Two historic but neglected city parks, one in the heart of Denver and the other on Arvada’s eastern edge, just got a multimillion-dollar shot of hope from the National Park Service.
The NPS, better known for ranger hats and stewardship at wilderness gems like Rocky Mountain National Park, also has a fund for renovating city parks with a great story to tell. Denver is getting $8.4 million in a matching grant to brighten up and activate La Alma Lincoln Park at West 13th Avenue and Osage Street, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city and the launching point for Hispanic activism in the 1970s.
Arvada, meanwhile, was awarded $7.3 million that it will match to revive the eroded and weedy Gold Strike Park, the location of the first gold discovery in Colorado, at the confluence of Ralston and Clear creeks.
The NPS Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership award for Gold Strike, at West 56th Avenue and Ralston Road, is a boost “especially for the east side of the city, where many recreational facilities are aging,” said Maki Boyle, Arvada’s senior landscape architect. “It will feature nature-based play elements and provide outdoor access for historically underserved and low-income communities. This project addresses a long-standing need, as the park has remained underutilized for over 20 years.”
Denver is equally ecstatic, hoping the money will speed up revival of La Alma Lincoln Park as a modern recreation and exercise hub in a neighborhood underserved by open space. Neighbors want to use the park more than they do, but threatening or criminal activity has risen. There are too many places to hide behind the rec center and a heavily treed area with bad lighting, Denver Parks and Recreation director of park planning and design Gordon Robertson said.
“Our operations teams lately have been dealing with a surge of (negative) activity in this park, but we definitely are excited about this new vision and this new design and construction project to really bring back life to the park,” Robertson said.
The new La Alma Lincoln Park design, including an expanded skate park and walking trail, centers on input from literally thousands of surveyed residents, Robertson said.
“That’s the beauty of talking to so many people: Statistics don’t lie,” he said. “The really great ideas rose to the top, and were well supported by the people that responded.”
In Denver, the design phase begins now and construction could begin in 2026, with a potential grand opening in late 2027. The matching money will come from the dedicated park acquisition and development sales tax Denver residents approved in 2018, Robertson said.
Arvada’s Gold Strike overhaul has a final design and is ready for construction, Boyle said.
Lois Lindstrom from the Arvada Historical Society gets credit for pinpointing the land that is now Gold Strike Park as the site of pivotal moments for the area, Boyle said.
Lindstrom wrote of Ralston joining a gold-finding party from Georgia and, after much exploration along the way, arriving exhausted where two creeks met, north of the previously discovered confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek.
“Wet and tired, they moved west along Clear Creek to a spot of quiet beauty ‘good water, grass and timber,’” Lindstrom wrote, in a 2003 column for Colorado Community Media. “The good water came from an unnamed mountain stream. Captain McNair called for a ‘lay bye’ — a day of rest.
“Early on the morning of June 22, 1850, Lewis Ralston knelt with his pan and scooped $5 worth of gold from the glistening gravel, the first gold they had seen since leaving Georgia. Brown wrote in his diary, ‘We called this Ralston’s Creek because a man of that name found gold here.’”
A revamped Gold Strike will also show the area’s longer history, Boyle said.
“The park’s revitalization will not only highlight this historic event but also honor the stories of the Indigenous peoples who originally inhabited the area, ensuring the site reflects the broader cultural and historical narrative,” she said.