New research room opens door to local history
December 2021 - The good news about Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park’s new Research Room is that it provides opportunities for learning and exploration whether you are a resident tracing your family tree or a well-known historian. Located in the recently restored Caretaker’s Cottage, information about archives, photographs and objects is provided for free by dedicated staff members on Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
See some examples below of how researchers and organizations from near and far have used this Lakewood resource to support their work. Check out more information about the Research Room at Lakewood.org/Collection.
Sidewalk history tour
For more than 20 years, the nonprofit organization Alameda Connects, and later the Alameda Corridor Business Improvement District, have served Lakewood’s Alameda Avenue corridor by hosting community meetings, placing public art, sponsoring and obtaining community grants and working with local leaders to help address neighborhood needs. Recently, Alameda Connects created a self-guided sidewalk history tour, consisting of icons sandblasted into the concrete. Images include local farms and significant businesses such as the Villa Italia Mall. Future designs are in the planning process by working with descendants of one of the first African American families to move to Jefferson County as well as Native American artists from the area. Learn more about the history tour online.
Learning in the classroom
Teachers from Lakewood schools have inquired about area information to use in their classroom instruction. Topics have included Bear Creek Greenbelt historic land use and access; Native American residents past and present; segregation in suburban covenants; and Jewish experiences in tuberculosis sanatoriums. An article published by teacher Kelly Cvanciger in the Historically Jeffco magazine discusses the Montana School and Bear Creek High School in context of Lakewood’s founding and the diversification of the area’s population. Read the article in the magazine’s current edition.
War horse purchasing station
Professor Phil Homan from Idaho State University was on faculty sabbatical in 2019, researching Boer War (1899-1902) horses in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, South Africa and the United Kingdom. He discovered information in The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News articles about the use of the Westfield Farm in Lakewood as a purchasing station for horses sent to Africa during this time. Heritage Lakewood provided additional information about the farm and several photographs for his research.
The legacy of two Lakewood community members
The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, which fosters creative and connected community in the Denver region through the arts, proposed that Tom Noel write an article about the foundation’s legacy. Tom, also known as “Dr. Colorado” for his fascination with everything about the highest elevation state, is professor emeritus of history and director of Public History and Preservation at CU-Denver, an author of 55 books on Colorado and a longtime Sunday history columnist for the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post. Besides introducing Tom’s students to local history, Heritage Lakewood also provided extensive information, oral histories and photographs to support his article detailing the story of the Bonfils and Stanton families and their philanthropy.