A snapshot of history
If you are looking at the McNichols Civic Center building you might be surprised to know that this was once the Carnegie Library of Denver. In the early 1900s, the Denver Mayor Robert Speer was creating the City Beautiful movement and this building was one of many planned for Civic Center Park.
It was built between 1909-1910 in the Greek Revival architecture with Turkey Creek sandstone, from quarries near Pueblo, Colorado. There are Corinthian columns across the front and along the top carved into the sandstone “Erected in the year of our lord nineteen hundred and nine and dedicated to the advancement of learning”. On February 15, 1910, the Denver Public Library opened to the public.
The library was the first building that was built in the Civic Center Park with a donation from Andrew Carnegie of $200,000 and became known as the “Old Main”. Total cost was $430,000 and was designed to hold 300,000 books. The City Beautiful plan was to have a twin building on the south side of Civic Center Park, perhaps an art museum, but as you may notice, nothing was ever built.
The entrance on the north side of the building was not always steps down to the main floor, at one time there was a grand stone staircase the took you up to what is now the second floor of the building. You can still see the wood doors in the center above the glass art work that covers the current lower entrance. I am not sure when they were removed or for what reason, but if I find out will update this at a later time.
In the mid-1950s the building became too small for the library and they needed to move. The library was then relocated to a soon to be condemned property that was a Ford Model T dealership on the south side of the park at Broadway and 14th. After the library moved, for the next 40 plus years the “Old Main” was then home to the Denver Water Board.
In the late 1990s it was renamed after the 35th governor Stephen McNichols and is now know as the McNichols Civic Center Building. In 2012 it reopened as a cultural center and hosts exhibitions, cultural performances and events.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
