All About the Auraria Campus
What colleges does the campus serve?
The Auraria Campus is just a few blocks from Community College of Denver (CCD), Metropolitan State University (MSU), and University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). By providing a common area for all three schools, the campus helps bring students together to form a greater community.
*How big is the Auraria campus? *
Covering 150 acres, this dynamic education environment serves a collective population of more than 38,000 students and 5,000 faculty and staff.
*Where is the Auraria campus located? *
The Auraria campus is in the heart of Denver. In addition to being conveniently located just blocks from CCD, MSU, and CU Denver, the campus also offers easy access to some of Denver’s most popular neighborhoods, including RiNo, Five Points, and Capitol Hill.
*When was the Auraria campus built? *
The Auraria campus as we know it today was built in 1976, but the history of the location goes back long before that. In 1858, miners who had discovered gold in the area settled on the land and named it Auraria, after the Latin word aurum, which means gold. Scores of working-class people, mostly immigrants from central and eastern Europe, moved into the densely packed area. Over time, the miner community moved away and workers from Mexico and New Mexico moved in. By the mid 20th century, the community was being pressured by the city to leave, and, despite organized efforts to convince the Denver City Council to let them stay, they were pushed out. The City Council razed their houses and businesses to build the Auraria campus.
Today, some remnants of the old neighborhood remain, including several churches, Tivoli Brewery, and Ninth Street Historic Park. Descendants from the families who were displaced for the campus project are eligible for scholarships to the three schools served by the campus.
