Robert Speer was elected Mayor of Denver in 1904. His administration began a period of dramatic civic improvement including efforts to control flooding on Cherry Creek. Between 1906 and 1911 parallel concrete walls 10 feet tall and 80 feet apart were constructed from Downing Street to Blake Street to contain Cherry Creek. The termination of the walls at Blake Street left the lower half-mile of Cherry Creek uncontained.

The flood of July 14, 1912 inundated the lower portion of the city and put three feet of water in Union Station. The impact of this flood hastened the completion of the concrete walls the remainder of the way to the South Platte River. With the flood of 1912 still in mind the dimensions of the walls were increased to a height of 12 feet and a width of 88 feet. This final section was completed in 1914. These walls are still in service and provide a continuous walled channel for Cherry Creek for the 3.2 miles from Downing Street to the South Platte River.

Castlewood Dam was constructed on Cherry Creek just south of Franktown in 1890 by a private organization for the purpose of providing irrigation water. Ownership of the dam changed several times over the years but its purpose was always to support the development and sale of irrigated farm and ranch land in Douglas County. Observers downstream in Denver quickly expressed concern about the leakage and flood safety of the structure. One of the primary issues with Castlewood Dam was the fact that this on-stream reservoir served its irrigation purposes best when it was full of water. This left little room for floodwater storage and meant that the spillway system was regularly called into use.

The fear of the residents of Denver became reality in early August, 1933 when a series of summer thundershowers completely filled the reservoir, overtopped the dam, and eventually breached the structure. Thirty five miles downstream in Denver the flood tore out some of the concrete channel walls, and put a foot of water on the floor of Union Station.

The 1933 flood forced the City of Denver to develop a comprehensive flood control plan for Cherry Creek. This local effort resulted in the construction of Kenwood Dam beginning in 1935. It was located near the intersection of Hampden Avenue and Havana Street just downstream of the current Cherry Creek Dam. A few remnants of the concrete components of Kenwood Dam are still visible at the Kennedy Golf course.

Flood control specialists quickly recognized the inadequate capacity of Kenwood Dam and by 1940 federal agencies were planning its replacement with what would become the current Cherry Creek Dam. Land was acquired in 1946 and by 1950 the new structure was in operation. In mid-June 1965 the Cherry Creek Dam proved its worth when it impounded the largest flood in the area's history while the uncontrolled South Platte River delivered an unprecedented flood to Denver.

In the years that followed, the channel fell into disrepair, heavily overgrown with vegetation and a dumping ground for broken concrete, asphalt and other debris. It was an eyesore, had lost much of its flood carrying capacity, and was certainly no asset to the community.

In 1975 the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, City and County of Denver, City of Glendale and Arapahoe County embarked on an ambitious effort to master plan the Cherry Creek corridor from the South Platte River to Cherry Creek Dam. The master plan was to include flood control, recreation and transportation. The consulting team of Merrick and Co. and Harman, O’Donnell & Henninger Associates (HOH) was selected by the sponsors to develop alternative scenarios, seek public input, and prepare a master plan for the corridor.

Transportation issues ultimately could not be resolved to the satisfaction of the three local government sponsors, and, in order to get the flood control and recreation elements of the plan completed, the transportation portion was dropped.

The flood control study revealed that even with Cherry Creek Dam constructed upstream, a large 100-year flood hazard area existed through the neighborhoods adjacent to the walled section, including the Country Club neighborhood areas of downtown, and portions of the new Auraria campus. A major goal of the study became to contain the 100-year flood to the channel.

The master plan was completed in 1977. Within the walled section the plan called for cleaning out the vegetation and debris, reshaping the bottom of the channel, installing a number of drop structures to control the channel grade, and installing a number of access ramps and a maintenance access trail that would also be used as a recreational trail. Two stair cases were also included.

Most of the other proposed park improvements involved new parks outside the channel walls but close to the creek, and connected to the maintenance/recreation trail. However there were two areas where the plan proposed removing the walls to create expanded park areas extending from creek level to street level. One site was at approximately Larimer Street to Lawrence Street, and the other was near the confluence with the South Platte River. Ultimately a version of the former was constructed (see below) but the other site was lost to new development.

In the early 1980’s the City and County of Denver received discretionary Federal grant money, and then Mayor Bill McNicholls allocated these funds to implementation of the flood control and trail plan in the walled section of the creek. This construction effort provided the basic channel, trail and access ramp configuration that would form the framework for several subsequent projects which are described below.

Two design decisions were made that led to the need for later adjustments. The first was to take the trail out of the bottom of the creek for stretches of several blocks where no traffic conflicts existed, in order to keep some areas of the channel bottom more natural for wildlife habitat. However, walkers, runners and bicyclists quickly decided to stay in the bottom and wore trails through the intended habitat. In 1982 the two gaps in the Cherry Creek trail corridor where filled. About 3000 feet of eight foot wide concrete was installed to complete the trail corridor within the walled section of the creek.

The other decision was to not line the low flow channel. Over time we began to see severe erosion and migration problems and had to address those problems with bank stabilization measures as a function of the District’s Maintenance Program. Six phases of low flow channel bank protection were completed by the Maintenance Program between 1984 and 1991. This work was primarily boulder edging but also included riprap protection and a couple sections of interlocking articulated concrete blocks. By 1991 low flow channel protection was in place on about 34% of the 3.2 miles of the walled section of Cherry Creek.

In 1989 a bond issue was passed by the Denver voters which included funding for the urban redevelopment of Cherry Creek from Colfax Avenue downstream to Market Street. This project became a public/private partnership when the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District joined Denver in the effort. The resulting project, known as CreekFront, revitalized Cherry Creek as an urban greenway while preserving the flood carrying capacity. The project included two drop structures, including one formal grouted boulder drop, a second trail for pedestrians only, a block long area where the walls were removed and a formal park was created and installation of an additional 3150 feet of low flow channel protection. Construction of CreekFront was completed in November, 1992.

The redevelopment of Cherry Creek continued in 1994 with the creation of the Punt the Creek project. The purpose of this project was to make the lower 3100 feet of the creek usable for small flat-bottomed boats called punts. Punts are about four feet wide and draw 6" to 8" of water while seating 4 adults. They are powered and steered by the operator using a long pole.

The punts travel up and down the creek on temporary "lakes" created by inflatable hinge crest dams with locks for boat passage. Four sets of locks and five hinge crest dams were required to make this 3100 foot section of Cherry Creek boatable. The dams are inflated in the morning to create the lakes and deflated at night to allow full flow of the creek.

Phase 1 of Punt the Creek began at Market Street which was the downstream end of the CreekFront project. The lower end of phase 1 was at Delgany Street. It was built in 1994 and included 1650 feet of Cherry Creek.

Phase 2 of Punt the Creek went the remaining 1450 feet from Delgany Street down to the confluence with the South Platte River and was finished in 1998. Both phases of this project included lining the low flow channel to protect against erosion and extending the pedestrian trail. Two additional access ramps were also included.

Access ramps were installed on either side of the creek between Broadway and Lincoln when the south bound lanes of Speer Boulevard were placed in a tunnel under Lincoln and Broadway. Another ramp was installed by Denver at the upstream end of the walls and yet another one is planned for 2007 near 12th Avenue.

Today the walled section of Cherry Creek will contain the 100-year flood. It also contains a three-mile grade separated trail. In the downtown area, which is the highest use area, pedestrians and bikes have separate trails. The trail in the walled section is the busiest stretch of trail in Colorado.