Denver Public Library’s newest branch at ArtPark will be named after local artist Bob Ragland

The library opened in February.

A mural by Robin Munroe adorns the side of the future Denver Public Library Branch at the ArtPark Community Hub off Brighton Boulevard in RiNo. Five Points, Aug. 19, 2021.

A mural by Robin Munroe adorns the side of the future Denver Public Library Branch at the ArtPark Community Hub off Brighton Boulevard in RiNo. Five Points, Aug. 19, 2021.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
(Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

staff photo

The Denver Public Library said on Thursday that its newest library will be named after Bob Ragland, a Black visual artist, teacher and longtime resident of Whittier and Five Points neighborhood.

A release from the library said the the Denver Public Library Commission voted on Thursday to approve naming the library at 1900 East 35th St. the Bob Ragland Branch Library. It was one of four naming options for the new library, which opened at the ArtPark Community Hub in February.

Ragland worked as a consultant and TV producer, authoring two books, “The Artist’s Question and Answer Book” and “The artists’ survival handbook, (or, what to do till you’re rich and famous).” He was an advocate for the arts, and teaching it locally at Emily Griffith Opportunity School, George Washington High School, and Bradley Elementary. He died last year at 82.

The library is supposed to serve the Five Points, Cole, Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods.

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