Entry No. 75 — the Denver file — filed under: park

Carpio-Sanguinette Park (Former Sewage Treatment Plant)

“You're literally picnicking on top of where Denver's waste used to bubble”

On the north bank of the South Platte in Globeville sits a park almost nobody visits, built directly on top of a 1937 sewage treatment plant. When the city reclaimed it in 1999 they didn't bulldoze the infrastructure — they kept the concrete settling ponds, aeration raceways, and sand-filter walls and turned them into benches, sculptures, and the boundaries of the ball fields. It quietly won an American Society of Landscape Architects design award for the reuse. You're literally picnicking on top of where Denver's waste used to bubble.

The move: Bring coffee and walk the grounds reading the old plant structures like an industrial scavenger hunt, then link onto the South Platte River Trail / 9 Creeks Loop for a longer riverside stroll.

📍 Before you go This is a quiet, easy-to-miss 14-acre park in Globeville, on the north bank of the South Platte just above the National Western Complex (the Stock Show grounds) — easiest to find via the entrance and parking lot on the northeast side, with a second access point to the southwest. Globeville is a working industrial-residential pocket boxed in by railyards and the I-70/I-25 interchange, so it feels off the map; come in daylight to actually read the old plant structures, and steer clear of late January when the Stock Show packs the area. Wear real shoes — it's open and exposed, best in milder shoulder-season weather. Pair it with a walk or ride on the adjoining South Platte River Trail / 9 Creeks Loop, which runs south toward Confluence Park. No admission; hours are standard city-park daylight, but check ahead.

• 📍 Globeville
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Low-key
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: Carpio-Sanguinette Park, Globeville, Denver, CO — north bank of the South Platte River (near the 4900-5000 block of N. Washington St / Globeville Rd area), built atop the former Northside Wastewater Treatment Facility

Hours: Public city park, generally accessible during daylight / standard Denver park hours (roughly 5am-11pm). No admission. Best in daylight to actually read the old plant structures.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Atlas Obscura · globevillestory.blogspot.com · etbtravelphotography.com

last checked: 2026-06-07