The East Side, known historically as East Pueblo and Park Hill, is one of the very earliest areas in Colorado to be settled by Europeans, outside of the San Luis Valley. Beyond the length of East Pueblo’s history is the breadth of its legacy. It was a place of struggle and success, where the working and professional classes freely mixed for most of its history. In that, it was unlike any other place in Pueblo. Dominating the story of Pueblo’s East Side is its physical separation from the rest of the city. On the east bank of Fountain Creek, East Siders struggled to define themselves—to promote a cohesive and appealing identity in the face of geographic stigma. Yet perhaps no other neighborhood in Pueblo so strikingly defied definition. The neighborhood was historically home to a mix of classes and ethnicities that lived side by side. On the bluffs above the city were members of the wealthy professional class. In small adobe dwellings in the flood-prone river bottoms were working-class Mexicans, Italians, Germans, and even Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe. The neighborhood retains its diversity and, therefore, much of its historic identity. This project involved researching and writing an in-depth historical and architectural context for the neighborhood.

City of Pueblo, Colorado

Certified Local Government Grant