Supporting History

Uncle Sam Slept Here: Preserving the Federal Legacy in Colorado

July, 2002

From the 1860s to the present, various federal agencies and their associated facilities have called Colorado home. The Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, U.S. Treasury, federal courts and customs, and the military played, and continue to play, significant roles in the history and development of our state. In fact, Denver has one of the largest concentrations of federal workers outside of Washington, D.C. The State Historical Fund helps to preserve the federal legacy through various preservation projects. Although federal agencies are not eligible to apply directly to the State Historical Fund for financial assistance, projects may occur on federal lands if an eligible entity serves as applicant. In addition, federally owned buildings have changed ownership and are finding new uses by other organizations.

The Fitzsimons Army Medical Center exemplifies Colorado's long-standing relationship with the armed services. After World War I began, the Surgeon General's office started searching for a location for a new hospital. In 1917 the office chose a remote site in Adams County. Workers built gates and gatehouses at the main entrance two years later. Two Mission Revival-style buildings were placed opposite each other with two identical pedestrian gates, support pillars, and one vehicular gate placed in between. One gatehouse served as a public waiting area while the other served as a guard station.

The entrance served as the facility's central entry and control point. When the new Art Moderne hospital was built in 1941, the main entry was relocated. Though the old gatehouses were left in place, a decorative block wall later replaced the gates and pillars. The Army closed the facility in the late 1990s.

Redevelopment plans provided the City of Aurora with an opportunity to conduct a SHF-supported Historic Structure Assessment of the gates and gatehouses. While many historic buildings on the site are now gone, this document will be helpful in guiding how future preservation of these structures should take place.

Like the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, large-scale water projects represent the federal presence in Colorado. As recent drought conditions prove, irrigation is essential for successful agriculture in the state's semi-arid environment. Early in Colorado's history farmers realized that the massive irrigation schemes they envisioned could only be built by the federal government. Among the projects built by the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency formed in 1903 to take on water shortages in the West, was the Gunnison Project (later called the Uncompahgre Project), which included the Gunnison Tunnel and the Gunnison Diversion Dam. In 1905, the Bureau built its Project Headquarters Building in Montrose, one of the first Bureau of Reclamation office buildings and the oldest surviving Bureau-built office building in the nation. Now occupied by the Uncompahgre Water Users Association, the structure is significant for its association with a project that had major impact upon the Western Slope's physical and economic development.

By 1998 the deteriorating building needed comprehensive repairs. The Water Users Association, faced with a decision to either demolish the building and construct a new one, or rehabilitate it so that it could continue to serve in a modern business environment, chose to preserve this important symbol of its past. Using a $200,000 SHF grant, they repaired exterior siding, addressed ADA problems, upgraded mechanical systems, and made interior improvements. Today, the building serves its original purpose and exemplifies how an older building can be upgraded to meet modern requirements and standards while preserving historic attributes.

In many cases the State Historical Fund can make the critical contribution that sways a decision to rehabilitate a historic building rather than demolish it. Though not often the easiest choice, SHF salutes those organizations that accept the challenge and make a commitment to preserve structures of local and national importance that would be irreplaceable if lost.

BY LYLE MILLER, Technical Advisor, State Historical Fund