A key part of Pueblo, CO's history, the Arkansas River signifies the town's beginning as a great American city. It was the river that drew big business and historical fame to this otherwise common little town. After a flood in 1921, which drowned 100 people and filled downtown Pueblo with 11 feet of water, however, the river was re-channeled and pooled into the Pueblo Reservoir. It took the recent efforts of the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo (HARP) Commission and the work of the prime planning and design consultant, Design Studios West, Inc. (DSW), to excavate the stone riverbed, restoring the Arkansas River to its original path and the town of Pueblo to its economic glory.

At one time, Pueblo was a thriving industrial city - the second largest in Colorado - boasting smelters and steel mills owned by the Rockefellers and Guggenheims, but by 1982, Pueblo had hit a financial wall as Colorado Fuel & Iron laid off 3,800 employees.