Before it was the Auraria Campus, Denver’s Auraria neighborhood was home to a majority-Latino population.
In its early days, the Auraria land was the traditional territories and ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Ute nations. It served as an epicenter for trade, community, family building, and more. But in 1965, a devastating flood hit the Auraria neighborhood, and because of the damage, city and state leaders were motivated to implement urban-renewal plans.
In 1969, voters approved a bond referendum that allowed for the creation of the Auraria Higher Education Campus as part of the Denver Urban Renewal Program. And while the campus has become a fixture of downtown Denver, an estimated 900 people, including 235 families and households, were unfairly displaced when the campus was constructed, according to the Auraria Library.
The original Auraria neighborhood’s history has not been forgotten, and many community members hold fond memories of life in the area prior to the construction of the Auraria Higher Education Campus. Those memories will continue to last and be told, thanks to the “I am Auraria” Exhibition that was created through a Museum of Memory collaboration between displaced Aurarians, their descendants, History Colorado, and others at Auraria Library.
The initiative is one of more than a dozen similar public history projects History Colorado has completed as part of a commitment to assist communities in documenting and sharing their histories on their terms, according to a release from History Colorado. The project included six workshops with participants who were displaced from the Auraria neighborhood. The workshops featured memory jogging experiences to evoke descriptions of the displacement process and what the neighborhood was like before urban renewal, the release reads.
“It has been an honor to work closely with the displaced Aurarian community to understand the vibrant and thriving neighborhood that once existed and the pain of its loss,” said Dawn DiPrince, President & CEO of History Colorado in the release.
“In their stories, you can smell the tamales and green chile, hear the children playing outside, feel the excitement of sacraments at St. Catejan’s, understand the comfort of neighbors who are family, and grasp the desperation of being forced from your home.
”Outside of “I am Auraria,” History Colorado is also supporting a community mural that will be painted on the Plaza building at Auraria Campus to increase awareness of the history of the Auraria neighborhood, and a database of Auraria’s residents between 1955 and 1973. The database was digitally mapped by partners at the University of Colorado Denver and built out by two graduate students hired by History Colorado.
“I am Auraria” opens Aug. 23, and History Colorado and the Auraria Library are hosting a free community celebration from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on that date. The event is free, but registration is required at https://tickets.historycolorado.org/event/i-am-auraria/tickets.
