Abroad at Home: American Ramblings, Observations, and Adventures of Julian StreetStreet, Julian
General
Abroad at Home: American Ramblings, Observations, and Adventures of Julian Street
Street, Julian
United States -- Description and travel; United States -- Social life and customs -- 1865-1918
Denver, in her general architecture, is more attractive than certain
important cities to the eastward of her. Her houses are, for the most
part, built solidly of brick and stone, and more taste has been
displayed in them, upon the whole, than has been shown in either St.
Louis or Kansas City. Like Kansas City, Denver has many long,
tree-bordered streets lined with modest homes which look new and which
are substantially built, but there is less monotony of design in
Denver.
As in Kansas City, the wonder of Denver is that it has all happened in
such a short time. This was brought home to me when, dining in a
delightful house one evening, I was informed by my hostess that the land
on which is her home was "homesteaded," in '64 or '65, by her father;
that is to say, he had taken it over, gratis, from the Government. That
modest corner lot is now worth between fifteen and twenty thousand
dollars.
Though Denver has no art gallery, she hopes to have one in connection
with her new "civic center." In the meantime, some paintings are shown
in the Public Library and in the Colorado Museum of Natural History--a
building which also shelters a collection of stuffed animals (somewhat
better, on the whole, than the paintings) and of minerals found in the
State.
A symphony hall is planned along with the new art gallery, for Denver
has a real interest in music. Indeed, I found that true of many cities
in the Middle West and West. In Kansas City, for instance, important
concerts are patronized not only by residents of the place, but by
quantities of people who come in from other cities and towns within a
radius of thirty or forty miles.
Denver has her own symphony orchestra, one which compares favorably with
many other large orchestras in various parts of the country. The Denver
organization is led by Horace Tureman, a very capable conductor, and its
seventy musicians have been gathered from theater and café orchestras
throughout the city. Six or eight programs of the highest character are
given each season, and in order that all music lovers may be enabled to
attend the concerts, seats are sold as low as ten cents each.
"If some of the big concert singers who come out here could hear one of
our symphony programs," one Denver woman said to me, "I think they might
revise their opinion of us. A great many of them must think us less
advanced, musically, than we are, for they insist on singing 'The
Suwanee River' and 'Home, Sweet Home'--which we always resent."
The one conspicuous example of sculpture which I saw in Denver--the
Pioneer's Fountain, by Macmonnies--is not entirely Denver's fault. When
a city gives an order to a sculptor of Macmonnies's standing, she shows
that she means to do the best she can. It is then up to the sculptor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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