With the Democratic National Convention just weeks away, Denver’s commemoration of its 1908 convention has come and gone. But Denver history geeks Trini Gonzalez and Gregorio Alcaro — the cousins responsible for Denver’s Celebrate 1908 event — are just beginning their ongoing project, an effort to make Denver history exciting and accessible to the masses.
Gonzalez and Alcaro founded Auraria Casa Mayan Heritage, a nonprofit devoted to telling the story of Auraria, Denver’s oldest neighborhood that was nearly entirely bulldozed to make room for the Auraria campus, which now houses several Denver higher education institutions.
Gonzalez and Alcaro fought developers to keep their family’s home — the oldest clapboard house in Denver — intact. They now offer tours of the home, and they are busy transitioning the Celebrate 1908 Web site into a hub where visitors can learn more about Auraria history. In the meantime, Gonzalez and Alcaro are displaying historic photos of the 1908 convention on the site. Click here to see images of Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan as well as photos of Denver’s old-time buildings.
