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Good Historical Archaeological Inquiry Starts with Good Archival Research

TXT

[...]mber of sources
including maps, household indexes and historic photographs. These items give us great clues and can aid
us in knowing what may lie below the grou[...]a wood frame house located at the corner of 12th and Broadway along with brick
residences along Broadway and Lincoln.

Sanborn fire insurance maps produced by[...]rom the 1860's to the present
day are large scale city maps, detailed to the block and building level, that show residential, commercial,
and industrial uses of sites, building footprints, potential environmental hazards, and construction
details of structures. These detaile[...]the potential damage from fires, assessing risk, and setting premiums. Since the
information on these maps is so detailed, historians and archaeologists use them to obtain great clues
about the size and use of historic buildings.

Sanborn Insurance Map[...]er Wellge
map. In 1904 the smaller lots were sold and attached domestic residences were built along 12th
Avenue. At the same time, at the corner of 13th and Broadway, a round building known as the
Broadway[...]p shows the block again dominated by auto service and sales related
businesses. The only residential structure remaining is an apartment building on Lincoln.

Householder Directory and the Clerk and Recorder's Records

One great source of information that can give historians and archaeologists clues as to who lived or
worked at a particular building is the Denver Householder Directory. This index of occupants started in
1924 and was based on earlier directories. It has continued to be published right up[...]
These are arranged by address, allowing the historian and archaeologist to find out who was living in the
house and/or the owner or the name of a business.

What the Householder's Directories show us?

Long term residences living in 1200 blo[...]o (1951)

Broadway 1236 Nelson and Nelson Grocers (1926)

Broadway 1278[...]r of the row house residences appear to be widows and a few auto dealers move from one side
of the bloc[...]hevrolet). When we map out each of the residences and business for
each year we can see the spatial distribution.

What the Clerk and Recorder's records show us:

The block and the area were first developed by Henry Cordes Bro[...]e to Denver in 1860,
homesteaded in Capitol Hill, and tried to sell the Hill area as an elite residenti[...]’s finest hotel, the Brown Palace Hotel at 17th and Broadway.

Historic Photographs

"A pictur[...]
[...]om this area is one taken from the corner of 12th and Lincoln looking at the
newly constructed St. Mark[...]e paved roads, automobiles, overhead
streetlights and telephone poles.

Perhaps the best overall image[...]looking south from 13th Avenue toward 12th
Avenue and Broadway, taken between 1920-1930. We can see the[...]at the
time, including Tom Botterill Auto Sales, and the dominance of the automobile and streetcar system.

The Rangeleigh Apartments loca[...]photo has been modified with an inset of the 12th and Broadway block to
show the archaeological[...]