In 1858, General William Larimer established Denver and set aside 320 acres for a cemetery where Cheesman and Congress parks are currently located. The cemetery was called Mount Prospect Cemetery. After its establishment, it evolved into three distinct sections: Mount Calvary (or Calvary) for the Catholics, the Hebrew Burying Ground and Prayer Ground for the Jewish, and Mount Prospect (or Prospect Hill) for the general population. By about 1872, sections were assigned to the Masons, the Odd Fellows, G.A.R., and others. The City of Denver gained title to the cemetery in 1872 from the federal government and renamed it the City Cemetery.

In 1875, 20 acres in the north part of the cemetery were sold to the Hebrew Burial Society, which maintained it until 1923 when bodies were removed to other sites and the land returned to the city. The site is now the reservoir in Congress Park. On 25 January 1890, Congress authorized the city to vacate the cemetery and allow it to be converted to a park. Burials in the cemetery were ordered to be halted. Removal of burials from the cemetery began in 1893 but were not completed. The conversion of the cemetery to a park was finalized in 1907, leaving many burials within the park. Prior to the start of removal of burials, the 40 acre Catholic section of the cemetery was purchased by the Catholic archdiocese and renamed the Mount Calvary Cemetery. Burials continued in that cemetery until 1908. In 1950, the Catholic church moved the remains of those interred in the Mount Calvary Cemetery to Mount Olivet Cemetery, where a separate section exists for the bodies transferred from Mount Calvary Cemetery. Very few headstones survived. The Catholic church then sold the land back to the city. It is now the location of Denver's Botanical Gardens.