Today is the second day of Old Globeville Days, a celebration of the Eastern European immigrants who settled in Denver early in the city's history. The event is at the Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral and Argo Park, near 349 East 47th Avenue.
It wasn't long after Globeville was founded in the late 1880s that the Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral was built. Originally serving a community of Eastern European immigrants, the Eastern Orthodox church and nearby Polish Catholic St. Joseph's have been lasting centers for these communities in Denver.
Globeville has been isolated from the rest of the city practically for its entire existence, according to the city's neighborhood assessment. First girded by railroads and the South Platte River, the addition of Interstates 25 and 70 further segregated the little residential patch.
As Denver grew, Eastern European families began to relocate and were replaced by immigrants from Latin countries. Today, about 67 percent of residents identified as Hispanic, 27 percent as white and 4 percent as black.
Even still, parishioners continue to travel into this tiny pocket of the city on Sunday mornings for church. Some things never change.
That's true in another way too: Development projects still encroach on Globeville, like the Platte to Park Hill Stormwater Project and plan to widen I-70. Likewise, a letter from Holy Transfiguration opposing the original I-70 construction mirrors fierce activism around development and gentrification in the neighborhood today.
