Development of the Theme or Area of Significance Colorado Chautauqua NHL developed as a response to the national Chautauqua Movement. The founders of the Texas-Colorado Chautauqua located the site within a mountain setting provide a western chautauqua that would allow for healthy living and access to recreational opportunities. Associated Property Types Hundreds of towns across the United States have parks or districts with the name 'Chautauqua.' This name serves as a reminder to the original land use for many of these spaces. Many included large green spaces where a chautauqua gathering would have occurred. However, few continue to offer Chautauqua-style programming. Only six chautauquas remain in operation, including with the Colorado Chautauqua NHL, which displays the highest degree of integrity of site, structures, and setting. The property exemplifies the unique western expression of the Chautauqua Movement and remains the only continuously operational chautauqua west of the Mississippi River. 14 Physical Characteristics and Integrity Several of Chautauqua Park’s features retain integrity. These include Chautauqua Green and its oval lawn and mature trees, The Arbor, Shelter House, Entrance Gate (King’s Gate), Lincoln Street Steps (Queen’s Gate), stone rubble walls and stone gutters, and several landscape characteristics including natural systems and features, topography, vegetation, spatial organization, circulation, and views and viewsheds. Relationship to the National Register Criteria Chautauqua Park Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The property was deemed significant for its association with the national Chautauqua Movement and importance in the development of culture within Boulder. In 2005 the property was designated as Colorado Chautauqua National Historic Landmark, with significance as “an outstanding representation of America’s first truly national mass educational and cultural movement.” 15
14 "Chautauqua Movement History,” The Colorado Chautauqua Online, accessed February 25, 2021, https://www.chautauqua.com/2021/chautauqua-move- ment-history. 15 Vail, "The Colorado Chautauqua," 27.
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Chautauqua Park
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