Auraria continued from page 10 In March, the University of Colorado Denver revealed plans to restore and reno- vate all of the buildings on Ninth Street that the school occupies. University of Colorado Denver regent Nolbert Chavez is leading that project, starting with 1050 Ninth Street. Chavez will be working with Rita Gomez, a former resident, on the renovation, refur- bishing the structure while staying true to historic materials and styles. The building currently houses part of the school’s Eng- lish department, as do 1051, 1059 and 1061 Ninth Street; the department’s main offi ces entering buildings and fi nding information on them. “This is an urban renewal campus; it targeted this district for removal in order to create the space for a higher education cen- ter,” Page notes. “Yet...once that process was completed, there’s not very much evidence on the ground. Even though there are remnants of the historic spaces that have been saved, there’s not a lot to tell you about what used to be here and what it was like.” Like the University of Colorado Denver, AHEC is committed to commemorating the past. “We want to continue that historical focus to learn a lot about who lived here, where they are now, and what their connection is now, so we’re really open to listening to all the voices,” of the house is. … We are working to look to hire somebody as an internal employee to help us deal with honoring Ninth Street and really celebrating it and making sure we have the appropriate, specifi cally Latina and Hispanic, partners to really bring that culture at the forefront to our campus.” But Alcaro thinks the house shouldn’t only fall under AHEC. “This house needs to be given to a management of people who are non-partisan,” he says. “They treat all the colleges and the students equally. We can’t be competing and deciding what is historical. That’s why our [Auraria Casa Mayan Heri- tage] proposal has been, and was, an agree- ment that we were institutional partners. Alcaro would like to see a similar situation at Casa Mayan, perhaps a museum like the Molly Brown House that’s dedicated to its former occupant. On July 23, 1020 Ninth Street celebrated its 150th anniversary. Alcaro and Lucha Marti- nez de Luna, associate curator of Hispanic, Chicano, Latino History and Culture at His- tory Colorado, hosted a screening of the documentary Casa Mayan and a discussion afterward that touched on documenting the history of other houses on Ninth Street, too. History Colorado and the AHEC events team organized the event, and for the fi rst time in many months, the house was full of Community members gathered at Casa Mayan on July 23 for speeches outdoors and historic exhibits indoors. are in 1015 Ninth Street. The University of Colorado Denver Honors and Leadership Program is located at 1047 Ninth Street. The 1050 Ninth Street project has been estimated at $400,000 and has a deadline of next spring, according to Chavez. “We’ve raised enough to do the fi rst house; we’re moving forward with that starting this fall,” he says. “After that house is done, we’re go- ing to invite community and funders and students and others to see what’s possible, and that’s when the larger fundraising activi- ties will begin.” Ultimately, he hopes the six houses that the University of Colorado Denver oversees are “active and student-facing,” serving the entire community. One could even be a Latino research center, a place that is not directly connected to the campus or students but helps preserve history, Chavez says. While physical preservation projects are in the works, so is a digital effort. Brian Page, associate professor and chair 12 of Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver, is working on a project to digitize the history of Auraria by creating interactive maps that show how the area has changed. With fund- ing from the school’s City Center, Page is putting together GIS maps to show what it looked like through the decades, before and after displacement. “I’m working with some of the members of the displaced community to use these digital re-creations to provide frameworks, story maps that can support their storytelling,” Page says. Through the maps, people will be able to walk digitally through different points in time, Joseph says. The challenge is to combine historical preservation with educational use. Alcaro doesn’t believe the preservation work makes up for the area’s inaccessibil- ity. “I have no access” to his family’s former home, he says. “It’s very oppressive.” “There are different voices within that community that I think want to represent the community at large and want to be the partner that AHEC sits down at the table with, and I think what AHEC’s challenge is today is to very clearly ensure that all voices in the displaced community are at the table, We, the descendants of Casa Mayan, would like the same opportunity to manage the space of an incredibly important institution in Colorado history.” Auraria has a model that could work for Casa Mayan: the success of the Golda Meir House, at 1146 Ninth Street. It was moved there in 1988 from 1606-1608 Julian Street, where Golda Meir lived for a while before she grew up to become the fi rst female prime minister of Israel. “It was put here in the ’80s, and we have really focused on a rededication,” says Jo- “We want community input. We’re not going to drive what the goal of the house is.” including Gregorio,” notes Walsh. AHEC Campus Planning is housed at 1056 Ninth Street, 1067 hosts AHEC’s ex- ecutive offi ce, and 1027 is home to AHEC’s marketing and communications efforts. The Casa Mayan building is managed by the Auraria Events team and falls under the purview of AHEC. Anyone can go in the house; “they just need to go through the procedures,” Joseph says. Although it’s currently used for special events, AHEC is looking for suggestions for its future use. “We want community input,” Joseph says. “We’re not going to drive what the goal seph. “We’re having a big conference here this summer, a gala eventually to really think about the themes of that house — which are women’s leadership, education and immigra- tion. It’s been so wildly successful, and we really just want to copy the success of that project with potentially an executive director of Casa Mayan.” On August 1, the Golda Meir House will host “The Only Woman in the Room,” a sym- posium at which authors, women’s studies experts and museum professionals will dis- cuss Golda Meir’s life. In the process, they’ll suggest future directions for the building. people. Artifacts and informational materi- als lined the walls, sharing the story of Casa Mayan and Auraria. Alcaro added to the stories with his own memories and tales of his grandmother and other relatives. Beyond the day’s displays, though, Casa Mayan is in a state of limbo. The three upstairs bedrooms are fi lled with papers, desks, cleaning supplies, boxes and other random items; downstairs are photos of former Hispanic legislators that were part of an old exhibit. According to Walsh, the randomness of the rooms’ contents shows just how undecided the community is about the house. “There’s never been a consensus on how we can move forward in the interior of this house and how everyone [can] feel respected and included,” he says. Walsh has held classes in the large con- ference room downstairs; he says that the setting has enriched students’ experiences. But he’d like to see the building’s con- tents truly acknowledge its past and the legacy of the woman who lived here. Carolina González was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2020, and her welcoming spirit should be commemorated. “Carolina González was the visionary. She understood that bringing people from all cultures together is what the restaurant should be about, and that’s what she did,” Walsh says. “A re-envisioning of Casa Mayan is embracing that spirit, is everyone work- ing together to preserve that spirit. I am confi dent that at the end of the day, the Casa Mayan mission and spirit will persevere.” Email the author at [email protected]. JULY 28-AUGUST 3, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com EVAN SEMÓN EVAN SEMÓN
