With the various posts about Fr. Chrysostom Frank and the new biritual parish St. Elizabeth of Hungary (Roman rite) and Ss. Cyril and Methodius (Russian rite), it suddenly seems a good idea to give a bit of background on the location of the parish – Auraria (not to be confused with the suburb named Aurora).

These days it’s the home of the Auraria Higher Education Center and its three constituent educational institutions: the University of Colorado at Denver (where I am working on the MBA), Metropolitan State College and Community College of Denver. The three schools share a library, student union and several other facilities. Most classroom buildings are dedicated to one school or another.

In 1859 shortly after gold was first discovered in what was then the farthest western extremities of the Kansas Territory, two towns were started near the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. One was named St. Charles – I don’t know why that name was chosen -- but it was quickly renamed Denver City in honor of the governor of the Kansas Territory. The other was named Auraria, due to the gold that drew people here. It wasn’t long before the two towns merged into one, with the name of Denver.

The most lasting Auraria legacy was that its streets were laid out differently than those of Denver City so that, while most of the city has a grid of streets in the cardinal directions, most of the downtown area has streets that are forty-five degrees off from the compass points.

Auraria was one of the parts of town largely reserved to immigrants – at first mainly Germans and Mexicans. Over time it became predominantly Mexican. That made it easier for local politicians in the 1960s to take over the property, evict the residents and demolish most of the neighborhood to build the campus.

There are several reminders of the neighborhood’s past. A few houses were kept and turned in to faculty offices. Golda Meir’s girlhood home was moved in and made a conference center. Colorado’s first synagogue was kept - the building remains as an art gallery. The Mexican community had its own church, San Cajetano. That building is still there and has a computer lab that I’ve used. The church itself moved to a predominantly Mexican neighborhood in southwest Denver. The Germans had St. E’s and the Tivoli brewery. Both of those buildings are still around. There was also a parish for the Irish -- St. Leo’s -- but it didn’t survive. The Tivoli brewery hasn’t been a brewery for decades. It sat vacant for the 1970s and was an ill-fated attempt at a shopping mall in the 1980s. It’s now the student union complex and it works well as such. It’s even where I saw Jonah Goldberg speak in April.

BTW, I did get to a midday Roman rite Mass at St. E’s w/ Fr. Chrysostom the other day. As I expected, the Mass was said reverently and the homily was insightful. I was dripping sweat from the heat. On the way out I noticed a sanctuary lamp that I’m quite sure I hadn’t seen before. (For those who know the building, it’s in the St. Anthony chapel).