Historic CCC camp to become a museum

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 9, 2009 at 5:35 p.m.
Updated January 9, 2009 at 11:55 p.m.

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Photo by Photos Courtesy / Michele Wheatley, Colorado National Monument

Rim Rock Drive at the Colorado National Monument, where nine workers were killed in a rockslide.

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MORRISON — The soaring sandstone of Red Rocks Amphitheatre juts toward the sky, just over the hill from some nondescript buildings that could easily be mistaken for storage sheds.

But the men who lived in these humble barracks created the amphitheater that may be the crown jewel of public works in this state.

Red Rocks is known around the world for its stunning architecture and the famous bands that have played there, including U2 and the Beatles. But it's also a tribute to the union of natural beauty and human labor.

Few Coloradans know about the Morrison camp or its historical significance as one of only four intact Civilian Conservation Corps facilities left in the United States.

Denver Mountain Parks has used the camp for its headquarters and maintenance base since the CCC abandoned it in 1941. Thanks to its stewardship and CCC alumni volunteers, the camp remains preserved while most others disappeared dec ades ago.

As the CCC celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008, Mountain Parks managers ramped up their efforts to open a museum at the CCC camp and collect artifacts from the New Deal era.

President-elect Barack Obama's plans to create sweeping new jobs programs have cast light once again on the Depression-era programs like the CCC, which helped reinvigorate the stalled 1930s economy and offered hope and work to a generation of young people, artists and unemployed men.

Mountain Parks managers plan to open the Morrison camp to visitors on a handful of days each year.

"We're considering guided tours in conjunction with the amphitheater," said A.J. Tripp-Addison, superintendent for Denver Mountain Parks. "The camp's a very, very important cultural and historic part of the Denver Mountain Parks and how much of an influence the CCC's had on Denver and the mountain region."

Especially now, in an era when our nation is rediscovering Depression-era history, Tripp-Addison said there is a new appreciation for the unique value of the Morrison camp.

"We've known of the importance of these buildings and have made a special effort to preserve them," he said.

Documents from the Morrison camp show that Company 1848 arrived there in May 1936. Its first task was to build the camp that would house just over 200 men. Five barracks and nine support buildings remain.

At first a junior company of young men worked at Morrison. Then, as work on the amphitheater ramped up in 1937, an older company composed largely of World War I veterans arrived. All the workers received $1 a day. The older men did the hard labor of fashioning the seats and stage of Red Rocks out of stone.

Inside the Recreation Hall today, a colorful mural shows young people dancing and brings to life the heirlooms of the Depression era.

Sadly, the alumni group that met so often at Morrison has disbanded as the men have died or grown too old to visit. But CCC enthusiasts would like to form a 2nd Generation alumni group and are determined to preserve a museum in Morrison honoring the workers who forever changed Colorado and the country.

"This," Tripp-Addison said, "was an important part of American history."

Tour CCC landmarks in the Denver Mountain Parks

* Stop 1: Red Rocks Amphitheater: 18300 W. Alameda Parkway

Best-known of all Colorado's CCC projects, the amphitheater represented one of the biggest efforts undertaken by any CCC company. Work was directed by National Park Service staff. Its completion in 1941 gave Denver a world-class outdoor entertainment venue that attracts performers and audiences. The amphitheater itself is a lasting monument to the hundreds of CCC workers who built it. Their contribution is also memorialized in the CCC worker statue at the Visitor Center entrance.

* Stop 2: Evergreen Lake warming hut

Off Colorado 74 and Upper Bear Creek Road

After the Evergreen Dam was built in 1928, skating became a popular activity on the new Evergreen Lake. This CCC-built warming hut served as headquarters for winter recreation until the new Lakehouse was built in 1984. The structure has recently been restored and reopened as the Evergreen Nature Center.

* Stop 3: Dedisse Park Bridge

Off Colorado 74 in upper Dedisse Park

This shelter demonstrates a remarkable fit with its surroundings and looks as if it had grown out of the site on which it is perched. From its flagstone patio, picnickers and other visitors can enjoy scenic views of Evergreen Lake.

* Stop 4: Genesee Shelter

Genesee Mountain Road, Exit 253 or 254

This shelter was designed and redesigned before it was finally built about 1939. As with other CCC work in the local mountain parks, supervisors from the National Park Service designed and managed construction.

Have memories?

Are you a CCC alum or family member with memorabilia that you want preserved? Historians at the Denver Mountain Parks are eager to accept artifacts from service at any CCC camp.

"We'd love to be inundated," said parks Superintendent A.J. Tripp-Addison.

They also are eager to help revive the Denver CCC alumni group with second-generation heirs of CCC workers.

* More information: Denver Mountain Parks at 303-697-4545,or send an e-mail or blog post to: mountainparks@gmail.com or denvermountainparks.blogspot.com

Camp mementos

Depression-era treasures at Morrison CCC camp include:

* Original decorated trunks that CCC recruits carried from camp to camp.

* Denim work pants, shirts and work boots.

* Silver shaving kits and mess kits, left over from World War I.

* Original bunk beds.

* Original potbellied stove in the mess hall.

* Books, camp newspapers, alumni newsletters and photos.

* Tributes to former CCC members, including one woman known to have served in the CCC.

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