HomeMy WebLinkAboutFrancis Whitaker Park.History
NAME: Francis Whitaker Park
ADDRESS: Southwest corner of Monarch and Hopkins
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lots D, E, F, G, H, and I, Block 75
DATE PURCHASED: 04/01/1999
HOW FUNDED: Housing/Day Care and Parks Fund
LEGISLATION: Resolution #20, 1999, Resolution #162, 2000
DEED: Special Warranty Deed, executed 6/12/98, effective 4/4/98.
Reception numbers: 418902 & 429736
Resolution #20, 1999 authorized $3.5 million from Housing/Day Care and Parks
funds to purchase Bass/Francis Whitaker Park. In November 2000 voters
approved a 5% increase in the open space sales tax and bonds were issued to
pay for Bass Park from those funds.
In 2000 Resolution #162 renamed Bass Park “Francis Whitaker Park”.
Francis Whitaker was one of the foremost master blacksmiths in the U.S.. He
moved to Aspen in 1963 and opened the Mountain Forge across from the park
to the north. Through the CCA Folk Arts Program he was awarded several
Master/Apprentice and Heritage Award grants to pass on his skills and
knowledge to the next generation of blacksmiths. He was a long time member
of the Aspen Valley Land Trust and was on the City Council in the 1970’s. He
negotiated the original lease of Bass Park.