In 2009, Boulder celebrated its sesquicentennial. A dedicated website offered a great deal of background on Boulder's 150-year history, as did other materials (e.g., video, brochure). A calendar detailed events that marked the occasion throughout the year. While interesting, the available material had no information on what Boulder was like as a place to grow up since its founding in 1859. This project addresses this gap.
CYE-interns gathered data about places and events from diaries, oral histories, and other archival sources to provide glimpses of childhood experiences in Boulder in earlier times.
Explore the history of Boulder through childhood memories and historical photographs. Click on the map below to get a larger view with red hyperlinked circles. Clicking on the circles opens up new windows, each with a photo and historical information about that location from the early part of the 19th century. To enlarge the map, hold down the Control key and press the +/= key. Doing so, allows you to zoom in on specific streets. If you have photos or stories to share, please email us at cye@colorado.edu.
Source: Sanborn Map Company. Boulder, Boulder Co., Colorado, Sheet 1 [map]. 50 ft. to an inch. New York : Sanborn Map Company, 1922. From the University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries Digital Asset Library, Building Colorado Story by Story: The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Collection. http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/sanborn/index.htm (March 9, 2007).
Interview with Elizabeth "Dee" Demmon, Boulder Centenarian
On March 16, 2010, Ph.D. student Corrie Williams, and CYE intern Analiese Hock were honored to have the opportunity to converse and visit with Boulder centenarian Elizabeth "Dee" Demmon, born February 11, 1910. Dee has been a resident of Boulder her entire life. After much local attention on her centenarian landmark birthday, Dee agreed to share with us a bit of her fantastic and interesting life story.
Click here to hear an account of Dee's childhood experiences in Boulder in the early part of the 20th century (9 mins. 41 secs.).
We welcome new contributions from viewers of this website who would like to share experiences and or images from this era or other times throughout Boulder's 150-year history. Contact us cye@colorado.edu. Eventually, we hope to have vignettes from the town's early beginnings till the present.
We gratefully acknowledge a grant of the Outreach Committee at CU Boulder in support of this project.
Amber Hernandez assisted with creating the interactive map, generously produced in final form by Ray McCall.