Crown Hill Cemetery

It's time for some more hanging out in cemeteries. Hey it's September now! Closer to the Halloween season! So maybe it's not so weird to be hanging out among the deceased during this time of year. Today we journey west of Denver to Wheat Ridge's Crown Hill Cemetery.

The cemetery was opened in 1907 by George W. Olinger. You'll find his name on many of the cemeteries around Denver, and you'll find his own final resting place in Crown Hill's massive mausoleum, the Tower of Memories. This Denver area landmark was designed in 1926 by architect Charles A Smith. It stands 158 feet tall and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. 

The most famous resident of Crown Hill is Adolph Coors, the founder of the Coors Brewing Company. Coors came to the Denver area in 1872 and shortly thereafter purchased the abandoned Golden City Tannery and turned it into the Golden Brewery. The brewery he built, one of the world's largest, still bustles with activity in the heart of Golden. Coors' grave is without question the largest in the cemetery and is pretty easy to find. Just head towards the Tower of Memories and hang a right just before you get to the building. Look towards the trees to the east and you'll spot the tall obelisk that marks Coors' final resting place.

Crown Hill is located at 7777 W 29th Ave in Wheat Ridge. That address is a little confusing since 29th runs through the grounds. Basically, the entrance to the grounds is off of Wadsworth at 29th. It's huge, he can't miss it.

Mt Olivet Cemetery

The weather has been pretty wild here in the Denver area lately. We had beautiful, spring-like weather one weekend, then the next weekend it was a blizzard producing two feet of snow! This weekend might be a mix. It's that time of year, I guess.

Well, on one of the warmer weekends, I managed to get out of the house and do some exploring. I literally wandered aimlessly and ended up at Mt Olivet Cemetery in Wheat Ridge. Cemeteries are one of my favorite photography subjects, so this was a great place to spend a bit of time.

Mt Olivet is a Catholic cemetery and was dedicated on September 25, 1892. It is the final resting place of over 150,000 individuals. At the time it was opened, Mt Olivet was in a pretty isolated location; separated from the city of Denver by quite a distance. Now, the growth of the area has filled in that space. The cemetery now sits just a block north of busy Interstate 70.

Even though it is no longer in the middle of nowhere, Mt Olivet is still a beautiful and peaceful place. It features many unique monuments, including several dedicated to some notable individuals. Though I did not have time to explore them all, one that is notable and easy to find is that of Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert. He's the one that was played by Kevin Bacon in the movie, in case you, like me, have a brain that is filled with movie knowledge. Swigert was also elected to represent Colorado's 6th District in 1982, however, he passed away before being able to take office. A statue of Swigert in his astronaut's uniform resides at Denver International Airport.

One of the more notable features of Mt Olivet is the numerous mausoleums spread across the grounds. Some of them are strikingly unique examples of modern architecture.

Mt Olivet is a truly lovely cemetery. I took well over a hundred photos during my visit, and am having trouble deciding which ones to share. I may just need to do another photo dump post in the future. I will certainly need to pay another visit when the grass is green and the leaves are back on the trees.