The Little Rectangle and Beyond Walking Tour

When: June 8, 10-11:30am

Where: Given with ticket purchase

Over the 52 years since Historic Boulder, Inc. was founded, the organization has been directly and indirectly responsible for the preservation of over 1,300 legacy buildings…structures that, every day, assert the unique spirit of our community.

Historic Boulder became involved in researching Black History in the 1980’s when a home of one of Boulder’s prominent Black citizens was threatened with demolition. In 1985 City obtained a grant from the Colorado Historical Society to survey the buildings in the “Goss-Grove neighborhood,” which revealed that the Goss Street portion of this area – in the flood plain – developed into a largely minority working class neighborhood, referred to as “The Little Rectangle.” The survey revealed a number of prominent Black residents had lived in this area, two of which — educator and attorney Ruth Cave Flowers, and musician John Wesley McVey — were recognized (eventually in 1992 and 1995 respectively) by the landmarking of their former homes. Dan Corson (Former Staff at the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, City Councilman and Historic Boulder President) published a research paper in History at the University of Colorado on the early Black community in Boulder, and has long championed the preservation of these modest homes as significant to Boulder’s history and community. Dan has led walking tours of these homes and added to this body of research for nearly three decades.

An online virtual tour on the PocketSights app was produced by Historic Boulder, Inc. in 2022.