AURORA MUSEUM FOUNDATION

The story of Aurora, Colorado

October 2006

October 2006 Newsletter of the Aurora Museum Foundation

There is something for everyone at the special autumn exhibits planned at the Aurora History Museum.  The first of the fall exhibits, the 12th annual Gateway to the Rockies Art Exhibit, opened on Tuesday, September 26 and continues until October 28.

Co-sponsored by the Aurora Artists Guild, the Gateway to the Rockies Art Exhibit features paintings, photography and miniatures by artists of local, regional and national importance.  Viewers will be amazed by the level of talent exhibited by Aurora artists and photographers.

Gateway to the Rockies is a  juried exhibit and winners are scheduled to be announced at a wine and cheese reception to be held at the museum on Friday, September 29 from 5:00 to 8:00 p. m..  Most of the artwork on display is available for sale.

The museum is sponsoring an Art Walk on Friday, October 6. Those participating will take a guided tour of the Gateway to the Rockies Art Exhibit and then board a bus for a tour of the Santa Fe art district in Denver.  There are more than 20 galleries in Denver’s only multi-block art district.  There is a charge of $10 for Aurora residents and $13 for non residents and those attending are warned to wear walking shoes.

When the Gateway to the Rockies Art Exhibit closes the history museum’s community gallery will be filled with gaily decorated holiday wreaths as the Aurora Museum Foundation holds its annual Festival of Wreaths from November 7 until December 7.

Individuals, businesses and organizations receive a wreath to decorate for a $20 donation.  The wreaths often reflect the products, services or activities of the sponsoring businesses or organizations. All during the festival, viewers have an opportunity to bid on the wreaths at a silent auction.  The highest bidders are notified at the close of the festival and are invited to come to the museum to claim their wreaths.  Funds raised by the Festival of Wreaths help support museum activities.

The final autumn attraction at the Aurora History Museum will be the 1960's Suburban Empire exhibit which opens on November l4 and continues until February 11, 2007.  The year will be 1969 and viewers will have an opportunity to eavesdrop on a typical day in the 1960's for an Aurora family and witness a time of great change for the nation.

The 1960's Suburban Empire exhibit will include home furnishings, technology and culture of everyday life in Aurora.  Materials exhibited are being gathered from area museums and from the Aurora History Museum’s collection of artifacts, newspapers and photographs.

Exhibits Curator Matt Chasansky is still seeking some items for the exhibit.  Foundation members who may have living room, kitchen, bedroom or bathroom items that are distinctively related to the l960's are urged to call Matt at (303) 739-6658 if they are willing to lend these items to the museum.

The Aurora History Museum will present its third annual History Makers Awards at the museum on Sunday, December 3 from 2 to 3:30 p. m.  Previous awardees were former U. S. Senator Bill Armstrong, Ellen Steele, Annabelle Dunning, the Aurora Historical Society and the late Mary Bell and Bob Akerley.

Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation, an exhibition detailing how the events of the American Civil War changed President Lincoln’s beliefs about freeing the slaves, will be on display at the Aurora History Museum from January 4 to February 23, 2007.

The exhibit has been organized by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California; the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City and the American Library Association.  Co-hosts for the Lincoln exhibit in Aurora  are the Aurora Public Library and the Aurora History Museum.

The Aurora  stop on the exhibit’s tour is made possible by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.  The commission was created by an act of the United States Congress and is charged with planning of the national celebration of President Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009.

Two special programs have been scheduled at the Aurora History Museum in conjunction with the Lincoln exhibit.  On January 28, 2007 from 2 to 3:30 p. m. the museum   will present Angel of   the Rockies,  the story of Aunt Clara Brown who came to Colorado as an ex-slave in 1859 and earned induction into the Colorado Pioneer Society as a “fifty-niner.”  Chatauquan Opalanga Pugh presents Clara’s life and lifelong search for her family who were sold away from her in the years preceding the Civil War.  The program is funded by Colorado Humanities and will be free.

On February 24–one day after the Lincoln exhibit is scheduled to close, the museum will present a Victorian Tea with Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Dramatist Diana Reardon will portray the woman whose pen, courage and conviction changed the heart of a nation with her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  When President Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in l862 he is said to have exclaimed, “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”  The cost for the tea is $15 for Aurora residents and $20 for non-residents.

Members of the Aurora Museum Foundation once again are planning to set up their country store at the city’s annual PumpkinFest celebration at the DeLaney Farm on Saturday, October l4. Merchandise offered by the store will include wooden toys, a variety of candies and other souvenir items available at the gift shop at the Aurora History Museum.

PumpkinFest will be staged from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. at the DeLaney Farm on Chambers road, across the street from the Aurora Municipal Center.  The ever-popular Jack-O-Launch, Colorado’s only pumpkin launch, is scheduled from 9 a. m.  to 1 p. m.

Briefly:   The Aurora Historical Society has rescheduled its evening with John Fielder for Friday, November 10.  Fielder’s illustrated lecture on his book, Colorado 1870-2000 II, will be held at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church on Del Mar circle starting at 7 p. m.   It had been scheduled for March 21 but was cancelled because of a death in Fielder’s family.  The lecture is free to the public. . . . Robert Lloyd Akerley of Aurora who was honored by the history museum last year as one of Aurora’s builders, died on September 4.  He had been an employee and a volunteer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for more than 52 years. There will be a memorial service at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science at 200l Colorado boulevard at 8 p. m. on Monday, October 2. . . . The last Denver Tramway Company streetcar rumbled down Colfax avenue in Aurora on October 11, 1932. Today’s version of the streetcar, the Rapid Transit District’s light rail train, returns to Aurora on November 17, 2006.  The Aurora connection will be at the Nine Mile station adjacent to the RTD’s park and ride ramp at the intersection of Parker road and Peoria street.  The ramp has space for 1,225 cars.  The Aurora Historical Society is planning an inspection tour of the four new RTD light rail routes on Saturday, November 25. Society members will board the RTD train at Nine Mile at l0 a. m. on that date and the excursion includes a lunch stop in downtown Denver.  Aurora Museum Foundation members are invited to join the tour and can sign up by calling (303) 337-513l. . . . The DeLaney Farm on Chambers road may take on a whole new appearance for the holiday season.  The Aurora History Museum is seeking corporate sponsors to light the buildings on the farm.  Directors of  the Aurora Museum Foundation have voted to contribute $2,500 to the project.

A couple of historic preservation projects in which members of the Aurora Museum Foundation have great interest and probably a role to play have gotten a lot of attention during the past couples of months. The Denver Tramway Company’s Trolley Trailer No.  610 which was discovered in the interior of a farm house on East Colfax avenue was successfully removed and  hauled to Aurora’s central facilities site on Potomac street on July 6.

The removal of the trolley trailer from its cocoon was given extensive coverage in the newspapers and on television but the rescue is only the beginning of the story.

Museum Foundation members who might know of such a building are asked to contact Dr. Gordon Davis, the museum’s executive director. The trolley rescue required a great deal of teamwork.  Sgt. Franklin Michelson and Officer Tim Jeffery saw the trolley inside the home that was to be demolished and alerted Aurora History Museum Director Gordon Davis and his staff.  They set in motion the action to claim the trolley.

Weitz Construction Company’s Dan Meek and Rich Haas got on board and furnished the huge crane needed to hoist the trolley onto a flatbed truck provided by the city of Aurora.  Roy Barnes, Scott Underwood and Bill Lee from the Aurora Public Works Department’s Streets Division contributed their services and trolley preservation expert Darrell Arndt and Aurora resident Ron Engelbrecht were quick to provide their advice and services.  Once the trolley was loaded on the flatbed truck, a police motorcycle escort was provided for it’s journey to the city’s Potomac street maintenance facility where it is shown resting on 6x6 timbers in the photo above.

And, of course, William Perrot of Centennial who owned the trolley trailer and the home in which it was encased, generously donated it to the history museum.

Receiving less attention but equally important to the Museum Foundation, Historical Society and Aurora Historic Preservation Commission are the efforts to save the Dutch Mill.  The mill, located on Colfax avenue near Peoria street was built in 1927 as a part of a cabin court.  The property on which it is located is scheduled for redevelopment and the project does not include retention of the Dutch Mill.

Historical Society and Preservation Commission members have met with city officials to discuss saving the Dutch Mill.  The Aurora Parks and Open Space department has prepared a plan for moving the Dutch Mill to Bicentennial park and landscaping the grounds that would surround it. 

While there has not been general agreement with the move to Bicentennial Park, the city has in its low priority budget an appropriation of $50,000 to move and renovate the Dutch Mill.  The Historical Society is seeking to have the project given a higher priority.  It is anticipated that private funding will be needed to complete the moving and restoration of the Dutch Mill.

Preservationist’s first choice for a location for the Dutch Mill would have been General’s Park on the Fitzsimons property.  That was met with strong objections from the city’s parks and open space personnel.

Volunteers are critical to the well-being of the Aurora History Museum.  Sir Winston Churchill was quoted as saying, “We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give.” In our society we hear about volunteers when disaster strikes, yet it is the volunteers we don’t usually hear about–the ones who help at events, catalog collections, organize photographs in the archives, help with Aurora’s birthday party, volunteer for education programs, help build exhibits, volunteer to serve on the foundation board and on committees, keep the gift shop in order or work a day a week at the museum for many, many years–who keep our museum functioning.

According to a report issued by the U. S. Department of Labor in December of 2005, about 65.4 million Americans volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2004 and September 2005. The median number of hours volunteered over the course of the year-long period was 50 and ranged from a high of 96 hours for volunteers aged 65 and over to a  low of 36 hours for those age 16 to 19 and 25 to 34.

Without volunteerism our community would have a most serious problem, not just with hospitals and meal programs, but with many nonprofit organizations.   Our quality of life wouldn’t be as good in Aurora without volunteerism.   We have become so accustomed to volunteerism that people take it for granted.  We should never take volunteerism for granted because I know our museum could not function without it.  Last year the museum’s 76 volunteers contributed l, 960 hours of their time with an estimated monetary value of more than $28,000. Not only do volunteers contribute by keeping the museum operational, they teach us so much by sharing a wealth of valuable information about the past and about what has happened in Aurora and the country over the years.

If you would like to find out more about volunteer opportunities at the Aurora History Museum please contact Mike Thompson at (303) 739-6662.

Personnel changes are again changing the “face” of the museum.  Michelle Bahe, former collections curator at the museum, has accepted a challenging and lucrative position as curator at the Fort Casper Museum in Casper, Wyoming.  Michelle, who is a native of St. Cloud, Minnesota and a graduate of St. Cloud State College, had worked at the museum for the past l4 years and nine of those years were in a temporary capacity.  All of us at the museum wish her great success in Wyoming.  She is shown in the photo above at her farewell reception at the museum on August 31.

The museum is now planning for the 1960's exhibit which will be featured in the main gallery beginning November l4.  If you have living room, kitchen, bedroom or bathroom items from the l960's that you are willing to lend to the museum, please contact Matt Chasansky at (303) 739-6658.

Thank you for your continued support of Aurora’s Museum.      Gordon Davis

Three more interesting programs are on the Aurora History Museum’s schedule of Brown Bag and White Linen luncheons for the remainder of 2006.  The luncheons are held at noon on the third Wednesday of each month.  There is a $3 charge and those attending must bring their own brown bag lunch.
The schedule for the remainder of 2006:
Wednesday, October 18: Colorado Women Who Beat the Odds.  Ann Student presents Colorado women who have overcome obstacles, prejudice and their gender to become leaders in philanthropy, law, medicine and other endeavors.

Wednesday, November 15: Rose King Brown.  In 1912 when women traditionally were homemakers, Rose King Brown went against the current and become Aurora’s promoter and builder.  Learn how this woman is influencing Aurora to this day as Ginny Steele ties Brown’s past to Aurora’s future.

Wednesday, December 20: Donald Fletcher, Founding Father. Donald Fletcher arrived in Colorado sick and penniless. Within a decade he became a leading businessman and one of the real estate speculators who incorporated Aurora.  Within another decade he lost his millions.  Historian William Convery tells Donald Fletcher’s story.