This monument commemorates the homestead of T.C. Bergen and the founding of Bergen Park, once known as Creswell. It is built of white quartz, and was installed in Bergen Park in 1934. If you develop an interest in this early pioneer, you might want to visit his gravesite, down the road at the Morrison Cemetery. The name of Thomas Cunningham Bergen has also been applied to nearby Bergen Peak, a protected Denver Mountain Park property, as is this monument site.

The plaque on the monument reads:

THIS TABLET IS THE
PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO

BERGEN PARK
THOMAS C. BERGEN TOOK UP THE FIRST
SQUATTERS CLAIM HERE JUNE 1859.
ON THIS SPOT HE COMPLETED HIS
FIRST LOG CABIN JULY 4, 1859.
"BERGEN'S RANCH" BECAME A FAMOUS
WAY STATION ON THE STAGECOACH
AND WAGON ROAD TO THE MINES.
THIS GROUND ACQUIRED FOR DENVER
MOUNTAIN PARKS SYSTEM OCTOBER 13, 1915.

ERECTED BY
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF COLORADO
FROM
THE MRS. J.N. HALL FOUNDATION
AND BY
THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER
JULY 4, 1934

Monument Setting       Plaque Detail