Cranmer Park and the Erickson Equatorial Sundial are now scheduled for rennovation. The original Erickson dial was installed in 1941. Cranmer wrote in 1950 that "the sundial is only seventeen seconds of time East of the 105th Meridian on which Mountain Time is based, and since the whole setting is so accurate, one can set his watch by it." But in 1965 vandals blew the dial apart with dynamite. The community rallied, and by 1966 the Erickson company made and installed a copy of the original dial
But climate and a sinking foundation led to the deteriation of the dial and surrounding terrazzo plaza. Back in June, 2014 The City of Denver generously committed \(545,000 to the restoration of the Cranmer sundial and plaza through the Parks and Recreation and the Arts and Venues departments with the proviso that citizens raise another million dollars.
A group called "Save Our Sundial" began fundraising and an article of support appeared on this North American Sundial Society website. To date the article has over 3500 views. More important, the “Save Our Sundial” project, has now raised \)680,000. According to Andrew Kenny of the Denverite, "One major donor, the Harmes C. Fishback Foundation Trust, is led by a descendant of Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, whose administration built much of the park." The City Council has now increased its committment to $870,000.
The Denverite quotes Mark Tabor, assistant director for planning that "The city will have to put the contract before Denver City Council and hopes to start construction this year, with a likely 6 to 8 month construction process." And from Denise Sanderson, a local advocate and organizer for the park restoration, "So, what we’re doing is we’re reconstruction the whole thing – taking it down to the ground, building a foundation and building a drainage system," including repair of the chipped sundial and restoration of the inlaid terrazzo depiction of the Rocky Mountains landscape.
Read more at the Denverite: https://www.denverite.com/looks-like-cranmer-park-sundial-will-saved-33833/