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John Eding, Communications & PR Manager
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Former mayors Federico Peña (1983–1991) and Wellington Webb (1991–2003) join Mayor Michael B. Hancock (2011–present) on Thursday, August 19, at 7 p.m. for A City Imagined: A Historic Evening with Denver Mayors. The conversation will be moderated by Laura E. Aldrete, executive director of Denver Community Planning and Development. Tickets ($5–25) are available via historycolorado.org/building-denver.

Hancock, Peña, and Webb collectively share nine terms as Denver’s most influential elected officials. Their legacies surround Denverites throughout the built environment of their city, which is the central topic of History Colorado’s current engagement initiative, Building Denver. Peña’s leadership resulted in Denver International Airport and the arrival of Major League Baseball to the city, for example, and Webb’s administration redeveloped the South Platte River Corridor and supported expansion of the Denver Art Museum into iconic new facilities, as well as a new home for the Denver Broncos. Today, Mayor Hancock’s administration has just announced that it is seeking a head of urban design in order to better prepare Denver for the future while preserving our historic buildings and staying true to Denver’s heritage.

“Preserving and celebrating the unique character of our neighborhoods are values that transcend administrations,” Mayor Michael B. Hancock said, “I’m excited to join my predecessors for this conversation and I hope residents will join us.”

A full slate of exhibitions, public programs, and partnerships, Building Denver explores the growth, urban development, and architecture of Denver from 1860 to today—and supports Denverites to collectively envision a healthier, more inclusive, more equitable city. The Building Denver Speaker Series begins August 12 with a presentation by Esteban Gómez, a digital anthropologist, visual ethnographer, filmmaker, and curator who is researching the effects of transit-oriented development and gentrification on urban school segregation and enrollment decline in Denver Public Schools. Additional events include “Colorado History: Colorful or Colorblind?” with Tom Romero, who teaches and researches the legal history of the American West (Sept. 9); “The City You Don't See” with urban planners Tom Gougeon and Richard " Dick" Farley (Oct. 14); and “Class Struggle in the City” with Erica Smiley, who is the executive director of Jobs With Justice (Nov. 16). More information and tickets, which are available for individual events ($5–25) as well as a season package ($20–90), are available at h-co.org/bdspeakers.

About Building Denver
Stoked by climate change, public-health crises, and a burning quest for more justice within our metropolis, Denver is in the midst of accelerating urban and social transformation. Its population has exploded over the last two decades, and while the city is more diverse than ever, it was also identified in a recent study to be one of the most rapidly gentrifying cities in the nation. How did we get to this point? Where are we, exactly? And where should we go from here? Building Denver’s critically acclaimed core exhibit, called Building Denver: Visions of the Capital City, and its many supporting facets will help answer some of these questions.

SPONSORS
Building Denver is made possible by generous support from Alec M. Garbini AIA, donors to the Executive Director's Innovation Fund, Bank of America, The City and County of Denver’s Community Planning and Development Department, Gates Family Foundation, Urban Land Conservancy, Continuum Partners--Mark Falcone, and RATIO/Dennis Humphries.

About History Colorado
History Colorado is a division of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and a 501(c)3 non-profit that has served more than 75,000 students and 500,000 people in Colorado each year. It is a 142-year-old institution that operates Colorado’s oldest museum, nine additional museums and historic sites, a free public research center, the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and the History Colorado State Historical Fund (SHF), which is the nation’s largest preservation program of its kind. More than 70 percent of SHF grants are currently allocated in rural areas of Colorado.

History Colorado’s mission is to create a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. We serve as the state’s memory, preserving and sharing the places, stories, and material culture of Colorado through educational programs, historic preservation grants, collecting, outreach to Colorado communities, the History Colorado Center and Stephen H. Hart Research Center in Denver, and nine other museums and historic attractions statewide. History Colorado is one of only six Smithsonian Affiliates in Colorado. Visit HistoryColorado.org, or call 303-HISTORY, for more information.

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