first monument dedicated to the dead of the last war." 1.

The memorial was inscribed with the names of two men killed in World War I, twelve men lost in World War II and one Korean War casualty. The monument is located in a quiet spot in the shade, a perfect place for visitors to pause and honor the men from Globeville who sacrificed their lives for their country.

Veteran's Memorial Dedicated August 25, 1948

Saturday, February 25, 1950

Photos used with written permission from Janet Wagner

Both the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News featured the story, KOA radio carried the broadcast live and a score of airplanes flew overhead. An estimated 100,000 people gathered near the site while an additional 250,000 watched from rooftops and ridges all over the city. The occasion was the demolition of the Grant Smelter smokestack, a 350-foot remnant of Denver's glory days of mining and smelting.

The giant chimney was built in 1892, part of the expansion of Denver's largest smelter, the Omaha and Grant. The stack was the tallest structure in the region and a symbol of the city's largest industry.

A year after the completion of the chimney, the nation experienced a depression that hit mining and smelting hard. Changes in technology, the depletion of rich ores and the long, violent labor strike of 1903 resulted in the closing of the smelter, leaving the massive plant and stack.

The smelter was dismantled until only the enormous smokestack remained, and it became a playground for neighborhood children who rode their bikes in and out and dared each other to climb the steep walls. Issues of safety and economics eventually dictated the that the stack would be demolished.

Saturday, February 25, 1950, was the day selected for the demolition. Denver Mayor Quigg Newton, politicians and newspapermen made speeches eulogizing the structure as most of Denver's population waited. There was delay after delay until 5:00 pm when five blasts, each two seconds apart, exploded in the base of the 7000-ton tower. Incredibly, nothing happened. When three more blasts were detonated, a million bricks crashed to earth and a blinding cloud of dust enveloped officials and spectators. It took more dynamite on the following day to finish the job. Denver had shed a piece of its industrial past and, in 1952, constructed the Denver Coliseum on the spot. 

Photos of the stack courtesy of Janet Wagner