The history of Casa Mayan
“It once attracted famous musicians and politicians, and stands as a testament to what one Denver neighborhood used to look like.
Casa Mayan is one of the oldest homes in the city, with a rich history woven into the fabric of Denver’s Hispanic community. It all would have disappeared, though, if not for the efforts of many people and the memories of one family.
“It was a fascinating place to grow up,” said Belen Gonzalez Aranda, 96, a former Auraria resident. “A childhood that was unbelievable. Just wonderful.”
The memories still seem so fresh for Gonzalez Aranda and Marta Gonzalez de Alcaro, 90. They are the two sisters who once called this place home.
The house is known as Casa Mayan. It sits on the 9th Street Historic Park, in the heart of the Auraria Campus. It’s all that’s left of a vibrant, thriving neighborhood. Gonzalez de Alcaro and Gonzalez Aranda, along with their five other siblings grew up in Casa Mayan.
“A lot of people don’t understand that this was a very sustainable neighborhood,” Gonzalez Alcaro said.
To understand what happened there, you have to go back to the 19th century. The clapboard wood house is one of the oldest in Denver, originally built in 1872 by William Smedley, a Pennsylvania dentist who moved to Denver. Years later, in 1926, the Gonzalez family moved in and the surrounding Auraria community was thriving with families from all over.”
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Rodriguez, Maya. 9 News 11 October 2014.