East 124 Avenue and Henderson Road
Adams County Regional Park
Location Description
The Adams County Fairgrounds is located at the Adams County Regional Park. The address is: East 124 Avenue & Henderson Road.
It covers 625 acres of beautiful land.
History of Site
The Adams County Fairgrounds was originally located in Brighton, Colorado, at South Fourth and Southern Streets. In the late 1880's the area was first known as the "Driving Park," because of the horse races held there. The old fairgrounds was the site for not only horse races, but also baseball games, bicycle, foot and auto races, fairs, carnivals, and circuses.
The Adams County Fair Association was organized between the years of 1904 and 1905. The annual event was originally called "Tomato Day." The event that is best remembered was the "Battle of Brighton," a contest between two teams, one from Brighton and the other from Fort Lupton, each having a box of ripe tomatoes as weapons.
The Fairgrounds in Brighton continued to host many activities, by eventually became inadequate in size. The county began their search for better facilities and more land.
The Denver Poor Farm near Henderson had recently been terminated and was up for sale. In 1956, negotiations began between Denver and Adams County for the sale of the Denver Farm. It was sold to Adams County in 1959 for $176,500 with certain conditions. Among these were to build a 180 acre golf course, sixty acres were to be devoted to the County Fairgrounds and related usages, a race track, and the remainder of the
land to be used for a recreational park. The problem of inadequate room was solved. The old Fairgrounds in Brighton was cleared and a recreation area was built on the east end. On the west end, a new six-story Adams County Administration building was built.
The land on which the Denver Poor Farm was located has some interesting history itself. John Henderson, the first cattle rancher in the region, established his ranch there in the 1860's. It was named Henderson's Island because the Platte River separated into two branches forming an island. The ranch attracted many people and soon became a popular resort. The next things heard about the ranch was when it later became the McCool ranch, and after that Denver bought it for a "Poor Farm."
The Denver Poor Farm was a home for convalescents and old folks. The area retained its resort beauty. There was a hospital for the residents and a pesthouse to take care of people with contagious diseases. The "Poor Farm" was also a method of dealing with welfare. In the surrounding area there were field crops and dairy cattle. People came in from Denver to work the farm producing an abundance of food for Denver's poor.
Due to changing times and ideas, by 1953, poor farms in Colorado became obsolete as a method of welfare. This resulted in the selling of the poor farm to Adams County to develop the regional park.
Adams County was able to excavate enough gravel from this land to repay most of the cost. The hole that was left is now an eight acre lake.
The Regional Park today consists of a golf course, a club house, the Adams County Fairgrounds, an exhibit hall, stock barns, a grandstand and track, rodeo chutes, announcer's stand, facing seats, and various public buildings. Among the public buildings are the auditorium (the dome), and a community room. The park was opened to the public in 1962.
The area is maintained by the Adams County Department of Parks and Recreation. There are a total of sixteen park maintenance workers. Four of these sixteen are
custodian workers who maintain the inside of the Fairgrounds Complex. The other twelve workers maintain not only the Regional Park Complex, but also other places in Adams County, such as the Northglenn Library, Rotello Park, and the Perl-Mack Library.
The Adams County Fairgrounds is a fine example of cooperation between counties and how all concerned have benefitted.
Acknowledgments
Mr. Arthur RossReferences
Mr. Albin Wagner
Mr. J. R. Van Meter
Brighton Reflections; Bicentennial Years, 1776-1976. Brighton, Colorado: Brighton Federal Savings and Loan Association, 1976. Copyright, Albin Wagner, 1976
The Denver Post, August 9, 1970