1. Welcome to the Westside

Sheila Perez-Kindle: Hello, I’m Sheila Perez-Kindle, a Displaced Aurarian, and this is the Auraria Campus History Tour. You’re probably wondering why these 19th century homes are here in the middle of an urban campus surrounded by classroom buildings and parking lots. Well, growing up, we knew this area, our home, as the Old Westside! It was once a vibrant neighborhood full of homes and businesses, where families lived, worked, and played in a safe and supportive community. It was filled with amenities, such as grocery stores, churches, and factories. That was before the city flattened it to make way for the Auraria Campus.

Like many other Displaced Aurarians, I was born here, at 1004 Champa St. It was one block east of here, very close to where you are now standing. I was baptized at St. Cajetan, a major hub of our community, and which you’ll soon see on this tour. When I was seven years old, a nun in her full habit from St. Elizabeth Church taught me to play tennis. A year after that I made my first Holy Communion at St. Elizabeth, and at 10 years old I had my first paid job there, as a babysitter.

When my parents arrived in Denver from Wyoming, and where they had temporarily worked in the coal mines, they also brought my four older siblings. Like most community members, my parents were hard working. Although my father, Luis Perez, was highly educated in his native country, his education didn’t transfer here with him. Early on, he worked as a laborer to support our family. My mother, Josephine Perez, worked in various industries, including the pickle factory near here. Education was a major priority for their children. Mother later became a fierce community activist who taught us to stand up and never forget who we are or where we came from.

The Auraria Campus History Tour follows a two-block loop that begins and ends here at 9th Street Park. Although the stops follow a general sequence, you can tune into any one of the 11 stops or pause the tour and still get a strong sense of the community and events before and after displacement.

This tour is the result of the dedicated work of community members and our supporters, including students and teachers at CU Denver who helped research, write, and record the stops. One of my partners in this work, Rachel Gross, will be leading you through the rest of the tour.

Rachel Gross: Welcome to Auraria. I teach history classes here on the campus, and I’m happy to be leading you on this history tour of the old West Side neighborhood. Our first stop is at 1027 9th Street, the two-story red brick house on the right just a few steps from here on the flagstone sidewalk.