Rocky Mountain Center for Preservation

When you first visit the Granada Relocation Center, known to many as Amache, it’s hard not to be struck by the landscape. The vast arid plains run for as far as the eye can see, dominated by native grass and shrubbery with the occasional cottonwood. Hot and parched, the land bears witness to a dark chapter of the American story. No buildings remain at the large, 328-acre relocation center that interned more than 7,000 Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945 during World War II.

On May 30, relatively early in the protests over George Floyd’s murder, the Market House in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was set ablaze. The Market is a classic southern-style building of the antebellum period, made of red brick with a stark white cupola. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and became a National Historic Landmark soon after. Only three percent of more than 90,000 places listed in the country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks.

As a preservationist working from home in a 1930s Art Deco apartment building, I have often lamented the fact that so much historic door hardware has been painted over, forever dulling the lovely details that add character and art to our everyday lives. I don’t consider myself an artistic person, so my interest in these seemingly basic details relates to my appreciation of what seems like unattainable creativity on my part.

By preserving historic places we can lift up community spirits and the economy. We definitely need more of both as we face the COVID-19 pandemic and the ways it’s changing our lives every day. During these uncertain times, History Colorado's State Historical Fund continues to serve Colorado communities—particularly rural communities.

Ceramics are an amazing resource for understanding the past, as so much information can be packed into just a single piece. We can understand manufacturing methods based on where it came from; we can study class and economics based on the original cost of the dishes; we can even delve into matters of identity as evidenced by the conspicuous display of fine dinnerwares.

History Colorado announced the opening of the Rocky Mountain Center for Preservation—a preservation education center, headquartered in Leadville at the Healy House Museum & Dexter Cabin. The Center will create and oversee a preservation education program open to the general public, and serve as a resource for preservation information and training to homeowners, business owners, developers, students, and interested novices across the state and region. 

“Much of the charm of this unique private park lies in its smallness. The kind of smallness that distinguishes a certain square, a court, a single shaded street in every great city…”  -- Polo Club Place brochure, 1960s

Construction and renovation in a historic area is a tricky game of compromise between preserving the original historic buildings and accommodating a city’s twenty-first-century needs. But those two aspects of a historic downtown don’t always have to be at odds. The recognition and celebration of historic buildings is becoming more and more common around the country, including right here in Colorado. Many towns⁠—Golden, Florence, and Salida among them—have incorporated their downtown areas into historic districts to celebrate their heritage and promote the local economy.

This week Colorado parents woke their kids from summer’s slumber, ushering them off to school to begin the 2020 academic year.